Spidey's first thwip onto the big screen is a spectacular wonder

Rating: 9/10 (5 December 2018)

The time before the era of superheroes. Big Blockbusters were still trying to find a successful formula. Even Star Wars wasn't as successful as it used to be. Sure, movies like Blade and The Punisher came out but those were more aimed at Adults and still gained a bit at the box office but they weren't massive hits. Then in they May of 2002, Average moviegoers would finally see the worlds most amazing, spectacular superhero hit the big screen, spawning a new era of movie's to bust the box office. Directed by Sam Raimi and starring Tobey Maguire as the titular character, Spider-man follows the origin and first real challenge of Peter Parker and his web-slinging alter-ego as he deals with using his powers in normal life, and fighting his first super-villain: the cruel and dastardly villain of "The Green Goblin!"
Spider-Man is one of my favorite superhero movies, mainly because it shows the right way to do an origin story. The first time we meet Peter is when he's about to get his powers, putting the viewer into the inciting action right away. After this beginning scene we see Peter's home life and eventually we understand his motivation and his decision to be a good hero when part of that home life is taken away. Despite his age at the time Tobey gives an accurate performance of Peter Parker, and a stellar one as The Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man.
The best part of this movie though is that it accepts its campiness and silliness as a comic book movie and uses that too it's advantage. This is most definitely best portrayed by Willem Dafoe's performance as Norman Osborne and the Green Goblin, staying a serious, worried, sympathetic businessman and Norman and entirely transforming into a cruel campy disastrous villain as the Goblin. While the characters seem entirely different, Dafoe does a great job linking them together and even makes the Goblin seem like part of who Norman really is.
The two of these characters hit their peak at the end of this movie, where we see Norman grieve and regret everything as the Goblin but he realizes it was his fault for it happening in the first place, and Peter learns that you can't save everyone, no matter how hard you try from (of all people) his nemesis.
I still believe that while Spider-Man may not be the objective best Superhero movie out there, it is the best at showing what a comic should be in a live action scenario and has a solid lesson to learn. While sure it may not be as Great as Spider-Man 2 or as ridiculous as Spider-man 3, it finds a good balance in it's characters, truly personifies the Amazing, Ultimate, Spectacular Spider-Man, and its influence can still be seen in Superhero movies- and really lots of movies- today, 15 years later.