Spins circles around other superhero movies!

Rating: 9/10 (1 June 2002)

9/10 stars (includes what could be construed as minor spoilers - but I'll tell ya when)
"Spider-Man" is one of the all-time greatest action-adventure movies. It delivers in all departments a good summer blockbuster should: thrills, laughs, tears, jolts, shivers, you name it. "Spider-Man" delivers. Definitely one of the best cinematic thrill-rides ever.
When I first learned the principle cast (Maguire, Dafoe, Dunst), I did not see any of them fitting their roles at all. I thought Maguire too whimpy, and I thought Dafoe would ham his role up too much. Well, Dunst was good enough to please me, though she isn't the best choice for MJ. But Maguire and Dafoe were perfect. Two of the best performances ever in this kind of movie, and great performances by any genre standard. Nobody else could play the title role; Tobey Maguire IS Spider-Man! His whimpy-ness actually enhanced his performance. And Dafoe had to be a little hammy to pull off that outrageous costume and personality, but he did so without becoming annoying. He was hammy when necessary but sadistic and despicable when necessary too.
Pacing was flawless, and direction was close to it. The music was excellent, if not reminiscent of Elfman's other great superhero score for the 1989 "Batman." The special effects were better than expected, and the action was exceptionally choreographed.
I allowed for suspending disbelief on some issues and let the usual corny comic-book hero-villain banter pass. After all, this is a comic-book movie. And actually, every frame looks like a comic book frame, an amazing achievement in directing. And the script is superior to other comic-book movies.
The only other comic book movies that are comparatively excellent are 1990's "Dick Tracy" and 1991's "The Rocketeer." "X-Men" another great Marvel movie, comes excruciatingly close. And "Batman" (1989) will always be a comic-book movie classic, even if it is overly violent. (The rest of the "Batman" movies are..y'know what, I won't even get started on those abominations.)
(OK, though not real spoilers, you may wanna skip this paragraph) I gave a 9 only because a 10 seems like a flawless score. 9 seems about equal to a four-star rating though. Only 3 real flaws I saw: the CGI is REALLY obvious at one or two parts; the dialogue gets overly corny at one or two parts (the New Yorkers on the bridge, for instance?); and MJ's little (little?) speech at the end sounds like a script reading. But these are minor flaws in an otherwise perfect film.
Thank you, thank you, thank you Sam Raimi and friends, you've strengthened my faith that, yes, truly great effects movies do exist, and you've done better than I dreamed. And I'm an even bigger Spidey fan now.
Give us "Spider-Man 2" PLEASE!!!!!