pure fun!

Rating: 10/10 (3 May 2002)

If you are anything of a Spider-Man fan, you should love this movie! Raimi did a wonderful job of telling the story of Peter Parker and the origin of Spider-Man while keeping the action fresh and the characters alive and believable. Tobey Maguire really shined as Petey, that boy can cry on a dime! Kirsten Dunst was solid, of course, and Willem Dafoe is such a good actor, he played off the madness of the Green Goblin without ever sounding hokey. The casting of J.K. Simmons as J.J. Jameson was pure perfection. I had a lot of expectations going into the movie, but it met and exceeded every one. I haven't enjoyed the entire length of a movie in a theater since I saw "The Matrix". And some of the fight scenes in Spider-Man were reminiscent of that movie, but I guess that's the direction movie fight scenes are going. I'm glad. I like that look. Robbie Robertson was in the movie too, albeit a small role. And a couple other small details from the comic were peppered around the movie, making me smile to remember something that was so long ago, but still sweet, to mix my metaphors. It was like watching some of my childhood's favorite comic book characters come alive on the screen. The webbing looked and moved exactly as I had imagined it, and the acrobatic fight scenes were choreographed and shot extremely well. When Peter was discovering his powers, I felt like I was right there with him, scared and excited at the same time. I was truly pumped when I walked out of the movie. One thing I did miss, tho, was the "snappy-patter" that was a trademark of spidey's battles. I guess I'm not a huge David Koepp fan then....I thought the script on Panic Room was week, too. But he did surprise me with a few zingers, and of course there was the famous "With great power comes great responsibility" line...that was my mantra for a while as a kid. Anyway, if you've read this far, thanks, and if you're a Spider-Man fan, I think you'll like this movie. If you're not, I think you should still enjoy this fast-paced, well-acted, well-directed, ride of a two hours movie. What's two hours, anyway?