|
Spider-Man 2 is a 2004 superhero film directed by Sam Raimi, written by Alvin Sargent and developed by Alfred Gough, Miles Millar, David Koepp and Michael Chabon. It is the second film in the Spider-Man film franchise based on the fictional Marvel Comics character Spider-Man, which saw the return of Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, and James Franco to their respective lead roles.
Set two years after the original, Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) finds managing both his personal life and duties as the superhero Spider-Man increasingly difficult, and decides to give up. He must return to his duties though, when Dr. Otto Octavius (Alfred Molina) turns insane following a failed experiment and the death of his wife. Using his mechanical tentacles, Octavius is dubbed "Doctor Octopus" and threatens to endanger the lives of the people of New York City and Peter's loved ones.
The film was released on June 30, 2004 in the United States, and received mostly positive reviews from critics. It went on to earn over $373.5 million in the US, and $783 million worldwide. The film's success led to another sequel, Spider-Man 3.
Spider-Man 2 opened in the United States on June 30, 2004 and grossed $40.4 million in its first day; this was the second highest opening day, after The Matrix Reloaded. In its first six days the film had grossed over $180 million and eventually went on to gross $373.5 million, becoming the second-highest grossing film of 2004, behind Shrek 2. Worldwide, the film grossed $783.8 million, ranking behind Shrek 2 and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Spider-Man 2's gross is currently among the all-time top ten grossing films domestically (#10) and is among the top twenty-five worldwide (#21).
Spider-Man 2 won an Academy Award for Visual Effects, and was nominated for Sound and Sound Editing. The film won Saturn Awards for Best Actor, Best Director, Best Fantasy Film, Best Special Effects, and Best Writer, while being nominated for Best Supporting Actor and Best Music. It was nominated for two BAFTA awards for Special Visual Effects and Sound. AFI listed the movie as one of the 10 best films of 2004. Spider-Man 2 topped Rotten Tomatoes's list of the best-reviewed comic book movies of all time, beating out X2: X-Men United, Batman Begins and Superman.
The film received mostly positive reviews. It earned a collective rating of 83 out of 100, based on 41 reviews, on Metacritic. Rotten Tomatoes calculated a rating of 93%, based on 228 reviews, with a "Cream of the Crop" rating of 95%, based on 39 reviews. Chicago Tribune's Mark Caro stated that Alfred Molina was a "pleasingly complex" villain, and the film as a whole "improves upon its predecessor in almost every way." Kenneth Turan, of the Los Angeles Times, gave the film 4 out of 5 stars, and concurred with Caro when he stated, "Doc Ock grabs this film with his quartet of sinisterly serpentine mechanical arms and refuses to let go." Roger Ebert called it, "The best superhero movie since the modern genre was launched with Superman (1978)," and praised the film for "effortlessly [combining] special effects and a human story, keeping its parallel plots alive and moving." Molina was the highlight for many: he was voted by Internet Movie Database users as the best villain of the Spider-Man film series, while comic book fan Richard George felt "Sam Raimi and his writing team delivered an iconic, compelling version of Spider-Man's classic foe... We almost wish there was a way to retroactively add some of these elements to the original character."Wikipedia |
|
|
