After all the hype, not bad. 3*/5*

Rating: Null/10 (20 May 2002)

Watched the film today after 2 weeks of planning to. Moved seats after a kid next to me kept telling Peter/Spidey what to do onscreen.
Spider-man is watchable - there's action, fun, humor, and a moral message. One really has to be wary though - are we seeing what we want to see, with so much interest in the film and the $$ records it's broken. Would I come out saying 'wow!', just because so many others said so?
The movie progresses through the scenes fast as it should. The standout characters were by Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) and Norman Osborne (Willem Dafoe). Dafoe is a master actor, amazing as always - his presence can't be ignored whenever he's onscreen.
There're plotholes of course, but we watch a film like this for the action sequences and the effects, and plain entertainment - not for the screenplay.