I'm just cutting to the meat of your post to try and give (a hopefully brief) counterpoint and counterbalance.
First and foremost the first movie does feature a Parker with problems post-powers I'd argue. Besides the whole pesky thing about feeling guilt for his uncle's death-thingy, he does feel responsible for Aunt May getting attacked. He does deal with his best friend dating the love of his life, behind his back.
ah, c'mon, parker aunt may gets attacked twice over the franchise, apart from a small scene in a hospital in the first film, parker no longer cares, he doesn't show her any emotion by being kidnapped by ock. For all we know, the next time he sees her is when he confesses his uncle's death is his fault.
I have no issues with him living elsewhere BUT you can't tell me that the dearest person to you has their house explode and can't make the bills and you happily also struggle in town in a ONE BEDROOM APARTMENT (he's not even sharing or in a dorm) with a MOPED and not find a problem with that. The way the story is set up makes him seem not care. All that were required were a few lines of explanation. That isn't a strict comic book adhesion thing, that's simply a continuity flaw.
Now you'll point out none of those are financial or crippling problems, this is true. It was the glossiest of the three movies (though superior to SM3, by far). However, this is rectified in SM2 IMO. You seem to have really missed the point of that film. MJ is the centerpiece of his heartache because he has taken this responsibility to an unhealthy level and it is costing him. But MJ has nothing to do with him doing bad in school, losing his pizza job or having not enough money to pay the rent. That is all due ot being Spidey.
For me to illustrate this point, you have to take into account spidey 3 where nothing has changed in peter's life except for having MJ and now he's on top of the world?
Looking at the before and after, MJ and not having harry as a friend are the only things that have changed, yet now he is fine with rent (why mj never moved in, i'll never know), getting money from somewhere and is an excellent scholar.
This shows clearly all his earlier 'problems' had nothing to do with spiderman at all. In fact his spidey persona was enough to pay the bills but he shows to no longer get many shots of him and it hindered his income, so spidey was in fact helping him. As he should have been in the comics and how he did in the first film. The only thing i can relate to the studies is that he's not in class thinking about mj which is why he's doing better.
The thing that cuts deepest to him, is he thinks it prevents him from pursuing MJ or love in general, but it is his own self-isolation that is the problem.
This is a fault that goes back to the very first line of the first movie, love should not be parker's paramount driving force, or at least that kinda love.
This movie does what you originally wanted, being Spider-Man sucks. He doesn't have the girl, gets no resepect for 2/3 of the movie and is stepped on at work, school and home by his bosses, peers and tennants. His best friend is estranged from him due to his secrecy and he also can blame himself for Aunt May not being able to pay the rent because of Uncle Ben's death.
NO. This film shows PETER PARKER SUCKS and it also has no reason to really deal with spidey.
He doesn't have the girl because peter parker rejected the girl (albeit on spidey's account)
He gets no respect because Peter Parker is an idiot
He is stepped on at work because peter parker has no backbone (see how he's treated when he gets the black symbiote to understand)
He gets stepped on in school because peter parker is still for some reason a NERD
He gets stepped on by his landlord because peter parker no longer wants to sell images of spider-man and can't make ends meet
he gets stepped on by harry because peter parker can't make up a single lie about how he hates spiderman and is only taking pictures of him so the bugle can lynch him.
Him helping his aunt out has nothing to do with being spidey, Peter parker doesnt
His uncle's death in the film was always about peter and not spidey.
When you look at it in this form, you see he's clearly using his alter ego as a scapegoat for the problems in his life but it's him who is the problem. Again, this is highlighted in spidey 3 where nothing really has changed, infact he's taken up more responsibility and his world is perfect.
He regresses. His journey is about turning his back on his responsibilities and trying to return to a more care-free adolesence. That is why he is wearing glasses agai, really. He is being very selfish and pursuing his own interests, much like a college kid will ignore classes and instead of playing on a playground will got get drunk and laid at a party.
Again this story really didn't need to be told. By the end of the first film he already seems fairly balanced with mj being the only part of the equation missing. that was fine.
if they wished to do a spidey 'no more' storyline, why not actually have his antics as spidey seemingly affect someone negatively before he gives it up instead of this 'love' line. Have the love come as a result of it. then it gives both peter parker and spider-man pros and cons and keeps it all very simple instead of making all these lies about balance.
parker's an intelligent guy, you can't tell me after years of being spidey, he suddenly became uneasy with the load and now only managed it with the additions of wanting a fiance. Overall, it's too fairy tale with all these dust sized problems being made bigger issues than they are in the next installment.
At the very worst, keep him struggling in 3 (at the beginning) and then have the symbiote come in and that's when the glory and the vanity and the balance and the fan love and sandman loathing all come in. It makes the symbiote more influential in spidey's life and thus makes spidey's attraction to it more dangerous.
you see what i mean here about taking from one movie and using it in the next for fluidity?
