Here's my 2 cents worth...

Rating: Null/10 (5 December 2002)

Okay. I finally saw the Spider-Man movie tonight. After months of hearing the hype and hyperbole about this movie, I was ready to soak it in and give my opinion.
Mind you, I have been a faithful comics collector for going on 30 years now, and Spidey has always been one of if not THE most favorite of my heroes as related by Mr. Stan Lee.
Spidey is after all, an ordinary teenager beset by extraordinary circumstances in his life, therefore we can relate to him moreso than say, Superman, who is an alien, or Batman, who is a multi-millionaire.
Anyway, the movie was, in my humble opinion, very good. It stuck to the heart of the comic, and was realistic to me, anyway. I loved the idea of the bio-organic webshooters, and the almost painful way Peter discovers his newly gained powers. Of course, all of us familiar with the Spider-Man canon will remember most all of the movie actually coming from the comic.
Now to the casting. Tobey Maguire was excellent as Spidey. His transformation from bookwormish Peter to super hero Spider-Man was just electric. That look of determination at the end fight when the Goblin was taunting him with killing MJ was worth the price of the movie itself. Kirsten Dunst...beautiful. She captures the very essence of MJ. Wiilem Dafoe was just ok, given his split time as a man hidden behind a mask. I also must give 4 stars to J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson...BEAUTIFUL. I hope we can see a lot more of him in future sequels. He is a perfect cast, unlike Pat Hingle as Gordon in Batman, or Jackie Cooper as Perry White in Superman.
All in all, I would recommend Spider-Man to all viewers. If you aren't a comics freak as me, you may not like it as much as I do. Just sit back and relax for 2 hours and soak in some fantasy, as I like to do.
Peace...