Sequels are generally inferior but as we all know, there are a few exceptions to that rule, one example being Sam Raimi's 2004 film, Spider-Man 2. The story more or less picks up after the origin story told in the first film. Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) is coming to terms with his life, his living situation with his Aunt May (Rosemary Harris) and his newfound superpowers. He's also still head over heels in love with Mary Jane Watson (Kirstin Dunst) though for her own good and more specifically her own safety, he's distancing himself from her even though it bothers him to have to do so.

With his personal life in the dumps, you'd think poor Peter would be able to take solace elsewhere, but he's still having money trouble and he's on the outs with his former best friend, Harry Osbourne (James Franco) as well. He makes what money he can by taking pictures for J. Jonah Jameson (J. K. Simmons) at The Daily Bugle but it's not amounting to much in the grand scheme of things. To make matters worse, there's the issue of one Doctor Otto Octavius (Alfred Molina), Parker's former idol in the world of science who has been experimenting with a set of mechanical arms. When these mechanical arms, which act independently of him and basically have a mind of their own, are melded to his body he basically snaps and becomes New York City's latest supervillain thread. Parker knows it's up to him to stop this menace from making an even bigger mess of things than he already has, but if he doesn't take care of it, who will and how many more people will die?

We'll leave the synopsis at that but let it suffice to say that Spider-Man 2 has pretty much everything that a good superhero movie needs: action, adventure, characters you can care about, good acting, solid effects, a bit of comedy, some effective bits of romance and a great hero. Peter Parker's appeal has always been, to a certain extent, that he is an everyman. Where Bruce Wayne was a wealthy playboy and Clark Kent was an alien, Parker is a young man who has trouble paying his rent, can't seem to figure out what to do with his love life and who worries about his aging Aunt May. Most of us will be able to relate to that a lot easier than the problems of an insanely rich guy with a secret cave full of high tech gadgets or a millionaire playboy industrialist with a suit or armor. In fact, it's safe to say that anyone who has grown up without a silver spoon in their mouth can relate on some level to Peter Parker, and that makes Spider-Man all the more interesting and in many ways, endearing. Maguire plays his part well, we like him and we like Dunst as Mary Jane and we want them to be together because we know that despite their respective situations that they care about one another. In terms of the performances, both do fine work here.

This is, however, a superhero movie - we need some action to go along with the sappy stuff and the angsty stuff, right? Thankfully, Spider-Man 2 excels in this area as well. Alfred Molina is great as Doctor Octopus and somehow makes a completely ridiculous villain work really well in the context of the world that Sam Raimi and company have created here. He's menacing but also interesting and at times even a little sympathetic - but mostly, yeah, he's menacing - he's a crazy guy running around with giant mechanical arms destroying stuff, how can he not be? The final showdown between he and Spidey is one of the highpoints in the series and is a wonderfully crafted set pieces that is both tense and exciting and it brings the film to a completely appropriate conclusion that never quite gets too sappy but which definitely ends on a very hopeful note. A feel good ending? Maybe, but it works and given that the film is frequently quite dark leading up to this, we can forgive that easily enough. In the end, this one is a lot of good, slick fun - this is entertainment first and foremost and on that level the film succeeds wonderfully.

It should be noted that this Blu-ray release includes both the theatrical version of the movie as well as the extended cut. The extended cut adds a few bits and pieces of character development but doesn't really differ from the theatrical cut all that much - regardless, it's nice to have both versions here.

Video:

Spider-Man 2 looks great in 2.40.1 widescreen AVC encoded 1080p high definition on Blu-ray from Sony. Detail is strong throughout the transfer and the image is clean, crisp and sharp from start to finish. Colors are handled very nicely here, black levels are nice and strong and there are no issues with any noise reduction. Some minor shimmer is evident in a few spots and some of the CGI bits look exactly like CGI bits, but you can't really fault the disc for that. This is a well encoded edition of some very nice, detailed, textured looking source material.