Amazin' Fun

Rating: Null/10 (5 May 2002)

Having read the first issue of Spider Man when it first came out, when I was a kid, I was more than a little interested in seeing how modern movie making would treat this hero from long ago. For the most part, it wasn't disappointing. First the good:
Tobey Maguire was an inspiration to cast in the part, he seemed absolutely perfect. He gave the character just the right blend of believability in the two faceted hero, the public nerd and his secret alter hero. I loved the scenes of his early discovery of his newfound prowess and his experimentations with them and his attire.
Kirsten Dunst was lovely and similarly well cast as Peter Parker's heartthrob, maybe too good. It was very hard to swallow Spidy's response to her at the end. I found myself wanting to slap him back to his senses, "It's Kirsten Dunst you dork ...".
Other actors did superb jobs in their parts, especially the veteran Cliff Robertson. The big disappointment and semi-pleasure all rolled into one was Willem Dafoe. The best part was the quality and execution he brought to a difficult role. It was probably the best performance of that type of character I've ever seen. That leads to the not so good stuff: His character should have been canned entirely. Not that Dafoe wasn't good, he certainly was. I just hated the character in that movie. I felt like it nearly ruined what is probably the best comic book brought to the screen I've ever seen. I get the unmistakable impression form this and many other films that movie folks feel that ordinary evil is somehow mundane. It's not. I could not invest any degree of personal fear in this kind of character. The real bad guys, yes, we all have some degree of fear of real bad guys, the robbers, murderers, rapists and the like seen earlier in the movie. Those villains I can appreciate being saved from. The "Green Goblin" just left me shrugging a "so what".
But, even with the burden of the goblin, I'd still recommend this to fantasy lovers everywhere.