Thwip!

Rating: 8/10 (3 May 2002)

Being a semi-retired comic fan, I highly anticipated this movie. When it was first announced I was skeptical, but as I heard more I became excited. Sam "Evil Dead" Raimi was the perfect director for the material. Tobey Maguire seemed to be the perfect Parker and Willem Dafoe was near the top of my list for favorite candidates for the Green Goblin. I became quite excited for it, but not TOO excited.

Did the movie meet me expectations? Yes. It was very good, but not fantastic. The movie was very true to the comic with a few exceptions (no web shooters, skipping Gwen Stacey). The acting was quite strong from everyone involved, especially James Franco who manages to make Harry an incredibly likable guy without much screen time. The characters FELT like they did in the comic which was very important. The effects were completely "buyable" despite some complaints I've heard about them around the web. Danny Elfman's score, while not as good as his previous comic book efforts on "Batman" was strong support, if not memorable. The final fight sequence was also a little disappointingly a "I beat you until you look beaten, you beat me until I look beaten" affair. Given the level of style and the fact that these characters can soar through the air and all the agility at Spidey's disposal, this was a bit anticlimactic.
One problem I had with the movie was the some of the dialogue, was REALLY awful. Some of Mary Jane and Peter's lines to each other felt like pre-written gushy letters rather than lines that people are speaking at the spur of the moment. Spidey didn't make as many witty comments as he did in the book either. The highlight of the writing definitely has to be the way that Harry Osborn was written. In some ways he was the most likable character in the movie, and if the movie series goes the same way as the comics do with his character, well I won't reveal what might happen for those who didn't read the comic in the early 1990s.
All in all a fun effort and a great success by Raimi and all involved.
8/10