A marketing success and a cinematic failure

Rating: 3/10 (1 June 2002)

More than anything else the success of Spider-man reflects the astute marketing strategy of its promoters. Relentless advertising and appropriate timing generated a huge wave of expectation that was sadly not fulfilled when one actually saw the film in the theatre. The best thing about the film was the casting of Tobey Maguire as Spider-man. Unfortunately the best parts of the film were those scenes that featured Maguire as Peter Parker without his super hero costume. Therefore the casting success of the superhero was somewhat neutralized by the fact that the actor (or the stunt double) spent most of the film under his costume. Detracting enormously from the movie was the feeling that the producers were constantly testing the waters for a possible sequel. Hence a thin story line already considerably pared down due to the necessity of including as many improbable stunts as possible, was weakened further by positing complex inter relationships among the main characters, which when realized on the screen appeared rather unconvincing. I paid good money to see Spider-man on the big screen, but you won't find me queueing up for its sequel which is almost a foregone conclusion.