Spider-Man (movie)

Spider-Man is an American 2002 superhero movie. It was made from the story of the Marvel Comics superhero, Spider-Man. It was the first in the Spider-Man movie series. It was written by David Koepp and directed by Sam Raimi. Tobey Maguire starred as Peter Parker / Spider-Man. Kirsten Dunst played the girl Peter loves, Mary-Jane Watson, and Willem Dafoe played the bad guy, Norman Osborn.

Plot 
At the start of the movie, Peter Parker, a very smart teenager, is accidentally bitten by a spider that had been mutated (changed) in a science study. This allows him to climb up walls, make spider webs come from his wrists, jump high, move fast and become very strong. Peter lives with his aunt and uncle. His Uncle Ben teaches him that "with great power comes great responsibility." He uses these powers to win a wrestling competition. However, he does not get paid what he thought he would get paid. A criminal steals a lot of money from the cashier and runs off. Peter does not try to catch the criminal, as revenge for not getting paid as much as he wanted to be. The criminal then steals Ben's car and Ben dies. From then on, Peter becomes Spider-Man and vows to fight crime, using Ben's words to their fullest.

Meanwhile, Peter's friend Harry's father is in trouble. Norman is the CEO or head of his own company, but the executive board kicks him off. He tests a new kind of formula and becomes the Green Goblin. Norman also has a device that lets him fly around. Spider-Man and the Green Goblin begin to fight in various places. During a fire at a building, the Green Goblin uses his voice and pretends to be someone trapped. When Spider-Man goes to rescue the person, he finds the Green Goblin. During the fight, Spider-Man's arm is cut. Peter, Norman, Harry, Peter's friend Mary Jane Watson, and Peter's aunt then meet at Peter's apartment for Thanksgiving. Norman notices Peter's cut on his arm and realizes that Peter Parker is Spider-Man.

Norman then starts planning to hurt Peter. He scares Peter's Aunt May so badly that she has to go to the hospital. There, Peter realizes that the Green Goblin knows that he likes Mary Jane Watson, so he calls her up, but the Green Goblin has already taken her. Spider-Man goes out to a bridge in New York. The Green Goblin has Mary Jane in one arm and a group of kids in a bus on the other hand. He wants Spider-Man to fail at doing something – to choose between the person he loves and innocent civilians. He then drops both at once. Spider-Man grabs Mary Jane first and uses his webbing to save the kids. The Green Goblin is angry and attacks Spider-Man. A bunch of New York people start to throw trash and knock the Green Goblin off balance.

The Green Goblin then grabs Peter and they start to fight inside an abandoned building. The fight is very violent and Spider-Man starts to bleed. Finally, after Spider-Man knocks the Green Goblin down, the Green Goblin says that he is Norman Osborn. Spider-Man is very surprised. Norman then distracts Peter and talks to him as he tries to get his flying device to move and to kill Peter. Spider-Man ducks at the last second and the flying device impales Norman, killing him. Dying, Norman asks Peter not to tell Harry that he was the Green Goblin.

The last scene is at a cemetery for the funeral of Norman. During the ceremony, Harry tells Peter that he swears that Spider-Man will die because Spider-Man killed his father. Mary Jane implies that she loves Peter, but Peter tells her that he will always be a friend and be there for her, and that is all he can give to her.

Production 
A trailer containing original footage was shown for screenings of the 2001 movie Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. The trailer shows a group of bank robbers flying in a helicopter and land on a giant web between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. The trailer was recalled following the September 11 attacks. As a response, a scene where New Yorkers throw food at the Green Goblin and wave their flags while yelling "You mess with one of us, you mess with all of us" was added for reshoots.

Reception 
After the movie was kept from being made for almost 25 years, it was shown in theaters on May 3, 2002. Critics liked it a lot and it broke many movie records. It made more money than any other movie in the year 2002. As of late 2007, Spider-Man is the seventh highest grossing movie in the United States and 17th highest world wide. It made enough money and two sequels have been made, Spider-Man 2 (2004) and Spider-Man 3 (2007).

Cast 
 Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker / Spider-Man
 Willem Dafoe as Norman Osborn / Green Goblin
 Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane Watson
 James Franco as Harry Osborn
 Cliff Robertson as Uncle Ben Parker
 Rosemary Harris as Aunt May Parker
 J. K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson
 Gerry Becker as Maximilian Fargas
 Bill Nunn as Joseph "Robbie" Robertson
 Jack Betts as Henry Balkan
 Stanley Anderson as General Thomas Slocum
 Ron Perkins as Dr. Mendel Stromm
 Joe Manganiello as Flash Thompson

References

Other websites

2002 movies
2000s superhero movies
English-language movies
Impact of the September 11 attacks
Movies composed by Danny Elfman
Movies directed by Sam Raimi
Spider-Man (2002 movie series)
Spider-Man movies
Columbia Pictures movies