Here's thoughts after one viewing (bound to change)

Rating: 8/10 (3 May 2002)

Spider-Man fans will like Sam Raimi's Spider-Man; in translating the comic to the screen he's done little more than take the best parts of forty years of history and plastered it onto a movie screen for two hours. For die-hards, the best part is the perfect tone and great characters. Newcomers will enjoy the great visuals and Maguire's fantastic portrayal of everyman Peter Parker. It's a fun movie.
Readers will know the story, and those who don't will be able to predict most of the twists anyway. Peter is a likeable, shy nerd with a crush on the (literal) girl next door Mary Jane (Kirsten Dunst). He's bitten by a genetically engineered spider just as he makes his first advances toward MJ. As Peter tests out his new powers, his classmate's father, Norman Osborn (Willem Dafoe), is performing his own experiments, using a vague strength-enhancing serum on himself with rather nasty results. The two gain alter-egos and are brought into colorful conflict.
In any movie like this, the special effects are bound to hog the spotlight, but Maguire and the supporting cast do a wonderful job of making you care about the people surrounded by the explosions and spandex. Dafoe's Green Goblin is clearly in the vain of Jack Nicholson's Joker but Dafoe manages to give a memorable turn as the more human half of his character. Dunst as Mary Jane is great at subtly showing you the stuff going on behind her initially giggly facade. And J.K. Simmons steals all his scenes as Daily Bugle chief J. Jonah Jameson. If any character is the complete essence of his comic book counterpart, its Simmons as JJJ.
Like the rest of Raimi's best work, the camera in Spider-Man is completely unchained; it follows him through the air, out of windows, dive bombing with a joy that translates beautifully on the screen. Some shots of Spider-Man in action are, for a long-time fan, breathtaking. Raimi as director was a bold choice that really pays off. His handiwork is all over the film; devotees will recognize touches from Darkman and Army of Darkness among others.
The movie works for the same reasons the comic works. Some people might not like the frenetic changes of pace and tone but it's a touch right out of comic books, where pathos, action, and comedy mix every twenty-two pages. The movie hits all the right notes until it pauses after the conclusion of Spider-Man's origin. It loses some steam in its middle third, before it cranks up the juice for a great climax and a perfect epilogue that summarizes all that is great about Peter Parker: no matter his successes as Spider-Man, he will always be deficient as Peter Parker and vice versa. Throughout, the movie has the guts to remain true to the character, both in the costume and out. And they don't even use the silly cartoon theme song.