This was the movie that I watched the most as a kid. Still holds up today with a fantastic origin story and Shakespearian drama. I'm sure that this is the best Spider-Man we will ever see because Raimi is the perfect director for this source material. With his low budget background, Raimi knew how to make a great looking movie for pennies. Given millions of dollars, Raimi gave us a very modern looking move even for 2018. Sure, the fight during the parade and a couple other shots are sort of bad looking due to 2002 CGI, but you can look past it because they are few and far between. Attack of the Clones came out the same year and it's incredible how much this holds up compared to it. People complain about the actors not being actual teenagers, but it's something I've never really been bothered with. Tobey is the perfect Spider-Man, portraying every side of Peter Parker to a T. Dunst is alright as a damsel in distress, but nothing to write home about. Dafoe was unhinged as the goblin, and it makes me really wish that they used the makeup that they were originally planning on doing so we could see more of his performance. I like the mask in some scenes though, like when he puts Peter to sleep and talks to him on the rooftop. Showing just his eyes, he is so menacing in that scene that you can practically see the face he's making and it's sort of disturbing. Simmons plays a perfect Jameson and Franco is ok.All in all, this film is a bonafide classic that's in the same vein as the first superman in the 70s and 1989s batman. To me, Spider-Man is to my generation what those movies were to previous generations. All 3 represent something extremely fun and new. This, along with X-Men a couple years before, really brought comic book movies into the limelight again after they were dying down in the late 90s. This is a movie that I will be returning to for the rest of my life and one that I would recommend to anyone looking for a good time.

Decided to reappraise Sam Raimi's 2002 initial version of "Spider-Man". My fear was that, given the current sophistication of the MCU and superhero films in general, this vision would might feel juvenile in comparison. I'm happy to report that generally, that wasn't the case. You don't need a synopsis. It's an origin story; bitten by spider, learns powers, Uncle dies (spoiler) and learns to become a hero. His villain in this one is The Green Goblin, played with joyous unrestrained mania by Willem Defoe. Kirsten Dunst is Mary Jane Watson and James Franco is Harry Osborn. There are a few smaller roles filled by actors that went on to greater things. Joe Manganiello plays Flash Thompson and Octavia Spencer plays the wrestling company secretary. It all holds up pretty well, after all this time. There is a lot of Sam Raimi in the movie with trademark tracking shots and overlaying images - as well as more explicit references like the classic Oldsmobile car from the Evil Dead films. The CGI is largely pretty impressive, though there are some moments when the transition to a digital stuntman are obvious - a lot of the film was done practically though and most of that still looks pretty good. The story is strong and the performances are pretty solid too - there are occasional moments that drag you out of it though. The Goblins attack on Aunt May for example, forcing her to complete the "Deliver us from Evil" line is so over the top it's jarring. This portrayal of Spiderman is, if I am honest, probably my least favourite of the most recent three. Nothing against Maguire's choices specifically, but he just feels a little too old and not quite as witty as the two that followed. Defoe leaves no scenery unchewed, but it works as his character is truly psychotic, a fact he acknowledges at one point. It's an excellent, fun adaptation that helped to pave the way for the MCU and some of the great films we have now.

Movie Review: "Spider-Man" (2002)When director Sam Raimi auditioned for the job to direct the first Major Hollywood Budget Marvel comic-book adaptation after R-rated as solid beginnings with "Blade" in Fall 1998, executive producer Avi Arad, in close relations to initial comic-book artist Stan Lee, put together the best possible crew from building an young adult speaking leading cast surrounding Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker, Kirsten Dunst as Mary Watson and James Franco as Harry Osborn, when actually Willem Dafoe directed by Sam Raimi to excellence in order to play major bio-chemical enterprise-owning Norman Osborn, turning into the ultimate "Spider-Man" nemesis character "Green Goblin" to steal the 115-Minute-Show edited to perfection by Arhtur Cowburn and Bob Murawski in favors for distributing Columbia Pictures, now more affiliate of the Sony Company, Japan to deliver the blockbuster, as sold out auditoriums for a week in U.S. major cities, of the summer season 2002.The picture as sound design still keeps on to amaze in any form of exhibition down to video-on-demand for portable digital devices, when action sequences , including a fully-digital-integrated so called "Spidey-Cam" and hands-on live-action stunts on stunningly build sound-stage sets reach highest standards in "Hollywood" motion picture entertainment. Copyright 2018 Cinemajesty Entertainments LLC

