A worthy adaptation

Rating: 7/10 (17 May 2017)

Part of appreciating Sam Raimi's "Spider-Man" is understanding its role in the Hollywood superhero boom of the last fifteen years. But on its own terms, what it really does right is the balance between morality and superpowers; the give-and-take of Peter Parker's crushing burden and those thrilling scenes of swinging through the city. That's what really stands out to me today (that, and J.K. Simmon's pitch-perfect casting as J. Jonah Jameson, who owns every one of his scenes). Not all of it works - the story is a bit drawn out and the dialogue scenes between Maguire and Dunst are marshmallowy soft - but it's a perfectly decent treatment of Spidey.
And these days, I still watch it with the firmly-imprinted memory of its success in 2002. The genre landscape was entirely different back then, and a Spider-Man movie wasn't a sure thing. Raimi was a genuine surprise as director, but he produced a film that retained the vibrancy of its source material and populated it with grounded characters. And the timing really helped; it ended up being an anthem for a post-9/11 New York.
In other words, it was a breath of fresh air.
7/10