Now as for Aunt May and Uncle Ben, two characters who you think were neglected in SM2, I'd disagree. Throughout the movie Peter feels guilty for Aunt May's woes. He tries to give her the $20 back, but she won't take hand outs from her nephew. It is like a deleted scene in the first movie where Uncle Ben refuses to allow Peter to take a job to help pay the utilities. They don't think Peter needs to but he feels bad. You see this by his face when he talks to her or when they visit Uncle Ben's gravestone.
I'm sorry but this is a weak excuse for respect. Your only living relative was attacked by a murderer and had her house blown up and you don't move back in? You openly go against your uncle's pledge and you never show a sign of reconciling or mention it again.
Parker.Is.Selfish.
Not.One.Dime.Did.He.Give.to.His.AUnt.For.ANything.
The very first episode of the 90s animation, the VERY FIRST, pete goes on a bounty hunt for jonah to get pics of spidey/lizard. Spidey has hopes for this cash but notices an unpaid bill at his aunt's house. He wins the money and gives her the cash. THAT IS PETER PARKER. VERY FIRST EPISODE. Night of the lizard (here's the last segment of it)
It's such a peter parker thing to do that it's included right off the bat.
in nearly seven hours of footage, we don't get that, he takes mj out for a meal but has never done anything for his aunt. Powers or no powers, that's just rude.
I don't think you can really make a case for this dude.
Yes, he swings away after saving her in SM2, but that is a cinematic image that is to make the audiences cheer, no different than the chopper flying West, AWAY from the mainland at the end of Jurassic Park into the sunset. No different than why did the blonde go upstairs where she heard chirpping in The Birds other than, Hitchcock said "Because I said so." For cinematic experience. I'd also point out that it happened similarly in one incident in the comics where he saved May from the Scorpion and swang away without returning, only she was scared of Spidey instead of happy HE SAVED HER..
Nah, the parallels between superman and spider-man have been all too apparent during this trilogy and here is one moment where it's not also taken up where it would be greatfully useful.
His aunt nearly got a safe dropped on her head and fell from a building side twice and he never is shown checking up on her.
If you're going to make a segment like that, why not have an extra two minutes to have him return with his aunt and access the situation as peter parker as well as giving his excuses for leaving the scene.
If they can dedicate more screen time to peter fumbling in a closet with a broom than checking if his aunt's ok, then there is something seriously wrong.
there's nothing to base your 'returning assumption on' parker was well gone and never looked back for any reason. Fair enough it was probably the nicest web slinging shot of the film but it was only put in there as a transition shot between scenes.
Heck, at the very least have this be another reason for why spidey gives up his powers since he feels guilty for not being able to return soon because he has to travel a few blocks to change in peace. Can you imagine that with all that has happened with his aunt, she never comes into the equation as a reason to stop, i.e. to protect her since she's been in the most danger.
As for Uncle Ben, yes he rejects Uncle Ben at first, again turning his back on his responsibilities and trying to prevent growing up (something Quesada wants right now in the comics). But after the fire incident and May's speech he seems to acknowledge he was wrong. He knows he has to become Spidey again and does. Just because they don't reiterate it for the umpteenth time does not mean it still doesn't matter to him.
It clearly does in SM3 when he tries to avenge Ben Parker. I'd agree that at the end of SM3, they are saying Peter has grown past that phrase and does what he does because he thinks it is right and is no longer guilt ridden. A huge departure from the comics that I won't argue if you hate. But his guilt still present throughout all of SM3 until the last 10 minutes and all of SM2. He also
This is poor and doesn't emphasise the same thing.
Parker rejects his uncle face to face. I'm not even sure if that's ever happened before. Not only this, he doesn't reconcile and for what reason. The dream clearly marks the loss of his powers, surely have a dream to mark the return.
The hop skippity/jump and glasses trick (also done for the umpteenth time i might add) could have easily been replaced by another subconcious ride with uncle ben followed by him busting out of his coma. Job done not time wasting, clear cut cinema with everything done to the letter. Instead we are left with limbo.
May i add parker's emotions about his uncle in the third act were more of vengeance than respect for his power/responsibility line. They don't correlate and it certainly doesn't imply things are better after there last confrontation.
