Spider-Man 2
Columbia Pictures | Release Date: June 30, 2004 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
83
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 41 Critic Reviews
Positive:
37
Mixed:
4
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Dallas ObserverRobert Wilonsky
Where Peter was yee-ha giddy with the discovery of his newfound powers in the first film, he's crushed by the weight of responsibility that comes with them in its far superior successor. Read full review
100
VarietyTodd McCarthy
The pleasure is doubled in Spider-Man 2. Crackerjack entertainment from start to finish, this rousing yarn about a reluctant superhero and his equally conflicted friends and enemies improves in every way on its predecessor and is arguably about as good a live-action picture as anyone's ever made using comicbook characters. Read full review
100
NewsweekSean Smith
Amazingly, it's not all the visual splendor or killer action sequences that elevate Spider-Man 2 above its predecessor and almost every superhero movie that has come before. Read full review
100
USA TodayMike Clark
With special effects so convincing you don't even think about them, a head-case hero and a three-dimensional villain who is his equal, socko Spider-Man 2 has something for everyone. Read full review
100
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
It's a real movie, full-blooded and smart, with qualities even for those who have no idea who Stan Lee is. It's a superhero movie for people who don't go to superhero movies, and for those who do, it's the one they've been yearning for. Read full review
100
PremiereAaron Hillis
Fantastic news, true believers: Spider-Man 2 is smarter, hipper, faster, funnier, and flat-out more electrifying than the original, swinging to new summer-movie heights as the greatest comic-book adaptation yet made. Read full review
100
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
The filmmakers smartly counter heavy drama with goofy comedy, mining a rich vein of humor in the juxtaposition of the mundane and the superheroic. Maguire and Molina excel at opposite ends of the moral spectrum, but the film is stolen once again by J.K. Simmons. Read full review
100
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
Smart, fun entertainment. Read full review
100
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
Spider-Man 2 offers one emotional or action-packed aria after another; at the end you feel like giving it a standing O. Read full review
100
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
This triumphant sequel to the hard-to-top 2002 original may be the first great comic-book movie in the age of self-help and CGI wizardry, an entertainment in which both the thrills and the therapeutic personal growth are well earned. Read full review
100
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
A masterpiece of pop filmmaking -- a fantastic, exuberant entertainment that manages to be both sleek and substantial without being patronizing. Read full review
91
Portland OregonianM. E. Russell
Spider-Man 2 succeeds in pretty much the same way "Superman II" did -- only more so. Read full review
91
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
Forget "Raising Helen" and "The Notebook," this is the movie summer's most touching young romance. Read full review
90
Washington PostDesson Thomson
This movie, directed with precision and an appreciation for (relatively) rich character texture by Sam Raimi, remembers all the fine elements of the original film (and the comic book story). It reprises them perfectly, including wonderfully choreographed, skyscraper-hanging fights. Read full review
90
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
A lot of talent to lavish on a single movie, but the result is uncommonly smart for the genre, and not just smart but tremendously enjoyable.
