Decent, but could have been better

Rating: 5/10 (12 May 2002)

While this was an enjoyable film, it didn't quite meet up to my expectations (which were pretty high - the trailers for the movie were excellent!)
I had three main complaints:
(1) The movie would have benefited by adding an additional 15-25 minutes of final footage and a little more time on the editing floor. I felt that the director/Marvel tried to fit way too much plot & character development into a 2 hour film. The end result was a congested film that didn't flow smoothly. There were also odd plot "jumps" that could have been eliminated.
(2) The love scenes could have been more polished and had less "comic book" script lines. It was clear that the actors struggled with many of the love scene lines.
(3) Marvel/Sony should have spent a little more on the Green Goblin / Spider-man special effects. A lot of the action scenes looked obviously computer-generated. Today's technology could have provided a more realistic result. The claims about how the director "wanted" that look are purely ridiculous and just a cover-up for where they just didn't want to spend the money. (How did his webbing work in the movie? They weren't really clear on that ...)
These points aside, I think Marvel/Sony did an great job otherwise. The film was fun to watch, and I really enjoyed seeing one of my favorite comic-book heroes come to life. Toby McGuire did an excellent job as Peter Parker, and many of the other characters were believable as well. The plotline of how he got his powers in the movie had a more realistic ring to it than the comic line of a "radioactive" spider bite.
I look forward to a sequel that is better than the first movie...
azjazz