I absolutely loved the trilogy of Spider-Man films (yes, I even loved number 3! I am not getting on the bandwagon to bag the movie just because everyone else does. It's actually pretty good and no other person's argument to the contrary has been successful in convincing me otherwise.)
Anyway, back to what I was saying. I love the way that while they are all individual stories in their own right, they can be viewed as one entire story. It's a bit like that other famouse trilogy. You can think of the Spider-Man trilogy like the original Star Wars trilogy. Spider-Man 2 is a bit like The Empire Strikes Back because it is a bit darker and like Luke, Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) is still trying to use his powers and is filled with doubt.
So the story continues with Peter losing his job, his studies are suffering due to his extra-curricular nocturnal activities, loses his girlfriend, Mary-Jane (Kirsten Dunst) and is now starting to lose his powers. While observing Dr Otto Octavius (Alfred molina) attempting to create fusion energy, a horrible accident occurs and Spider-Man gets to see the birth of his next nemesis, Dr Octopus who has the artificial limbs melded to his spinal column and taking over his personality.
In short the story is Doc Oc is wanted to recreate his failed experiment but on a bigger scale putting the whole of New York at risk. To do this, he needs funds and so robs a bank where Peter happens to be trying to help his Aunt May to get a loan to keep her house. This is Spidey's first fight with the good Doctor and ends up having to try and save Aunt May.
The character storyline has Peter realising that he just wants to be normal and have Mary-Jane and so he makes a terrible decision to throw away the costume. He starts to do better at his studies and even Mary-Jane notices. Meanwhile his best friend, Harry Osborn, who lost heaps of money when Dr Octavius' experiment failed, is wanting revenge for the death of his father and in return for the Trillium Doc Ock requires, he asks for Spider-Man to be delivered to him alive, so he can kill him. Peter is forced back into his Spidey suit when Mary-Jane is abducted leading to a massive set piece on a El-Train with a fight between Spidey and the Doc on the outside and inside of the train. You will need to see the rest to see how it ends, and like Star Wars Episode V, the end of left open with evil getting ready to strike.
So what is the difference between Spider-Man 2 and 2.1? Not a lot. There are an additional eight minutes of footage and it is all extended scenes, including completed CGI work that could not be done for the original movie. So, is it worth owning? If you are a completest, of course it is. The DVD is a two-disc set and comes with some OK extra features, including a number of them on Spider-Man 3. If you enjoyed the second movie and are happy with that, then this extended version is not going to make much difference for you.
As a movie, the extended version scores an 8 out of 10. If you get the opportunity to see it, you will still enjoy it.
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