perhaps the best comic adaptation of all time.

Rating: 9/10 (12 May 2002)

This movie was spectacular. I've always been an avid follower of the spiderman mythos, and this captures all the important elements perfectly. The comic was followed fairly faithfully, and all the action scenes with spidey make it feel like a live spiderman comic book. Loved the depictions of spidey's style of fighting, and his comic poses were very accurate!

The minor changes to the spidey universe did not detract from the movie at all. The screenplay covered quite a bit of spidey history, and incorporated MANY well known storylines. Impressive that so many years of history could be condensed and streamlined into about 2 hours. As a comic adaptation, this is as good as it gets.
The people who nitpicked about EVERYTHING obviously missed the point. This movie is not an art film. It is a superhero movie. Of course things will be cliche...it's supposed to be like a comic book for god sakes! Yes, there were things that could have been improved...and a few scenes where people seemed to just read the lines...but overall, the character development was good, the personalities of the characters true to the comics, and the casting very well done.
Willem Dafoe's schizoid performance at the mirror was great! The Uncle Ben section was very moving. Aunt May and JJ Jameson were PERFECTLY characterized. Kirsten Dunst played a very sweet and beautiful Mary Jane. Tobey had the nerdy Peter Parker down, and his spiderman looked very good. The gimpy Goblin costume could've been better though. He looked a lot like a power ranger villain...which I think often detracted from his credibility. Perhaps a better mask would have helped.
Overall, as a movie on its own, this movie is about average or above average, which is not bad at all. 3.5 out of 5. As a comic adaptation, it is very good, and captured everything that made the comics so enjoyable. The best and most accurate adaptation in ages, if not of all time. 4.5 out of 5.
This movie will make you believe that there is a spiderman. It is definately the best movie out right now, and I highly recommend it. Great fun, and worth seeing more than once.