Entertaining and true in spirit...

Rating: 7/10 (2 November 2002)

I have to admit that I wasn't exactly looking forward to Spiderman, in fact, I was even loathing it, so much so that I'm only now seeing it for the first time on DVD. While I do like Spiderman, lets just say that the execution in super hero movies is very much hit and miss. Luckily, Sam Raimi, himself a fan of everyone's favorite "Non-Mutant Superhero," has a hit on his hands.
Visually speaking, Spiderman offers plenty of eye-candy, and while it's not altogether convincing at times, overall, it's quite impressive. The CGI is well-done, and aside from a couple of stiff animations, manages to convince you that you're seeing Spiderman on your screen. While the Green Goblin persona is a bit different visually from the comic's antagonist, it's for the better, and offers me a bit of hope on the level that Marvel will be able to dish out when it gets around to the Iron Man movie.
Acting is a mixed back, with some very flat performances by some of the cast, the Dafoe is excellent as the maniacal Green Goblin (wouldn't you love to see him as the Joker in Batman?). Maguire seems wooden at times, but is generally good, and is able to convey a lot of the emotion needed through his facial expressions. The only other notable among the cast would be J.K. Simmons, who nails J. Jonah Jameson to a "T." Once again, Kirsten Dunst is nice to look at, but just doesn't feel right for this role.
Overall, though not the best super hero movie to date, it's an entertaining flick that fans of the comic series will love. There have been some changes made from the comic (the "web glands" being one of the more noticeable), but actually work in this case, probably due again to the fact that Raimi is a fan of the material.