Filled with far more thrills and plenty of emotional complexity than the first film in the series, Spider-Man 2 could soar as high as its predecessor at the box office.

Though director Sam Raimi, helped by scriptwriter Alvin Sargent (Ordinary People), doesn't really succeed in making the film a compelling emotional drama, it is still interesting to watch the superhero (Tobey Maguire) eaten by self-doubt and confused more than ever by his attraction to Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst), the girl-next-door slipping away from him because of his emotional cowardice.

Despite some touching scenes not only between Spider-Man and Mary Jane but also between Spider-Man and his aunt, the movie really flies when the amazing hero is being chased between the city skyscrapers and through the subway by a hideous, creepy and formidable new villain, whose vast physique calls for even more special effect scenes than in the first film. The FX department, then, is more responsible for the new film's success than its emotional components.

Peter Parker, Spider-Man's alter ego, is torn by the enormity of  leading a double life. It is nearly impossible for him not to be the crime-fighting hero. Yet, he is consumed by angst because he could fail as a science student. He cannot even keep his job as a pizza delivery man for Aziz (Aasif Mandvi), for he is compelled to fly across the city to help the desperate.

Parker has convinced himself that a superhero cannot have a girlfriend or wife because his foes could harm her. Tired of her efforts to woo Parker, Mary Jane, who is trying to establish herself as an actress, gets a new boyfriend, astronaut John Jameson (Daniel Gillies), who is also the son of pulp newspaper editor J Jonah Jameson (J K Simmons).

Jameson, who buys pictures of Spider-Man from Parker, would love to banish the superhero for ever.

Parker is also haunted by the death of his uncle, and blames himself partly for the tragedy. It is not easy for him to let his aunt (Rosemary Harris), who has problems of her own, know about his guilt. But at a crucial stage, he feels the truth should come out.

Meanwhile, his childhood friend Harry Osborn (James Franco) continues to brood over his father's death at Spider-Man's hand. Osborn strongly feels that he must have his revenge.

As Parker struggles with his inner turmoil, he also feels physically drained, and his powers keep diminishing. But someone else's powers have suddenly started soaring, and it is not doing anyone any good. For the mild-mannered scientist Dr Otto Octavious (Alfred Molina, who is also seen as the endearing patriarch in the Broadway hit, Fiddler On The Roof) has accidentally been turned into a crazed villain. He also wears a mechanical suit that gives him, with certain manipulation of his spinal cord, four hideous and monstrous tentacles.

Maguire and Dunst infuse their characters with genial charm and lingering pain. But the scene stealer is veteran Rosemary Harris, who brings a quiet dignity and light comic touch to her character. As the blustering editor, J K Simmons has quite a few comic scenes. Playing a part in a mega-million-dollar movie for the first time in his career, Molina is quite impressive, even though his character is not developed with strong insights. We do not know at all if he has any anxiety or fear at what he has become. It is one of the several one-dimensional characters in the film.

And that also reminds us that scriptwriter Sargent was so pre-occupied in making Spider Man a three-dimensional character that he had perhaps no time or inclination to boost the other central characters in this saga.

CREDITS
Cast: Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Alfred Molina, Rosemary Harris and J K Simmons
Director: Sam Raimi
Screen story: Alfred Gough, Miles Millar, Michael Chabon, based on the Marvel comicbook by Stan Lee, Steve Ditko
Script: Alvin Sargent
Rating: PG-13
Running time: 2 hours 5 minutes
Producer: Columbia Pictures