a decent movie FOR ADULTS

Rating: Null/10 (28 January 2003)

Fortunately, my kids are really rather sensible. They refused to go see this movie in the theaters with me, because they thought it would be too scary & they refused to watch it when I finally rented it & brought it home. I was a bit mystified, seeing as I thought Spider-man was a children's comic strip character.
Turns out the kids were right. I need to learn to listen to them. This movie is very scary. The violence is graphic, disgusting, and bloody. The characters, even some of the good guys, are mean and unfair to the point that I couldn't see why Spider-man didn't just collapse with despair.
Still, the acting is top notch. Tobey Maguire shows incredible depth and versatility in this role. Willem Dafoe & Kirsten Dunst are excellent as well. They all show a great deal of psychological complexity -- not at all cartoonish. Of course, the psychological complexity makes it even more a movie for adults, rather than for kids.
Unfortunately, despite being a great actor, Tobey Maguire is not particularly sexy, which was a bit disappointing for me. I was kind of hoping to do some drooling.
Overall, despite the fantastic acting, I can't say this was really a fun movie. Possible spoiler: it doesn't really have a happy ending, just a foreshadowing of all sorts of terrible, hopeless things to come. I thought a comic strip movie ought to have a happy ending. What is happening to Hollywood anyway? I mean why does a cartoon/action flic have to be so artistic?