Raimi Sets the Standard for Future Superhero Movies

Rating: 8/10 (1 September 2008)

In 2002, the world was treated to the second big budget treatment of a Marvel comic book in the form of Spider-Man. Bryan Singer had opened the doors for major comic book adaptations two years prior with his adaptation of the X-Men, and he proved such movies could make major earnings in the box office. Well, along came a spider and proved just how true that was when Spider-Man grossed $403.7 million in the United States alone. The film introduces audiences to the origins of the hero, when Peter Parker is bitten by a genetically-altered spider and is given extraordinary abilities (i.e. web-slinging, wall-crawling, his "spider-sense"). After the death of his uncle at the hands of a car-jacker, Peter becomes determined to prevent crime and evil forces from ruining the lives of others and his first real test arrives in the form of the Green Goblin.
My favorite aspect of Sam Raimi's film is that it FELT like a true Spider-Man movie. While I did enjoy Singer's X-Men, it didn't have the same feel as the comics/cartoons. It was the X-Men, but it was Bryan Singer's X-Men. Watching Raimi's film, it feels as if it's ripped straight from the pages of the comics. It faithfully depicted all of it's characters with a couple exceptions; some liberties had to be taken to fit 40 years of comic book history into a 2 hour movie. Just as in the comics, Peter is troubled by having to juggle his life as a super-hero with his life as a normal person, and one of the lessons our hero learns over the course of the film is that he can't have both. Raimi also gives us some great character development on the part of the villain, Norman Osborn/the Green Goblin. He takes the time to build up the father/son relationship between Norman and his son, Peter's best friend Harry, which builds up for further stories in the future.
In addition to having a fantastic filmmaker at the helm, the movie benefits from near perfect casting. Tobey Maguire is more than capable of pulling off the meek, nerdy Peter Parker as well as his web/one-liner slinging alter ego. Kirsten Dunst, while not overwhelming in her performance, was a great Mary Jane Watson and James Franco was a solid Harry Osborn. As I said, the casting was pretty much perfect across the board, right down to Rosemary Harris and Cliff Robertson as Peter's aunt and uncle. The best (and I know of many who agree with me) was Willem Dafoe as Norman Osborn. Seriously, I can't think of another actor who pull off such eccentric, insane roles like this man. He WAS the Green Goblin and I couldn't see any other actor having stepped into that role.
The movie contains plenty of action with seamless CGI inter-mixed into real-time stunts, and the story also contains a strong plot with more than enough heart to make this more than just an action flick. Aside from a few slow moments, there really isn't much to complain about with Sam Raimi's Spider-Man and I think he was the first to set the standards for what the comic fans should expect from big screen adaptations of their favorite heroes.