Spidey as he's meant to be onscreen.

Rating: 10/10 (3 May 2002)

Not since 1989's Batman has there been such a brilliant, fun, and hyperactive comic-book adaptation. Evil Dead and Darkman helmer Sam Raimi has gone back to his roots to deliver an over-the-top and energetic extravaganza that hits all the right levels of campiness and seriousness. There have been many comic-book movies in the past few years, but all of them have had a fatal flaw to keep it from true greatness. Batman Returns (a sequel I feel is better than the original) can really only be enjoyed by Tim Burton fans. Blade, although it was extremely entertaining, was FAR too over-the-top and cheesy to be anything more than a popcorn and eye-candy movie. X-Men, still one of the most ambitious comic-book movies to be brought to screen, had the flaw of taking itself TOO seriously, therefore the campy sequences felt strange and unmatched with the rest of the film. Batman + Robin, well, let's just not go there. Spider-Man gets it all right. Tobey Maguire's brilliant performance of Peter Parker, as well as the death of Uncle Ben, perfectly parallel the hyper kinetic and exxagerated style of filming (a trait from Raimi's earlier films) and the cheese wiz performance by Willem Dafoe, who seems to be having even MORE fun with his performance than in Shadow of the Vampire.
Aside from the comic-book justice, Raimi also will please fans of the cult classic Evil Dead and Darkman films. Taking a step away from his more drama-driven career turn, he returns to his unique style of filmmaking, where almost EVERY shot of film is moving fiercely or spinning around violently. The fact that the CGI is a bit cartoony fits his wacky vision very nicely. After 13 years, the long-awaited Spider-Man matches the group of classic comic-films along with Burton's Batman and Richard Donner's Superman and shows us the way comic-book movies SHOULD be.