Stan Lee says it's better than the comics

Rating: 9/10 (10 June 2002)

and I feel inclined not to disagree with him. This film is just plain excellent from start to finish. It's not perfect, it contains far too many cheesy lines although to be fair the majority of them come from the 60s comics so they were always bound to be cheesy but could you do Spider-Man without the "great power comes great responsibility" line? Of course not so we'll put the odd cheesy line to one side for the moment.
This movie was never going to be your standard Hollywood blockbuster with the potential oddball coupling of Sam Raimi and Tobey Maguire. Raimi is a talented director and throughout his career his films have had 2 things in common, entertainment and Bruce Campbell. Spider-Man disappoints on neither score. Add in the lovely Kirsten Dunst and a Green Goblin played by someone who yet again you wouldn't think would do this kind of movie (though he did do Body of Evidence....) and it's a recipe for not only box office success but also critical success.
This film was always going to be the first in a series of films about one of the best superhero chracters available and it's excellence across the board merely means were unlikely to ever see one of them go straight to video. The quality of the script, acting and directing and also it's faithfulness to a comic legend means no-one should be disappointed. That all said it's not the sort of film likely to win Oscars (except the technical awards) but then Titanic isn't half the movie this is and it won a shedload.

My only complaints, the odd cheesy line which I'll forgive and the Green Goblin's mask which makes him look like a Mighty Morphon Power Ranger baddie. Come on Willem Dafoe just needed his face painted green!