A decent beginning to the summer blockbuster season.

Rating: 7/10 (6 May 2002)

I will start by saying that I have never been a Spiderman fan, I have always been partial to Superman and Batman. But I'm always open to a comic book hero brought to the big screen. Sam Raimi has made a movie that I feel will appeal to most people, it is fun, brisk, and never takes itself too seriously. Toby Maguire is good as Peter Parker/Spiderman. He brings the appropriate sensibility to his role, Willem Dafoe does what he can with what he is given as the Green Goblin, but it is too little, I wish they would have fleshed out his villainous character. The special effects are good, but I believe that they are intentionally cheesy. The action scenes are done well, but nothing that hasn't been seen before.If there is a problem is exactly that, the action is not particularly unique, the scenes are done well but there isn't really any memorable shots or things that the audience would be wowed by. I would say that the non action stuff in the movie is more entertaining. The first hour when Peter is discovering his powers is especially entertaining. So a slightly above average warm up to the summer season, a good warm up for Episode II.
Grade: B-