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Rating: 7/10 (4 May 2002)

Spiderman has always been one of the most compelling superheroes because of his basic normalcy and goodness. Sam Raimi does a great job of letting the audience know who Peter Parker is and why he does what he does. It is far less of a psychological stretch than the Bruce Wayne/Batman alter-ego. Speaking on the "Dark Knight", I would rate this film on par with the first "Batman" movie. It had decent performances all around, although I didn't feel anyone reached the level of Jack Nicholson's "Joker". Dafoe gives it a shot. Cliff Robertson lends a touch of class to the proceedings. Tobey Maguire is perfectly cast as Peter Parker, he starts out as a good-hearted but nerdy teenager and becomes more and more confident and has a lot of fun with his super-powers.I don't know if the "Green Goblin" was the best choice of villain but it works well for Spidey to have a nemesis that challenges him intellectually and well and physically. We mustn't forget that Peter is highly intelligent and I think a disservice was done by not letting him develop his own we-shooters. Still the movie was fun and should dominate the box-office this weekend.