Maybe they should have titled this one "The Peter Parker Story"

Rating: 4/10 (8 May 2002)

Let me preface this review by stating that I have been a huge Tobey Macquire fan since "The Ice Storm" and was quite shocked that one of my favorite actors (whose work I admired for its delicacy) was cast to play a superhero. I must admit that his doe-eyed innocent charm is perfect for playing a pre-augmented Spider Man and this is the aspect of Spider-Man that works really well. Where this movie falls flat on its face are the horrendously rendered action scenes, which looked like they were produced on computers bought at a RadioShack clearance sale. Even more dissappointing were the scenes between the Green Goblin and Spiderman. Did Sam Raimi totally forget that when in full costume you can't see either actor speak? These scenes could have been dubbed over in Wolof for all the impact they had.
In general, this movie is great for getting to know Peter Parker as the awkward kid, but not for understanding how the whole Spiderman altar-ego thing came about. Maybe if they had some scenes of Parker reading Nieztche to figure out what to do with his new-found powers it would be a bit more interesting and relevant, rather than turning the second half of this movie into a technicolor yawn-fest.