"Good,but not great"

Rating: 8/10 (24 August 2004)

After viewing "Spider-Man 2", I'd discovered that it was POINTLESS to create the first Spider-Man film. This film has many powerful scenes, the death of Uncle Ben, Spider-Man defeating The Green Goblin, and the final scene when Peter Parker tells Mary Jane that he can't be with her.
THE WEEKEND THAT MADE HISTORY
In the summer of 2002 I watched every trailer of "Spider-Man". It was a great summer, women, going to high school, but I was afraid that "Spider-Man" would tank, and people would hate it and it would be the most controversial film ever, why was Sam Raimi directing this film, why was Tobey Maguire playing "Spider-Man". This didn't make any sense, Tobey Maguire is a dramatic actor, not an action hero. My cousin and I were thinking this film is going to suck, why didn't James Cameron take a chance to make this film, besides he wanted to write and direct "Spider-Man" ten years ago. Oh I forgot, he hasn't directed a film in 8 or 7 years, and it still seems that James is still in love with himself, I mean he's achieved everything that he ever wanted to achieve in cinema.
Steven Spielberg, now there's a great director, "The Color Purple", "Shindler's list", what a director, HE'S Achieved EVERYTHING, and changed cinema forever. But there's A.I., that film wasn't a disappointment, but who can trust Spielberg now, he may kill Spider-Man by probably the third film, who knows. Martin Scorsese, well he would probably put gangster's in "Spider-Man" and that wouldn't be pretty. My cousin and I were contemplating until we had no choice but to wait and see for ourselves.
114 million dollars
I took my mom to Regal Cinemas, and it was a great day, it reminded me of the day I saw "Jurrasic Park", and "Titanic", that peaceful silence, I couldn't even speak, I was so nervous that this film would suck. In fact I was begging it to suck, I expected Maguire and Raimi to fail. My mom and I got there three hours before the movie started, the longer we stood there, the more the line got longer and longer, and longer. I saw people that were my age and baby-boomers that had waited for "Spider-Man" to come to the big screen. I walked in the movie and I was surprised, I was actually happy to see a film, I hadn't felt that way in years. I sat in my seat, the lights got dimmed and the film began.
After about 2 hours, I realized this was an incredible film, I said that at the time, but after seeing the sequel, "Spider-Man" was just an action film, there was no plot, I already knew the story. "Spider-Man 2" was a crowning achievement, it will set the new generation of superhero films, and now I'm looking forward to "Batman Begins" cause I want to know more about Batman than any other superhero. "Spider-Man" made 114 million dollars in three days and it grossed 403 million dollars in its total run. I think the "Spider-Man" saga will probably end up like "Harry Potter", the darker the saga gets, the less money the saga makes. Roger Ebert's view of this film was false, this was just the tip of the ice berg, it was setting you up for the epic fights in the sequel and the dramatic scenes that have even surpassed "Superman", and will change cinema forever.
PS: I was wrong about Tobey Maguire, he's gonna be the best Spider-Man until he reaches age 50.
I give this film ***1/2(out of 4 stars).