As for Harry, I'll just say that he probably made overtures to Harry thoughout the time between SM2 and SM3 but failed to make headway. That is implied as MJ knows Peter hasn't been able to get in contact with Harry at all recently. That also likely means he never told MJ who GG was, at it was moot to her at this point (or so he thought). Yeah that is bad communication, but that is a central focal point of SM3, if you recall. As for him not trying to comfort Harry after waking up in SM2, I'm sorry but he just woke up and found
MJ's not deaf, she heard harry talking to pete about the goblin probably both at the funeral in the first film and also at his birthday in the second film. If she was as close to harry as they implied (i mean she was at her wedding), then she knew about his father being killed by spider-man and his quest to avenge. Let's say for argument she didn't hear. She is still aware that one of her friends hates spiderman and wants him dead, the fact that is never brought up in a discussion is strange.
I don't think parker made any attempt after spidey 2. Heck it was probably a few weeks between spidey saving mj and her wedding and i doubt he made any attempts then either. It's obvious parker hadn't spoken to harry since their last encounter in two where he bled him dry for information and insensitively left to never return.
I don't expect him to do it at the time but returning to it would be on my listof things to certainly do if i were in that situation and parker is more thoughtful than i am.
On Doc Ock, yes I'd say he was brilliantly achieved in the movie, SM2. Yeah, you may not like the origin but whether it was Molina, the script or the likely combination of the two (I say the latter), he had one of the mostmemorable screen presences of a comic book villain to date. I prefer Dafoe's Goblin as it is closer to the comics, but pretty much all non-fans rank Ock as #1 in the series and both joins the ranks of Nicholson's Joker, McKellan's Magneto and Pffiefer's Catwoman as the upper-tier of comic book movie villains.
If you had not seen what ock is capable of, then you may have a point. I also think that the well achieved special affects may have also clouded your opinion.
I will say i don't care about origins, origins are a means for an ends as long as the character remains intact. All in all i felt it was alright except for the inhibitor chip which really served no purpose. All that needed to be done at the surgery table was mention some radiation poisoning that occurred when the metal was fused to his spine causing an alteration to his brain (or something to that line). Bam, he's evil and it makes sense.
Here are ock criteria they missed out.
He is an evil genius, GENIUS!!! The fact his experiment failed out of incompetence instead of negligence (absent mindedness looking for funding etc) and then the stupid bastard tried it again makes it one of the stupidest schemes ever. Not a good start especially when an not-so-clever parker tells you it's going to fail straight away.
He doesn't get touched. First criminal encounter, spidey hits ock with a bag full of money. that's it, roll credits, film over. He's a fat middle aged old man, he's not the terminator, how can anyone seriously watch him get pounded on the face multiple times and think that's ok
in less than one minute, ock gets punched to the face
12 TIMES, gets kneed in the ribs and gets headbutted (original film footage). Regardless of storytelling, if a normal man hit mike tyson 12 times in the face, head butted him and kneed him (all fairly unanswered), he'd go down. IF SPIDERMAN HIT TYSON ONCE WHEN HIS AUNT'S LIFE WAS IN DANGER, HE'D BE IN HOSPITAL FOR A MONTH. All the fight scenes were like this. Even osborne didn't take a beating like this, he surrendered after five/siz punches and he was wearing ARMOUR!!!!!
in tas, in ultimates, and in 616, spidey's always lost his first encounter with ock. in spidey 2, spidey beats him so bad, he has to use an old woman for bait (who also gets some nice licks in) and runs away. OCK RUNNING AWAY????? Why was the need to change the formulae
The danger of ock is knowing how easy it would be to take him out, if only you could get close enough. He knows it, you know it, everyone knows it. He manipulates his tentacles to keep you busy, he's so damn good at it, he can do other stuff while in battle. Where were all these elements? Ock could barely keep up with spidey in all their three encounters and was always on his back foot in battle. Sure he could scare normal people but he had nothing on spidey which was really the wrong way to go when showcasing spidey's greatest villain. Spidey got bigger licks from sandman in their first fight where he clearly lost like a *****, how come ock never got this respect. Ock should have put his this lil punk in hopsital first time round.
where was this
or this
don't tell me it's the 'you're getting on my nerves' scene because ock picked up a limp half powered spidey from the floor and then followed to get overpowered and get knocked out of the building by a flying table
the battles were too even.
He also was happily willing to go and be a spoilt drunk rich kid's errand boy in search for tritium. If you had ock's powers, would you deal with harry or take what you want and threaten to kill him regardless. He wasted a whole day looking for spidey, one whole day. Why should he have been in that situation, no ock i know would have gone that low, it weakened every scene he was supposed to be menacing in because if harry said jump, he said 'how high'. Way to go raimi....
can you imagine Norman running errands for harry, or Zod, or magneto?
makes you think, doesn't it?
. Spidey makes no attempt to help or rescue doc ock, he just crawls all over his web, making small talk with MJ (who btw is the bastion of importance
Like I keep saying, Raimi just doesn't get spider-man.
reaction to the haircut back in June 2006, come May 2007, it was old new. 
