A quieter comic book adaptation

Rating: 9/10 (22 August 2006)

What makes this movie special is the personal touch. There is no big "let's destroy the world" plot, it's just a grudge match between two polar opposites with superpowers. Willem Dafoe gives a brilliant and creepy performance as the Green Goblin, really the best villain in the Spiderman comics, and Tobey Macguire knocks it out of the ball park, pardon the pun, with his performance as Peter Parker. Really, this movie isn't about solving some global crisis, like in Singer's X-Men flicks, but is about simply doing the right thing. That's what gives this movie such a great feeling. People don't really remember the springy high-flying fun of the webslinging so much as the personal story. And, one especially interesting aspect of this film is the almost invisible direction and cinematography. Sam Raemi has an invisible direction style that makes everything seem more real as opposed to staged. The cinematography never calls attention to itself so you're never left feeling detached from the story or characters. It, Spiderman, is an impressive and singularly brilliant achievement.