so, “the amazing spider-man” part deux wasn’t very amazing. in fact, it was downright cheesy. i have a thing against cheesiness, as you can tell. sometimes i think cheesy movies can be done well, but this wasn’t one of those times. there were way too many inspirational speeches: one from aunt may, one from mary-jane, one from doctor octavius, one from his professor, … and the list goes on. we get it: he has a hero-complex. jeez, as if smallville didn’t have enough emotional superhero baggage.

the action scenes were awesome, i’ll give the movie that. they were adrenaline-pumping, heart-stopping, roller-coaster rides. ok, i’m going a bit overboard, but they were very good. the computer effects were done better in this second installment of the spider-man series than the first. i got more into the film because i wasn’t thinking to myself, “god, that looks so damn fake!” the whole time (as i did during the first movie). also, the soundtrack for the movie is fantastic!

kirsten dunst is just… blech. i don’t like her in the role of mary jane watson. she’s too dumpy. (i voted for a red-headed kate bosworth as the beautiful yet girl-next-door mary jane.) tobey maguire was as cute as ever in spider-man 2, except for that subway scene where his face scrunched up and he looked constipated. i still believe that tobey makes the best peter parker, even with my guy friends’ belief that he looks “too gay.” on a related note, i loved the cameos by stan lee (mr. marvel himself) and bruce campbell (again).