In a galaxy of would-be superheroes, Spider-Man is the shining star!

Rating: 10/10 (4 May 2002)

Spider-Man has accomplished the impossible. It has managed to rise above the crushing weight of its own hype and actually deliver more than promised.
Big screen adaptations rarely mine a fraction of the potential of comic book heroes. Superman was wooden, hopelessly saccharine and lighter than air. Batman was overshadowed by his villians, which may have been the point, but we were left with a thin two-dimensional costume-character and a series of poorly cast portrayals. Even Unbreakable was a plotless and forgettable story that was built around its cast instead of the other way around. X-Men was closer, but was weighed down by its sheer number of characters.
Enter Spiderman. Go ahead. You know you want to say it. It's AMAZING! Let's start from the infrastructure. Rosemary Harris (Blow Dry), was virtually unknown despite her long distinguished career in movies, television and the theatre, where she was nominated for a Best Actress Tony (she lost to her daughter). She is perfect as Aunt May, conveying a interior strength and complexity that coexists gracefully with her soft-spoken exterior. Add in J. K. Simmons, whom we have all loved to hate for years as the unctuous Vern Shillinger on HBO's Oz, but may be better known as Dr. Emil Skoda on television's Law and Order. Again, he was exactly the way I pictured J. Jonah Jameson. Randy "The Macho Man" Poffo as Bonesaw McGraw, Larry Joshua [uncredited] (Cop Rock, For Love of the Game) as the unscrupulous fight promoter, and even Cliff Robertson as the ill-fated Uncle Ben, all add to the remarkable synergy that never misses a beat.
Now the first string. The sheer genius of selecting Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker/Spider-Man was the best way possible to provide an axis for all the other talent to revolve around. He is far and away the best young actor out there, and his understated yet always larger than life presence completely occupies the superhero persona. Stan Lee and Steve Ditko much have been chanelling Maguire forty years ago when they created Spiderman. He is vulnerable, not in the hapless and ultimately hollow Clark Kent way, nor in the damaged and empty Bruce Wayne manner, but in a human and sympathetic way that allows us to empathize and identify with him unlike any other comic book to silver screen alter ego.
The chemistry between Maguire and Kisrten Dunst is breathtaking, and the beauty of their star-crossed romance is tragic in the best literary sense, carried off to perfection under the surprisingly mature performances of Dunst and Maguire.
Willem Dafoe is the ultimate comic book villian. He is diabolical, and wears his thinly-vieled alter ego as transparently as a mist. He is unrepentant and remorseless as all true villians must be. Dafoe is one of the many casting coups that make this masterpiece work.
Sam Raimi, who has had his greatest success as a producer, directs Spider-Man with the skill of a maestro, and delivers an instant classic that works frame to frame from beginning to end in seamless perfection.
It was worth all the anticipation, worthy of all the hype, and satisfying in every way. Absolute perfection. My Spider Sense is already tingling for the sequel.