A mixed bag...

Rating: 6/10 (4 May 2002)

***SPOILERS*** While it's more or less faithful to its source material, Sam Raimi's Big Screen treatment of SPIDER-MAN often teeters on the verge of outright idiocy. How, for instance, could Peter Parker drag a lunch tray around a high school cafeteria, in front of scores of witnesses, with webbing shot from his wrists... and not be found out??? These lapses in logic (which occur throughout the film) work against the powerful, poignant moments that give the movie its emotional resonance. Nor does it help that the movie often drags laboriously along like Raimi's infamous FOR LOVE OF THE GAME. The fx vacillate between real-life believability and video game cheesiness of the LORD OF THE RINGS variety. On the plus side, there are the performances and a sometimes beautifully moving script and superb cinematography and sets and music and touches of directorial brilliance (as with DARKMAN and much else he's done, Raimi distinguishes himself here as a very capable filmmaker when it comes to fx-heavy material). SPIDER-MAN is a mixed bag, to be sure, but it's definitely worth the price of admission.