Great acting & direction save dull script & bad fx

Rating: 8/10 (27 July 2002)

Let me get this out of the way first: yes, the script was a by-the-numbers comic book adaptation; and yes, the computer-animated sequences look fake. That being said, "Spider-Man" is the best big-budget superhero film I've seen since "Batman", and the best superhero film of any kind since "Darkman". The credit for this clearly falls into the hands of director Sam Raimi and the talented cast of actors he assembled for this film.
Since pretty much everyone under the age of 50 knows the story of the origin of Spider-Man (especially Internet-savvy computer users), I won't bore you with details of the plot, since it's mostly a re-hash of that story. And for those who have seen "Darkman", you can pretty much fill in the details.
What I will say is that Sam Raimi--after spending the last ten years restraining his trademark visual style--now embraces it with full gusto. The same eye-popping visual acrobatics he used in the "Evil Dead" trilogy and "Darkman" to enliven cheap, sub-par visual effects are now used to enliven expensive, sub-par visual effects. The opening titles alone are super-cool. Who would've thought going back to his cult-filmmaker roots would give Raimi his greatest mainstream success? And unlike so many other blockbuster summer flicks, the pacing doesn't feel particularly slow in the first half, or rushed towards the end. There are no extraneous scenes put in just to show off the special effects, and the action sequences with bad dialogue are mercifully short and are not the movie's focus. The emphasis is more on character development. Especially Peter Parker's unrequited love for Mary Jane.
And the acting is uniformly superb. Especially Willem Dafoe as scientist-industrialist Norman Osborn and his crazed alter-ego, the Green Goblin. Whereas most great actors camp it up in super-villain roles (think Jack Nicholson in "Batman" or Gene Hackman in "Superman"), Dafoe plays it straight and comes off as very believable both as a sociopathic monster, and as a man grappling with a sudden attack of schizophrenia *and* multiple-personality disorder that makes him do things he finds morally reprehensible. The mirror scene is the best thing in the film. Also worthy of mention is James Franco who plays Osborn's son Harry who is ironically Peter Parker's roommate. He mimics Dafoe so well, you wonder if he really is Dafoe's son. And of course the two leads are great, but anyone who saw "Little Women" or "The Ice Storm" shouldn't be surprised. Even the insignificant roles were great. In a perfect world, there would be an Oscar category for best cameo, and both Bruce Campbell and Cliff Robertson would be nominated.
"Spider-Man" is not one of those films that will make anyone's ten-best list at the end of the year, nor will it be singled out for any awards come Oscar-season. But it is solid entertainment with enough visual panache and brilliant acting to make you forget about the cliched script and the sub-"Titanic" computer animation. 8 out of 10.