Spider-Man 2

The second film of the series. Peter has been doing this for two years and his life has fallen apart. He is late to lectures, loses his job, cannot pay his rent, and cannot tell anyone why. His powers start cutting out. He does not stick to walls, no web comes, and his eyes fail; the doctor can find no cause. At the same time a scientist runs a fusion experiment. Otto Octavius fits a system that controls a set of arms; the experiment explodes, his wife is killed, and the arms start controlling him. From there the film tells two collapses in parallel. One is losing his power, the other is being taken over by his. What the narrative is interested in is not heroism but giving up: halfway through, Peter throws the suit in a bin and his life improves; the narrative presents that not as a mistake but as a real option. The train sequence is the centre of the film. Peter stops a train with no brakes, passes out, and the passengers carry him inside; his mask is gone and nobody says who he is. The operating theatre scene with Octavius is shot in the language of horror outright. The mechanical arms were largely made as puppets rather than by computer; several people operated each arm together. The film won an Academy Award for visual effects. Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, Alfred Molina, James Franco and Rosemary Harris are in the cast. Sam Raimi directed. Who it is for: anyone who wants character out of a superhero film; it was the measure in the genre for a long time. Who it is not for: anyone expecting dense action; most of the narrative is Peter's daily life.