Rare summer blockbuster that not only lives up to expectations but surpasses them

Rating: 8/10 (5 May 2002)

Frankly, a serious, realistic film version of Spider-Man is an impossibility. How, pray tell, does one make a movie with a character like The Green Goblin or Dr. Octopus without making the audience laugh? That's why Sam Raimi was the absolute perfect director for the Spider-Man movie. He's got the most uncanny ability to entertain the heck out of the audience while they are laughing at how tremendously silly the whole thing is. This comes from the Evil Dead section of his career.
Now, from the more recent side of his career, like The Gift and A Simple Plan, Raimi brings the ability to people Spider-Man with good characters. Some of them are straight from the comic book, sure. Rosemary Harris' Aunt May is a perfect version of that character. And Willem Defoe's Osbourne/Green Goblin. He's so cartoonish, well, let me reserve a special place later on to talk about Defoe's performance.
Now, Peter Parker, Mary Jane, and Harry Osbourne (Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, and James Franco respectively) are amazingly well realized. I did the same double take that everyone else did when they heard that Tobey Maguire was cast as Spiderman. Huh? That kid from The Ice Storm? Well, he's been very good in several movies (he was also poorly cast in a few movies, too, especially The Cider House Rules), and Raimi obviously cast him because of his acting skills. He could have went for the kid from Dawson's Creek or something, but he was right to get someone who could actually act. Kirsten Dunst may be the most underrated actress out there right now. She's been in some for-the-money projects, surely, and this is another one that'll pay her big. But in the meantime she lands some great roles, things like The Virgin Suicides and Crazy/Beautiful. Even the weak stuff she improves simply by her presence. Spider-Man isn't one of her best performances, but she's good. I like the early stuff, her problems with her terrible parents. It's actually kind of disappointing that they leave that character baggage almost completely behind Mary Jane after they graduate and move into the city. She is more or less relegated into the role of damsel in distress at that point. James Franco, who plays Harry Osbourne, is exceptional. I believe that his character becomes a super villain in the comic book, and that suggestion is left with us at the end of this film. He projects a lot of personality, more than his character actually has in the script.
Now for Willem Defoe. No, he's not bad. Exactly the opposite. This is where the film goes way over-the-top, deliciously so. The Green Goblin is a great villain. He's nearly at the same level as Jack Nicholson's The Joker. Willem Defoe has a ton of great scenes, both as Osbourne and as The Green Goblin. I love the seen where he has a conversation with his evil mirror reflection. Critics are kind of complaining about Defoe's performance, but I think it's perfect for the film.
Another great comic-book performance comes from J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson, the newspaper publisher with whom Peter Parker sells his Spider-Man photographs. His scenes are the best in the film. Hope he has even more next time!
My only real complaints about the film are the generous steals from the first Tim Burton Batman film (the balloon parade attack) and The Matrix (the fire sequence). There are so many inventive sequences that it's unfortunate that they couldn't come up with two more original ones.
Spider-Man, despite its small flaws, is the perfect example of summer entertainment. I am seriously considering seeing it again in the theater, something I never do for this kind of film. It's probably the only time that I walked out of the theater wondering why the sequel was taking so long to make!
Word to Raimi fans: both Bruce Campbell and Ted Raimi. They both have hilarious cameos.