DaFoe truly was wonderful

Rating: Null/10 (7 May 2002)

I thought this movie was quite effective, and was certainly far better than I expected. This film proves that by combining enough talent to make a decent film, along with an uber-agressive marketing campaign and a character that already has mounds of fans from many different generations, not only can a film be highly successful on opening weekend, but it can continue to do well (as I'm sure it will) because the audience is given just what they want and deserve.
This film has been well received by those critics who understand how wide a demographic this film had to please. Therefore, the film had to serve many roles for many people. Firstly, the film couldn't be overly complicated, which is wasn't. This was perfect for the smaller kids, who would love the quick action(which some say were too quick, but I'm sure the producers didn't want to scare children with gratuitous violence) and the borderline cartoony flavor of the film.
For teens, there is the ability to identify with Peter Parker's flaws and vicariously delight in his new found superpowers and his overcoming of the school bully. For the girls, there was the romance between Mary Jane and Parker, which was effective.
For adults, there is William DaFoe, who gave a SORELY underrated performance. I have heard so many critics say he did a horrible job, and I am so disappointed in this. Would they have rather ARNOLD play the character? Jesus, if anyone else had played the character of Norman Osborn, it would have been a disaster. He played it off so well that he was far more realistic than any other character. They blame DaFoe for the shortcomings of the character, but the character was true to the comic. I have heard critics insulting the "insanity scenes" where Norman talks to himself in a mirror, but it was supposed to be dramatic, and he did a job that few could match. Hearing him laugh near the ending when his son arrived was hysterical.
Older folks taking their grandkids will love Ben and Aunt May, who were a bit hokey, but I'm sure they wouldn't appear that way to loving grandparents.
Of course, J.Jonah Jameson was terrific ("Mr. Jameson, your wife is on the phone, she wants to know..." ::CLICK::) and one of my favorites was BONE SAW, the wrestler "Three minutes of PLAYTIME." Even the criminal who killed Uncle Ben was well played. Wonderful casting ALL AROUND.
Yeah, I guess you could say I liked it =) The only disappointments were the full fledged CG in the action scenes... a few more Bruce Lee type scenes would have been far better (and cheaper) than the computer animated scenes (it is just hard to identify with "sprites") and the corniness of some of the lines, as well as the arbitrary tagline, and the "American Flag" ending, which was bordering "Independence Day" corniness... but once again, this was supposed to be a comic book like film, so I understand that any of the hokey parts were probably done on purpose, as well as the "thank God for this, thank God for that..." and "Peter, you said asked 'Aunt May, Aunt May, is that an ANGEL?'" which were aimed towards the 'ignorant, blindly patriotic and Christian American masses' demographic.
So maybe it wasn't the greatest action film in history, but it was certainly the best of the best when it comes to comic book adaptations.