They Could Have Done Better...

Rating: 10/10 (16 August 2003)

Spider-Man falls into a mix of Batman/Superman style of film. It wants to be memorable, but it is too shallow. If any film since 9/11 has bashed the whole "We are United" theme too hard into its script, this is it. I am disappointed in Sam Raimi for this.
David Koep is one of Hollywood's biggest garbage writers, this is just slightly above par for his work. The main problem is that the movie starts to build up steam, but with nowhere to go. By the finale, the audience doesn't care what happens, just so long as the movie ends. Unfortunately, it is obvious that this was made more with financial concerns in mind as opposed to quality film.
Willem Dafoe is a good actor, but his performance is too limited here. He needs to be more vibrant and expressive to contrast the underacting (and lack of talent) on behalf of Tobey Maguire. He never changes mood in all his movies.
Raimi's camera is its usual unhinged self, but this time it isn't as poignant as in Army of Darkness or even Darkman. Sound suffers big time as everything boils down to either big noises and small noises. Poor sound design on this movie's part is not a bonus.
Overall, not the best superhero flick ever made. Sometimes I wonder where they are planning to take the genre with this stuff. 2 out of 5 stars.