Raimi's Spider-man swings!!

Rating: 8/10 (5 May 2002)

Sam Raimi has done it! He's created a film based on a comic book that fans and non-fans alike can enjoy. It sticks close enough to the original source material, while introducing some new ideas to the Spider-man mythos. Tobey Maguire is perfectly cast as our favorite wall crawler. He is shy and clumsy as Peter Parker and exuberant as Spidey. The early scenes showing Pete learning how to use his newly acquired abilities are very well done and quite funny. The few scenes with his Uncle Ben are touching. Like Nicholson did when he played the Joker, Willem Dafoe chews up the scenery, the furniture, the props and his fellow actors as the over-the-top Green Goblin. J.K. Simmons is pefect as J. Jonah Jameson. And Kirsten Dunst is good as Mary Jane Watson. The CG effects are just fine, even though I've read other's criticisms that the web-slinging scenes aren't convincing. As far as comic book movies go, I would rate this higher than the recent X-Men and Blade movies, but not quite up to the level of the original Superman movie with Chris Reeve. A solid three stars out of four.