Buy it... if you wish to hear Danny Elfman's very strong, thematically satisfying sequel score in its original form, separate from the film's awkwardly poor treatment of it.

Avoid it... if you were hoping for a more contemporary and stylish turn to the franchise's scores or if, like many, you wonder why the director would force Christopher Young's music from Hellbound: Hellraiser II into this picture.

Spider-Man 2: (Danny Elfman) With the first installment of the Spider-Man franchise performing very well on the big screen in 2002, the cast and crew of the hit film soon began signing contracts for not just one sequel, but two. The comic-book hero is certainly not short on villains with whom he can battle in these movies, with a new bad guy of eight mechanical arms, Doc Ock, seeking his death in Spider-Man 2 and shades of that old Green Goblin coming back to haunt Peter Parker as well. The sequel has been heralded by both critics and audiences as being superior to the original, with a better combination of stress and love, a more intriguing villain, and the further development of tension between Parker and his crush, Mary Jane. Particularly striking in all three of the original Spider-Man films is the extremely sympathetic nature of its villains, each entry yielding progressively three-dimensional foes for the protagonist and each of whom requiring some dose of forgiveness for their actions. Despite the popularity of Danny Elfman's score for the first film in the series, the situation concerning director Sam Raimi and his evolving taste in music for the concept started causing problems in Spider-Man 2 that led to Elfman's abrupt and angry departure from the franchise. He still completed a full score for the second film, however, strengthening his reputation as a superhero music guru in Hollywood. Despite a plethora of other active contemporary composers with more training in orchestral writing, Elfman brings an element of imagination and capacity for frantic artistry that allows him to perhaps better keep pace with Spider-Man's vast swings, both emotionally and quite literally, than others in the composer's field. He is also no stranger to sequel scoring, either, having written an intellectually impressive score for Batman Returns that loyal fans of the composer cite as one of the best sequel scores in memory despite its devastating performance and recording issues.

Regardless of the fact that Elfman was happy with what he wrote and recorded for Spider-Man 2, Raimi requested substantial re-writes to his music too late in the post-production process for Elfman to complete. (The composer had headed off to London to work on Tim Burton's 2005 films.) On the emotional side, his disagreement with Raimi became heated and public, Elfman vowing at the time that the director had become a different person with whom he never wanted to work again. The spat represented one of the most public feuds between longtime composer/director collaborators in the digital era of film music, though time did eventually heal their issues, and they paired together on multiple major projects in subsequent decades. Elfman claimed at the time that Raimi had become obsessed with the temp track of Christopher Young's famous gothic themes from Hellbound: Hellraiser II for the Doc Ock "birth" scene, and while Elfman had written original music in nodding in that direction, Raimi was not satisfied. At that point, the composer was both frustrated and out the door, commenting that Raimi should simply hire Young himself. And so it happened, and Young provided the director with temp-faithful music for that Doc Ock scene and a total re-write for the later train battle sequence due to Elfman's departure prior to final edits. For other filler material, Hollywood music fixer John Debney was brought on board to fill in three other short cues as reshoots and edits required. Not surprisingly, despite receiving almost all the credit for the Spider-Man 2 score and some initial rumors that he would participate in Spider-Man 3, Elfman was done with the franchise. Ultimately, what exists as another very strong composition by Elfman for Spider-Man 2 is surprisingly one of the few strangely dissatisfying aspects of the film itself. Before discussing how the composer did or did not get dangled from the short end of the web, though, it's important to appreciate this sequel score as Elfman intended it to be heard, represented by two album presentations loyal to his work.

Unlike Batman Returns, the arguably less complicated Spider-Man 2 remains much more consistent in tone, thematic development, and instrumentation to the original film in the franchise. Elfman seems to have become better able to harness the excitement of comic book heroes and their villains without going overboard on each individual character's musical identity and thus losing focus of the underlying demeanor of the franchise. Some listeners have remarked that the very consistent extension of musical identity from the first to second score is the weakness of the latter, and during the opening credits and finale, the rehashes of identical bars of music may indeed bother those seeking greater narrative evolution. But where Elfman maintains the orchestral integrity of the first film to a triumphant degree is in the central mass of the work. The opening titles and finale pieces were probably rehashed note-for-note at the demand of the filmmakers, although Elfman does offer the new Doc Ock theme as the appropriate interlude in the opening titles at the 1:20 mark in this recording. Comparing the opening sequences for sheer power of performance, a case could be made that the recording of the second film's score features a more robust stance, highlighted by the statement of the main theme at 1:40 and offering Elfman's choral colors at their best. The rest of the score similarly improves upon the first score's symphonic stature, the composer pulling some very impressive, awe-inspiring action sequences out of his hat and thus keeping the sequel refreshing to the ears. The choral presence, extending out of the titles and into several major cues, is managed well in Spider-Man 2, culminating in the inspiring "Really Big Web" cue near the end. The love theme for Peter Parker and M.J. has a more believable heart behind its performances as well, a greater quantity of tender moments between them in this score leading to additional development of the idea and culminating in the still slightly troubled "At Long Last, Love." Most importantly, Elfman's techniques at mutating and weaving themes together can be heard extensively in the entirety of Spider-Man 2, the significant amount of time devoted to their interactions a definite plus.

The balance between the main Spider-Man theme and Parker's responsibility theme is extremely well conveyed in this score, the two sharing softer instrumentation in passages like "Peter's Turmoil" and "Aunt May Packs" that mark a greater maturity for both ideas. The responsibility theme continues to be Elfman's most alluring identity, providing not only the work's most poignant character appeal but also serving as a tool of accelerating anticipation for the main theme as Parker's duties call to him. Casual listeners may hear nothing really new in either of these themes' renditions here, or even in the less heralded love theme, but the spotting and execution of these themes is admirable. The villains' identities will garner far more attention, however. Whereas the Green Goblin theme in Spider-Man was technically challenging to reference in more linear rhythms due to its smartly twisted progressions, the Doc Ock material in the second score is conveyed with a static series of movements that emulates portions of Spider-Man's own theme, making it rather easy for Elfman to appropriately mingle their phrases. The fact that Doc Ock's theme consists of eight notes is reportedly due to the coinciding number of limbs on the villain, yet again pointing to Elfman's sense of humor. The theme contains just enough comic book bloat, the kind of circus-like, borderline-deranged rhythmic pomposity, to fit nicely in the genre. There's also a stomping fanfare for Doc Ock's full menace, heard at the starts of "A Hostage" and "Out for the Count." These moments are a bit over-the-top in their personality, but this is a comic book villain; that pomp factor is inherently expected. But unlike times in the past when Elfman nearly wrote an entire carnival-appropriate piece for the villain, the Doc Ock theme consists of the same orchestral construct as the rest of the surrounding music, acknowledging the character's well-meaning origins and allowing the identity to be referenced smoothly throughout the score's action sequences. In fact, the composer does a very noble job of referencing all of his themes for the series in his fast-paced passages of full of adventure. Just as the Batman theme could be linked anywhere with as little as two notes, the same can be done with the primary Spider-Man theme and the auxiliary ideas in these sequels.