Wow! Great movie

Rating: Null/10 (4 May 2002)

Wow! Best comic book adaptation to date. The moviemakers clearly took the characters seriously, understanding that Spider-Man is not a campy character, but a young man paying for his own irresponsibility. Spider-man owes more to ancient Greek tragedy than to comic book tradition. He owes more to Hamlet than to Superman. Tobey Maguire delivered the character to the screen as I knew he would. When he was cast, there were so many who naysayed him because they didn't understand Spider-Man. Those of us who did were relieved. There isn't another actor who could have done it. The cast was perfect, especially Dafoe who may be the first actor to treat a supervillain role seriously. While I like Hackman and Nicholson as actors, they weren't acting as Luthor and the Joker. They were hamming. There is a difference. Dafoe treated the material with respect and gave the Goblin dimension and force. Thanks to Koepp, Raimi, and everyone else involved with the movie. I've loved this character for 30 years. Just because a story is told with sequential art doesn't make it campy. Thanks to Raimi for realizing that and loving this story. It shows. Wow!