Spider-Man 2.2

So this edit, Spider-Man 2.2 by the mythical Bobson Dugnutt is 'the definitive edition' of the movie. It gets as Spectacular as it can get. 'Nuff said.

This was my first time seeing the Director's Cut (2.1) of Spider-Man 2, a film I haven't seen in years and only have seen through the internet's own interpretation. I have to say that it still very much holds up, and Bobson Dugnutt's 2.2 edit make it just the icing of the cake. By replacing certain scenes from its 2.1 release with it theatrical release, the flow of the film is tighter and doesn't overstay their welcome. This is the best way to view this film, so props to him!

Spider-man 2.2*
Peter Parker sacrificed his personal happiness and nearly died for our sins.

Raimi’s Spider-man continues with its biggest film yet. More humor, more action, and more tragedy than ever before. Parker this time doubling up on the responsibility with Harry Osborn’s vendetta, MJ’s newfound relationship and success, and the latest big bad in Doctor Otto Octavius.

The films continues to be primarily interested in Parker’s journey so much so that it relegates Mary Jane to a plot device in it’s films. Yet as a journey focused on Parker’s continued struggle of personal happiness and responsibility, it’s still a slam bang of a film. Parker’s sacrifice is brought to the forefront, as he is forced to re-confront his reasons for being Spider-man, complete with a cameo by Cliff Robertson as Uncle Ben, and has to choose to become the personal saviour of the city, complete with some Jesus Christ visual analogues (the train sequence).

This time they’ve got the villain design right, adding a dash of tragedy on top of the villain as Doc Ock is also a victim and not just a maniacal mad man. They’ve upped the action sequences as well, with some fantastic set-pieces like the train and the diner scene.  Harry Osborn and Mary Jane are beefed up as Peter struggles with his obvious secret with his two closest friends. The conversations between the two pairs are stronger than the theatrical as they’re extended, we get a bit more insight into both support characters’ psyche and justifications. MJ can’t just wait around for Peter and Osborn isn’t just obsessive over Spidey but also alludes to Parker’s own uncle and his own obsession on finding out his Uncle’s killer.

All the while the films continue their leisurely jaunt through the classic Spider-man themes, nerdy parker, techno jargon, quick spidey action, classic villains. Adeptly mixing it with Raimi’s sensibilities, goofy jokes, melodramatic angst, and classic horror. It’s a mix that works best in this film as Ock makes up a great visual villain, particularly his origin sequence in the hospital. The Sony Spidey films never connected with me as much the Fox X-men films did, and it’s still true to this day, yet this second film is the upper echelon of all Spidey films.

Spider-man 2.2 fanedit review
The version I watched was a fanedit that spliced in additional deleted scenes into Spider-man 2.1. I believe Spider-man 2.1 was the studio released extended version. Having only been familiar with theatrical, honestly, I could hardly tell which scenes were affected and that’s the credit to the editor’s fantastic visual and audio editing and probably the excellent 2.1 version.

The two that I caught that were new to me were Parker walking home with the mangled Vespa scooter, which continuity wise felt off and absolutely unnecessary as his scooter got mangled during a car chase. Second is the addition of the J. Jonah Jameson in the Spidey outfit which is the greatest deleted scene of all time. The rest were all input fantastically. Looking at the cutlist well, it looks like those two weren’t the editor’s choices at all. 

The two choices that were seem to be the correct choices, and yes the GOOOOO by the Pizza Manager is over the top but so FUN!

To echo what those below have said: this is the definitive version of the best pre-MCU Spidey movie. While Molina's Doc Ock is the scene-stealer of the movie, watching JJJ leap around his office cosplaying in red-and-blue spandex will never get old.

The original SM2 is one of the best marvel-films still, and seen it so many times at home as a kid (14 yo). not seen it for a while and I can't really compare it with this cut yet! But of what I remember, this cut makes it better in every way!
The go to version of course!