Very, very good

Rating: 7/10 (15 August 2006)

After James Cameron was rejected for Spider-Man, everything with Spider-Man seemed a bit quiet. Sam Raimi revived him.
Tobey Maguire stars as our hero, Kirsten Dunst as his love, and Willem Dafoe as his nemesis...the Green Goblin. David Koepp, a writer of thrillers, penned the script and did a good job.
Peter Parker is a student struggling with friends, when he is suddenly bitten by a radioactive spider. He begins to change, and then his life changes when his uncle is murdered. He then dedicates his life to fighting crime. But is Spider-Man any good? It certainly is. Spider-Man does not have the average feel most superhero films have. Most superhero films, like X-Men and Superman, do not show any sign that this stuff can happen in real life. Although we all know that Spider-Man cannot exist in real life, you still feel the possibility of him truly existing. The film is mild-mannered, with the perfect balance of lighter scenes and darker scenes. The actors are outstanding and you can feel an emotional pull in you during some of the sadder scenes. The film's photography also has what I call a very "70's feel", so it doesn't look very modern but it doesn't look old either. While the film does great on all of this, it has a couple of flaws.
Spider-Man includes some scenes that seem rather pointless or just randomly put-together, such as when the Green Goblin attacks J. Jonah Jameson, or whenever Green Goblin talks to his alter ego in the mirror. The second fight between Spidey and GG occurs so quickly and randomly, but it does foreshadow the third fight on the Queensboro Bridge. The fight on the Queensboro Bridge is the best Spider-Man fight scene, with the train fight in the sequel in second. It is my second favorite superhero scene ever, only beat by a scene in Batman Begins where the Scarecrow sets Batman ablaze. Those randomly put-together scenes don't fit comfotably in the rest of the film, and they take away from a great movie on the verge of sinking to being good, leaving the movie somewhere between good and great.
Other than that, the film is just such a classic not even I can believe a film could be so well-done. It is the start of a great series, one that does not disappoint! 7.5/10