Truly Unbelievable

Rating: 4/10 (14 March 2006)

One can't really expect too much in the way of enlightenment from a comic book adaptation but even by those standards 'Spiderman' has a dreadfully hokey script rife with cliché and unexplained coincidence. Lest we forget, suspension of disbelief applies even here.
A number of the performances are just plain corny (Cliff Robertson certainly milks his small role as Peter Parker's uncle) but Willem Dafoe's theatrically hammy performance does entertain in an Olivier-like fashion.
The film has most to offer in its beginning section which features a number of spectacular special effects during our insight into the origins of the hero's super-powers. Later when he becomes fully fledged (with little further explanation as to how he got there) the film looks decidedly more like a video game and will surely fail to sustain interest except in the youngest and most uncritical audiences.