On Spider-Man 2

Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) is having trouble. As Spider-Man, he's an awesome superhero who goes around saving people. But as Peter Parker, he's never on time, neglects his homework, and is far behind on his rent. Into the mess that he calls life comes Dr. Otto Octavius (Alfred Molina), a brilliant scientist who has learned how to harness the power of fusion. Peter instantly makes friends with the personable scientist, but is a little concerned about the stability of the doctor's work. His fears are confirmed when a demonstration goes awry and the artificially intelligent mechanical arms connected to Octavius's spine take over the doctor's mind. Spider-Man must dig deep and find a way to stop the madman before he destroys New York City.

Spider-Man 2 is not as good as the first movie, but it's pretty good as far as sequels go. I'm not exactly a connoisseur of superhero movies, but based on the ones I've seen (and what I've heard about the ones I haven't seen), I would have to say that Spider-Man is my favorite superhero. For one thing, he actually has super powers. This criteria eliminates characters like Batman and Ironman. For another, he has morals that basically match up with my own in every area. This, again, rules out some "heroes" like Superman. Finally, he's such a real kind of character. He's handsome, to be sure, but he can look pretty silly sometimes. He stumbles and falls (a lot), but he gets back up again and keeps going.

Spider-Man isn't the only one who deals with struggles in this movie. His Aunt May (Rosemary Harris) is dealing with the death of her husband and her financial troubles. But the whole message of this movie is that there's always hope, no matter what you're going through. Whether it's sorrow, financial problems, matters of the heart, or a heavy responsibility, there's always a bright light shining to help you through. People are stronger than a lot of movies give them credit for. Instead of giving in to despair or temptation, a lot of people find strength - a superhuman strength, if you will - to get through the dark night. Though Spider-Man 2 makes no mention that God is the source of this strength, the movie certainly elevates humans above the instinctual animals that many secularists think we are.

My Rating: T (terrifying scenes (ugh!), mild language)

Picture from impawards.com