Spider Man (2002) Review

"With great power comes great responsibility."

It has been 15 years since Spider-Man has swung out of the big screen. Since Spidey is now part of the MCU and is again getting a de novo movie, I figured it would be great to revisit both the Sam Raimi trilogy and the Marc Webb films. The first time I saw this movie was also the first time I went to an Alamo Drafthouse where you can buy food and beer while watching your movies which I thought was really cool. And they have a very strict no talking or texting policy which should please anyone who hates annoying moviegoers who do those things. Initially, I liked parts of the movie but wasn't fully into it. Perhaps because of its PG-13 subject matter and I was only 11. I didn't watch much of it later even though we had it on DVD. But watching it again, I was more invested in it.

Tobey Maguire plays Peter Parker a geek who gets ridiculed by his fellow students and even the bus driver. Funny how these cliches still survived early in the 21st century. The only ones who are nice to him are his best friend Harry and the girl he loved when he was young, Mary Jane Watson. While on a field trip, Peter gets bitten by a super spider and gets perfect eyesight and amazing abilities like climbing walls and shooting webs. He is so excited over his new powers but his Uncle Ben warns him about going too far with his new persona and says the abovementioned famous comic book line. When Uncle Ben is murdered by a thug Peter allowed to get away, he decides to use his powers more responsibly, thus becoming your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. However, Harry's dad, Norman Osbourn, who is a father figure to Peter, undergoes a drastic change when he experiments some performance enhancers on himself and becomes the Green Goblin. Spidey now has to stop Gobbie from wrecking havoc and putting MJ in danger.

Tobey Macguire does a fine job showing vulnerability as Peter Parker, excluding ugly cry face, and showing great integrity as everyone's favorite web-slinger. I really enjoy his enthusiasm when he discovers his powers. The part where he tries to shoot webs again still cracks me up after 15 years. But his development is very solid when he begins a journey to adulthood with his new identity.

Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane Watson I thought was a bit weak, feeling a bit bland (though I've heard she's done better work) and being someone who has to be saved several times. And her scenes with Peter feel like a cheesy teen drama. Still, I kinda have a soft spot for MJ because she's a redhead and to confess I love redheads. Plus who can't forget that iconic kiss between them? James Franco was another weak link, just feeling like he was there however you can see that they're setting up more development for him in the next movies.

Cliff Robertson and Rosemary Harris are great as Uncle Ben and Aunt May, giving Peter a lot of support. Robertson does an exceptional job in his penultimate scene with Tobey Macguire, again delivering the monolog with the famous responsibility line.

But then you have J. Jonah Jameson played by future Oscar winner JK Simmons. This is one of the best, if not the best casting choice of a non-superhero role in a comic book movie. Simmons brings this character to life so spectacularly! He may be this biased man who wants to paint Spider-Man as a menace but he is just so enjoyable!

"He doesn't want to be famous?! Then I'll make him infamous!"

Plus there's a bit more to him when Green Goblin presses him to rat out on Peter but he doesn't. Though, the Daily Bugle's next newspaper headline read "SPIDER-MAN GREEN GOBLIN TERRORIZE BUGLE. Editor in Chief Braves Attack." That is so Jameson. Of course, a Marvel movie like this wouldn't be complete without a Stan Lee cameo. This was back then when he was either in the background or shown for a second like in this movie. It's funny how every cameo with him now is like "Look! It's Stan Lee! and he's saying or doing something funny!" But I love it. On top of that, since this is a Sam Raimi movie, Bruce Campbell makes a cameo as a wrestling announcer who comes up with the name Spider- Man. Well played, Raimi. Well played.

Willem Dafoe as the Green Goblin...man, he is so over the top, but I love it! I really like the Jekyll and Hyde angle the movie takes for Norman Osbourn's struggle. That mirror scene is very reminiscent of Evil Dead II when Ash's reflection talks back to him. Plus Peter's relationship with Norman makes the conflict all the more interesting. And yeah, as I said, his performance as the Goblin is very hammy but that's part of the character or so I've heard. I love how his eyes bulge out and how you can even see his mouth move behind the mask. One of my favorite scenes with him is when he knocks Spidey out with sleeping gas which he never uses it again in the movie. Just the way he says "Sleeeeeeeep!" made me laugh. He then takes Spider-Man to a rooftop to monolog to him that the peoples' perspective on him will change. He even gives him a friendly pat on the back like they're chums! If any of you don't like this kind of performance, "Well, to each his own."

What about the FX? Sometimes they look good like the web-slinging scenes. Other times, not so much in other instances. This is like Superman where some of the effects like the flying scenes still look great but then you have cheap ones like the twirling Phantom Zone. The opening title sequence doesn't look that good in my opinion, with the exception of Danny Elfman's excellent score. It felt more like the intro to Spider-Man the Video Game. Luckily the FX would get better with the other movies.

In spite of that and a couple of subpar performances, Spider-Man still holds up in my opinion. It owes its success to the lead, the supporting cast, the pacing, and most of the FX. This would be another stepping stone for Marvel as they would give more high-quality movies in the future by other studios and on their own. I prefer this movie over the first X-Men movie because it can stand out on its own while the X-Men's first film contains mostly set-up for the characters but it has some cool things, too. Back then when I first saw it, I had a small feeling this would be the beginning of something big when I saw the page flipping Marvel logo. Just look at far Marvel came.

RATING: STRONG APPROVAL