Bad physics plus good CGI plus predictable plot equals predictable plot.

After watching Spider-man 2 and thinking what I just watched, I almost feel that I liked the movie despite itself. The plot is rather predictable for a super-hero movie. Bad stuff in Spider-man's life happens, so he decides to hang up the suit. Bad stuff ensues. Spider-man comes back and saves the day, and good stuff in both his life and the world happens.

The plot, while simple enough, is well pulled off. Throughout the movie you really feel for Spider-man's pain being a superhero. Too often when this plot is attempted elsewhere, it just seems the writers are forgetting some way the super-human powers could solve all the problems they cause. Not so with the case here. My biggest gripe with the plot is the introduction of Jameson's son, the great astronaut. It really felt like he was thrown into the mix only to be background fodder to solve another plot problem that Kirsten Dunst's character, Mary Jane, needed in order to make Spider-man feel even more miserable. That minor quibble aside, I really enjoyed the plot, and almost despite the movie's attempts to break me out of it with some bizarre sequences, it really sustained my disbelief throughout.

All in all, I really liked the movie, though I suspect I won't find it nearly as entertaining when I watch it again when it's released on DVD.