Should Have Let James Cameron Direct it...

Rating: 3/10 (4 May 2002)

This movie starts out great but loses a lot of steam as it changes from a superhero action flick to a soap opera melodrama. The scenes where Spidey kicks butt are great; the special effects are everything that you'd expect as well. The excessive love triangle, romance thing, drag what would have a great movie down in the dirt. James Cameron wanted a shot at this movie after shooting "Titanic." And that's a bloody shame when you consider what he did with "Aliens." (The sequel to "Alien") For whatever reason, things didn't work out with the folks at Marvel. My guess is that Stan Lee wanted the movie to play like the comic series, frame by frame. The problem is that even as a kid reading Spiderman comics I would skip over the frames dwelling on Aunt May and get to the good stuff. Sure, you need some character development; but not to the point where you go to sleep! My 6 year-old son wanted to see this movie so bad. He couldn't keep his eyes open wide enough during the beginning. The second hour (when the movie became "The Mary Jane Story.") he asked me loudly, "Is it almost over?" Several people in the audience laughed. He actually stole the spotlight from Kirsten Dunst (which is nothing to brag about.) Message to Stan Lee: Reconsider letting Cameron script and direct!!!