Spider-Man 2 ****
Cast: Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Alfred Molina, Rosemary Harris, J.K. Simmons, Donna Murphy
Director: Sam Raimi

"Spider-Man 2" is easily the best comic book movie in the last decade, and possibly the best ever. Combining a great hero and villain with a great story and amazing special effects, "Spider-Man 2" is a great movie, period. It picks up a few years after the original, with Peter Parker (Maguire) still pining after the girl he will never let himself have, Mary Jane Watson (Dunst). He is fighting internally between what he wants and what he feels he should do, and not seeing a way to have both. His friend Harry Osborn (Franco) is getting steadily more and more bitter with him because he will not give up Spider-man, the person who killed his father. Add to that the fact that he is juggling so many other things in his personal life, and you have a pretty miserable Peter Parker. When is powers start to fail him, he decides to be Spider-Man no more.

As all this is happening, Doctor Otto Octavius (Molina) is perfecting a fusion process for OsCorp that will be a great advance in the field. An accident fuses four mechanical arms to his spine and sends him on a course of destruction that can only be stopped by Spider-Man.

Working from a story by "Smallville"'s Miles Millar and Alfred Gough, and Pulitzer-prize winning author Michael Chabon, Sam Raimi has crafted a sequel that far outshines its solid predecessor. Maguire has made Peter Parker his own, and Alfred Molina breathes intelligent menace into Doc Ock. The special effects, especially during the fight scenes, and incredible. These are easily some of the best fight scenes ever put on film. This is a movie that can be enjoyed by anyone...the perfect summer blockbuster.

And finally, mark your calendars for May 2007, when "Spider-Man 3" will hit theaters. "2" will be difficult to top, but if Raimi continues to pour his passion for the character into the movies, he will have a good shot. Bring on "3".