Our Movie Reviews Spider-Man
Release Year: 2002
Average Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Last Reviewed On: May 10, 2002 (by Scott)


Michelle's Review:
4 out of 5 stars on May 10, 2002

I never read the Spider-Man comics, or watched the cartoons. I *did* however, see Spider-Man everyday on The Electric Company when I was a kid. He'd look up whenever he said something and instead of speaking, what he said would show up in a thought bubble.

This is not that Spider-Man.

Spider-Man the movie, is pretty fantastic overall. Very low cringe factor (unlike the highly cringable Phantom Menace), and besides great action scenes, and good dialog (only one cheesy line in the movie), there's a very good romantic storyline as well. Spider-Man is very well rounded.

I had no idea who Spider-Man's foe's were, so the Green Goblin is a totally new experience to me. But he was a pretty good villian I thought. His cackle was actually creepy. And Willem Dafoe played the insanity of the character very well.

Tobey Maguire was actually believeable as Spider-Man most of the time. I think he was a casting choice much like Michael Keaton was with Batman. Everyone thought he was an odd choice, but Tobey plays the role of both Spider-Man and Peter Parker very well. I just want to know how he made that fancy suit all by himself, and why it didn't look like a pair of pajamas like it probably would have in reality ;-)

The movie felt allot like the Superman movies at times, but it's subtle. and, I think it's on purpose. It gives the film a sense of familiarity, which is comforting.

Excellent movie, I just hope they don't ruin it with the sequels like they did with both Superman and Batman. Just once, i'd love to see Hollywood care about the quality of the movies rather then just the money.

Yeah, I know, i'm laughing at the chances of that ever happenning too..


Scott's Review:
4 out of 5 stars on May 10, 2002

I read a lot of comic books as a kid. Perhaps not as much Marvel as most geeks, but I probably know the Spider-Man storyline as well as any geek. That said, this movie really managed to stay true to the original story and still be a great movie.

There were changes. The biggest change was the source of Spider-Man's web. Though, I think this, and most of the changes, really weren't a bad thing. They served to modernize the story, and make it more believable and enjoyable. None of the changes caused me to think they weren't staying "true" to the original story. Actually, I can see how most of the original elements they changed would have caused problems when they compressed the story and brought it to the big screen.

The movie itself was very well paced. When you stuff a tragic loss, love story, coming to terms, and a couple of CGI fight sequences in one movie, things tend to end up a jumbled mess. That really didn't happen with this flick. It was enjoyable throughout.

I have a few complaints, however. Most of them are with the Green Goblin. I suppose when you take a villain out of a comic book, they'll tend to feel a little flat, and well, comic book like. This is no exception.

That aside, it's really a great flick, and my complaints really only occurred after the movie, there weren't any problems big enough to cause problems with my suspension of disbelief and enjoyment of the movie.


-- Scott and Michelle