Keegan and I went to see Spider Man 2 yesterday. It was a special time because we don’t often get a chance to spend time together, just the two of us. That is something I’ve really regretted over the years. We were excited to go see the movie and, by and large, we weren’t disappointed. It was definitely better than the first movie. The story line was somewhat more complex than the first, which is a good thing. Tobey McGuire is a great actor and he doesn’t disappoint. Neither do Kirsten Dunst and several of the other actors. I think Rosemary Harris as Peter’s Aunt May was an inspired choice, as was J.K. Simmons as Jonah Jameson. I liked many of the action sequences, particularly the one where Peter meets M.J. in a cafe and, while they’re talking, his spidey sense tingles and just in time, Peter hurls M.J. to the ground as a big car comes hurtling through the window. I like the many humorous elements, e.g. the Asian woman at the street corner plucking her violin and singing an off-key rendition of the Spider Man song.

Negatives: Why does Doc Oc sometimes make the earth shake as he walks around, while other times, inexplicably, he is as quiet as a mouse as he moves around? The ending is just too formulaic, particularly regards Doc Oc being persuaded by Peter to suddenly take back control of his mind. The scene where Otto Octavius is about to be operated on after his accident, while not gory, has rather too much violence and horror for my personal taste.

Overall, it was a good movie but if I were a movie critic, I’d only give it three out of four stars.