The webcrawler is back and on good comic book form, following his encounters with the green goblin in the first film, rather originally named 'Spider-man'. Set two years after the original, Parker (Maguire) is struggling in university, whereas MJ (Dunst) is now a model and an actress.

Harry has inherited Oscorp from his father, who's death he places square on Spider-man, and he's not so happy with Parker who mysteriously wont tell him who he really is. When Dr Octavius' self generating power source goes haywire due to a miscalculation, he gets trapped in his extending arm suit which becomes a controlling influence on his mind leading to some truly terrible actions.

It mixes a good amount of action with a coherent storyline, not noticably throwing in action for the sake of action, nor sentiment for it's own sake. It made me jump, surprised me and kept me wanting more.

However good this movie was, and is it still doesn't measure up to the epicity (if that is a real word) of Return of the King, though it comes far closer than most of the would be "best film" nominees like Troy and the last Samurai.

To summerise: Brilliant - go see it twice!

see also:
Spider-man 3, Spider-man, Iron Man, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer

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