The most Down-to-Earth Superhero movie - Experience the story of your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man!

Rating: 9/10 (19 January 2018)

Spiderman is a movie based on the homonymous comic book created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. It follows the story of Peter Parker (played by Tobey Maquire) a science nerd, high school boy, who's been love with Mary Jane (M.J.) since 6th grade. Peter's parents have died in a plane crash accident and Peter has been living with his uncle Ben and aunt May since he was very young. One day he goes on a school tour to this government/university laboratory and gets bitten by a genetically engineered spider. Spider instills fluids into his organism that later give Peter supernatural abilities, Spider-sense (sensing danger before it occurs), superhuman strength & reflexes, web generation like a spider etc. Peter's life changes drastically from then onward. He becomes powerful but he's reminded by his uncle (who's his father figure). After a fatal accident that occured on his uncle Ben he's fueled by anger and revenge to stop the ones responsible and fight to stop crime. His friend's father Norman Ozborn, an influential, rich genius with a huge corporation "Ozcorp", becomes evil as Government defense agency pulls funding from him. Norman's double personality (with Green Goblin) won't stop at anything to get what he wants but he must first kill Spiderman, then nothing will stand on its way.
Spiderman has long been one of my favorite comic book stories, because it is so down to earth. The audience can really relate to Peter, because what happened to him could really happen to anyone. Sam Raimi's excellent direction does justice to Spiderman's story in the best way possible. It presents it on screen in a surprisingly mature way, realistically, with only a few spicy details thrown every now and then to remind the audience of the comic book fashion of the story. The plot is driven by the excellent pacing in a timely manner. Energetic, fluid, everything flows naturally. Also the fights are well choreographed but nothing too amazing. The movie is very entertaining and enjoyable to watch and re-watch.
The cast of characters is truly impeccable. One cannot simply forget the role of J. Jonah Jameson (played by J. K. Simmons) as the chief news editor of "The Daily Bugle" a news company, who employs Peter to take Spiderman's pictures. His cast could only be compared to Gandalf's in LOTR. The acting is great, except one or two scenes that in my opinion are a bit exaggerated. The dialogue is fantastic. As an example, the ending talk by M.J. talking to Peter is played perfectly (i was amazed by the level of emotion in this scene. I was convinced Kirsten Dunst was pefect in her role). The film contains some of the wittiest quotes you'll ever hear. Lets not forget the dialogue scene between Peter and his uncle Ben, "with great power comes great responsibility" speech, which for me is one of the greatest dialogue scenes ever depicted on film. The antagonist "The Green Goblin" is utterly ruthless and a worthy menace to our hero.
Cinematography encompasses some spectacular visuals in here, especially when Spiderman webs around the city's SkyScrapers, it is something you've never seen before. It's a delight to watch this movie. CGI aren't great though, they could benefit from a digital remaster. And let's not forget the fantastic work by Danny Elfman on the Soundtrack. It is a pure joy to hear, it enhances the dramatic moments of the film and fits so well throughout.
Spiderman is an amazing movie. I loved this film when i watched it when i was young. I rewatched it again yesterday and saw that it hasn't aged a bit. This is a refreshing story, released at an important time for comic book movies that were rising at the time with Blade and X-Men. There are only a few dramatically exagerated scenes, that although serve the story, could have been streamlined a bit for realism, but i understand the director's intentions.

Rating: 9/10 - Amazing