You and I are not so different.

Rating: 9/10 (30 May 2009)

Whilst out on a high school museum trip, student Peter Parker is bitten by a genetically enhanced spider. He suddenly finds himself with arachnid like super powers and goes on a crime fighting spree.
With a budget of $100 million and a then up coming director in Sam Raimi in the chair, expectations for the first live action film of Spider-Man was extraordinarily high. Thankfully, Raimi and his team succeeded in producing a rip roaring spectacle that doesn't want for human based drama either. Back in 2002 Spider-Man was rightly being lauded as a film that appeased all comers, Raimi fans, comic book geeks and the walk in thrill seeking cinema crowd {the last one is a club i'm proudly a member of} all of which got catered for. Today, after two differing sequels, some of Spider-Man's shine appears to have dimmed, it's almost as if the franchise is judged as a whole, and not for this splendid, and very well crafted piece of fantasy. Which is a shame as Spider-Man doesn't rest on its comic book laurels, that would have been the easy option. Revisiting the film now in this post Dark Knight era, where darkly drawn undercurrents are all the rage, Raimi's Spider-Man is actually a leading light.
Having Raimi in charge greatly benefits the piece, because where one could easily have dealt in full blown light entertainment, Raimi and screenwriter David Koep have flecked the fun with shades of dark. Comic book villainy gets a complex make over courtesy of Willem Dafoe's cackling Norman Osborne/Green Goblin splice off, with a mirror sequence fit to grace any head doctor seminar!. And Parker's duality {excellently realised by a well cast Tobey Maguire} alongside his own complex moral quandaries ensures that Spider-Man the movie is not just about bang for the buck shenanigans. Some minor problems do exist, the CGI at times comes off as creaky, and Danny Elfman's score is not up to his usual high standard, but in the main they are really only throw away complaints. To wit the odd quibble about Spider-Man origins and a hokey Green Goblin costume aside, the film is a sure fire winner. Kirsten Dunst eventually warms to the admittedly twee role of love interest Mary Jane Watson, and James Franco serves notice of undoubted ability as Peter Parker's best friend, Harry Osborne. With a humongous budget and a salivating fan base to please, Raimi was entrusted great responsibility. That he crafted such a ripper of a movie, with little shades of dark, is now, to my mind, a towering achievement. 8.5/10