90
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
It's refreshing to witness a superhero with doubts. Maguire and Dunst again display the depth of talent they bring to these roles by injecting such everydayness into larger-than-life characters. Read full review
90
The New York TimesDana Stevens
Better than its predecessor, and also superior to most other comic-book-based movies. It has a more credible (and more frightening) villain, a more capacious and original story and a self-confidence based not only on the huge success of the first "Spider-Man" but also on Mr. Raimi's intuitive and enthusiastic grasp of the material. Read full review
90
SlateDavid Edelstein
It's the tone of the picture that's most striking. This is nothing less than a superhero's lament--Spidey Agonistes, a comic-book spectacle in which the primary struggles are behind the mask. Read full review
90
Washington PostStephen Hunter
The cutting is so sinuous and breathtaking, the music (by Danny Elfman after too much coffee) so onrushing and the camera so penetrative of the depths and heights of midtown Manhattan at cloud level, that the illusion, despite its artificiality, works. You don't believe it but you "believe" it. Read full review
89
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
Love, death, hope, and hatred: Spider-Man 2 has ’em all, in spades. Read full review
88
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
Raimi doesn't make the mistake of over-thinking the flimsy psychology of the genre. All this conflicted-hero stuff isn't meant to be profound; instead, it's there for the same reason as everything else -- to give the action (the interior action in this case) a healthy shot of pop energy. Read full review
88
Rolling StonePeter Travers
A sequel of twisted thrills and sly surprises. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMark Caro
Until it develops a bad case of verbosity toward the end, it improves upon its predecessor in almost every way, delivering flashier thrills while digging deeper into its characters and adding an overlay of wit. Read full review
88
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
A perfect blend of summer action, a big movie with a deeply personal story. Read full review
88
New York PostLou Lumenick
Sequels don't get much better - or smarter - than the action-, drama-, romance- and comedy-packed Spider-Man 2, which miraculously improves on the webslinger's hugely popular first screen adventure in every imaginable department. Read full review
80
L.A. WeeklyElla Taylor
Molina is an actor of unusually elastic gifts, but unlike Willem Dafoe, who has only to bare his scary teeth to send us all scampering for the exits, there's no getting around the fact that Molina has the face of a kindly basset hound even when it's contorted into a deadly grimace. Read full review
80
EmpireDan Jolin
This summer's most satisfying, spectacle-packed movie. Like its predecessor, it offers a strong story rather than a feeble excuse to connect set-pieces. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
As played by Alfred Molina with both computer-generated and puppeteer assistance, Doc Ock grabs this film with his quartet of sinisterly serpentine mechanical arms and refuses to let go. Read full review
80
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
The rare sequel that actually improves on the original, this robust entertainment's intelligence and emotional impact belie conventional wisdom that summer movie spectaculars are by nature brainless nonsense and only a stupid snob would complain about their cynical insubstantiality. Read full review
80
Film ThreatPete Vonder Haar
It’s easily the best movie of the summer so far. Sony has obviously given Raimi more freedom to run the show, and the results are very entertaining. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
The sequel is more exciting and surprising than the 2002 original, thanks largely to Molina's excellent acting. Only the strenuously comic scenes fall as flat as one of Spidey's leftover webs. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Although Sam Raimi's direction is generally solid (and, in some scenes, flawless), the film's middle act has instances when it seems repetitive and exposition-heavy. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
Raimi seems more comfortable being his outlandishly jokey, B-movie self, letting entire sequences play on the line between carefree schlock and Hollywood blockbusting. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
I also like that when Our Hero starts swinging from skyscrapers, he's not just emulating Tarzan, but is working out the Newtonian physics of action and reaction. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
As Dr. Octopus, Alfred Molina makes a more baroque supervillain than Willem Dafoe did as the Green Goblin, but the other stars--seem happy to be giving us more of the same. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)Peter Rainer
The set pieces, such as an unmasked Spider-Man trying to stop a runaway subway car, are furiously scary, and compensate for all the icky mooning and moping that Peter does whenever he's questioning his gift, which is most of the time. Read full review
63
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
Yet for all the fun the sequel provides, the series shows signs of wearing out quickly, unless characters get developed thoroughly and in unexpected ways. Read full review
60
The New YorkerAnthony Lane
Never has a blockbuster, I would guess, required so many soliloquies. What with the mournful Molina, the hazed-over Dunst, and the puffy uncertainties of Maguire, we in the audience are the only ones who still believe, without qualification, in thrill and spill. Read full review
60
Film ThreatRick Kisonak
A silly comic book movie with provocative psychological overtones. Or a provocative character study with silly comic book overtones. Take your pick. Either way, it's hardly the cinematic milestone it's widely hailed as being. Read full review
40
SalonCharles Taylor
For a big-budget action movie Spider-Man 2 is modest and not assaultive -- it has a boring decency. Read full review
40
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
As much as I enjoy Spidey's high-flying Cheez-Doodle swoops through the skyscraper canyons of a digitally rearranged midtown Manhattan, I get no kick from his angst, especially since in this incarnation, as opposed to the '60s comic book version, he's more innocuously depressed than defensively paranoid. Read full review
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