The Amazing Spider-man makes An Amazing Film

Rating: 8/10 (17 June 2007)

Sam Raimi has taken perhaps one of the most popular comic book characters and turned him into a movie star. The result, a huge franchise that has launched into a huge success. Spider-man is a terrific movie with good casting, a good story, a good theme song (courtesy of The Amazing Danny Elfman), and amazing special effects.
Tobey Maguire fills the role of Peter Parker perfectly. He has the appearance and the attitude of a young Peter Parker. His appearance is enough to convince me he is good for the role. He looks like he was born for the part and he does a fantastic job of filling it. I have been somewhat skeptical about Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane. I never pictured her as being the Mary Jane type physically although she does a good job with the part. I have always been skeptical with James Franco as well. I do not think he did a fantastic job as Harry Osborne and I still ponder on him being cast (although he had a much better portrayal in Spider-man 3). His character just seems to outgoing, to selfish, and almost annoying(?). Willem Dafoe, in my opinion, stole the show. He plays Norman Osborne and the villainous Green Goblin. An absolutely perfect choice for the character. He has the anger to play the character and the ability to transform characters (From Osborne to the Goblin) easily and perfectly. His mental psyche is absolutely perfect for the character. I will admit, I did not really like his costume, but that is just his costume! His character is perfect! And there is some comic relief in this film, J.K. Simmons plays an unforgettable and perfect J. Jonah Jameson (editor in chief of the daily bugle).
The story is very good though I feel the movie starts out awkward. I do not like how they really rush into Spider-man's transformation and the movie seems somewhat off tempo to start. The entire initial movie sequence up to when Peter's Uncle Ben confronts him in the car seems just rushed. After that, it seems like the movie moves more smoothly. Other than that, there is little I have to dislike about the film. The special effects are amazing and the design work done on Spidey's costume is terrific. The fight sequences are great and the final showdown between Spidey and the Goblin is awesome. The entertainment in this movie is high quality. Spider-man is a hero people feel they can relate to. He has duties that he feels he must commit to as a superhero and he faces real life challenges and personal problems outside of that life. This movie does a great job of capturing that.
Whether you think of Spider-man as being "Amazing" or "Spectacular", either of these words can be used to describe the Spider-man film.