Just a bit more than a run-of-the-mill superhero flick; but does it deserve all those votes?

Rating: 7/10 (20 June 2002)

In the end, it's just another superhero versus supervillan movie. Yes, the angst of Peter Parker is an interesting addition - both in the original comic strips and in the movie, but the second half of the film is so formulaic that this overpowers the better points. Having said that, unlike other reviewers, I thought the effects were very good and at a large screen cinema, Spiderman swinging through New York streets nearly gave me vertigo, they were so good. The Green Goblin character was pretty banal and the amorous scenes between Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson were some of the hammiest I've seen. The music accompanying these scenes was also 'so predictable'.
Casting on the whole was good with Tobey Maguire quite perfect in his role as Spiderman/Peter Parker. It is such a shame that a potentially good film was let down by such a weak script and - towards the end - such unoriginal treatment during which the characters become more and more cartoon-like.
Sadly, as I write this I see that Spiderman is already in the top 250 films around the 120 mark - a reflection that even IMDB's excellent chart is open to the most recent and over-hyped films achieving far higher positions than they truly deserve. Had Spiderman been released ten years ago I am sure far fewer people would have voted for it and would give it far lower ratings. It is sad that these inclinations cannot be compensated for, even with IMDB's vote weighting. Director Sam Raimi made a 10/10 movie a few years back, 'A Simple Plan', based on an excellent novel, it doesn't figure on the charts as it was an undersold, under hyped movie, yet here is Sam storming up the charts with a film based on a shoddy script that in my opinion rates 4/10.
One final point, I watch my favourite movies (some highly rated in the IMDB charts - such as 'The Usual Suspects', 'Godfather' & 'Shawshank Redemption' - to quote a few) many times over, and I certainly would not consider watching Spiderman again, though I'm perfectly happy to have seen it the once.