I was 2 years old when it was being announced that Spider-Man was going to be on the big screen, I didn't know who Spider-Man was, until I watched the movie when it came out on DVD. So what was the result of me watching it? I loved it. Sam Raimi himself is actually a comic book fan so he already knew what he had to do when he first directed this, he knew how to develop the characters and to match the original tone Spider-Man is supposed to be. First I will discuss what I like about the movie: I genuinely love the cast. Tobey Maguire is without a doubt one of the absolute best actors to play Peter Parker we've ever had, he has the soft nerdiness the character is supposed to have and it's very easy to care and sympathize with him in what he's going through, while I do agree he's not as good at being Spider-Man as he is with being Peter I still believe he does a fantastic job, he has funny one- liners and he was able to get ripped in order to look like how the character is supposed to look in the comics. I have absolutely no complaints with Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane Watson, she's lovable, tough, sympathetic, and beautiful, what more could you ask for? I would've been shocked if James Franco said no to playing Harry Osborn, being that he's known for his work when it comes to comedy it must've been an interesting twist for him to play a more serious role, loyal, dedicated, intelligent, and sometimes delusional, Dane DeHaal should've learned from this before he agreed to star in The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Rosemary Harris and Cliff Robertson as Aunt May and Uncle Ben were perfect choices, they portrayed the characters the exact same way they were supposed to be portrayed in the comics and I have no problems whatsoever. Willem Dafoe as Norman Osborn and the Green Goblin is perfect, Dafoe himself actually wanted the part and you can see how passionate he was when Raimi hired him, his overthetop expressive behavior in the movie is just how the Goblin is supposed to be in the comics and all the other relevant adaptations of him. If there were any cast members that I didn't know were in this and I ended up being surprised by what I discovered it would be Elizabeth Banks as Betty Brandt, there's not much to say about her other than she's kind, beautiful, and can't be replaced. Last but not least is none other than J.K Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson, he's an over-bearing, obnoxious, loud mouth cartoon character in a live-action movie and there's never a boring scene that he's in, every single word that comes out of his loud, obnoxious, non-stop rambling, mouth of his is music to my ears! The camera work in this movie, while not spectacular by today's standards is still very cool to watch, whether it's any scene with spider-sense tingling, an intense action scene, or Spider- Man web slinging through the city. Spider-Man's suit is a very cool design and it stands out as being one of the most memorable Spider-Man costumes. The score composed by Danny Elfman is an absolute masterpiece, it's the overall best Spider-Man movie theme of all time, there is nothing that can top it. The change where Peter has organic web shooters instead of mechanical web shooters like in the comics is so much better because if you're bitten by a spider that gives you spider powers, why would you not be able to shoot webs from your wrists organically? Now for what I don't like about the movie: 1.Some of the c.g effects definitely haven't aged well, especially in the scene where Peter is testing his agility when jumping across a few rooftops. 2. The dialogue stinks, a lot of what the characters say comes out as being either shlocky, awkward, or just plain dumb, 2 examples include "it's you who's out Goblin, out of your mind" and "I think I have a superhero stalker." 3. The acting is extremely goofy, primarily with Willem Dafoe, his over the top behavior is very silly at times especially in the scene where he's talking to himself in the mirror and the scene where he talks to his Green Goblin mask when wondering how to kill Spider-Man. 4. Speaking of the Green Goblin's mask, his suit in this is just flat out ridiculous, the Green Goblin is one of the most expressive characters in comic book history, and they had the best actor to play him, but that's really hard to represent when you have him wearing a plastic mask with a frozen expression, thus he looks more like a Power Rangers character than he does as the Green Goblin. 5. This is the last complaint I have but unfortunately it's also the biggest problem I have with not just this movie but the entire series, the romance in this movie is HORRIBLE!!! The relationship between Peter and Mary Jane is so complicated that you'll be demanding the movie to just bring them together and let things stay that way so that you don't have to sit through how cringe worthy it is. In conclusion while the movie is definitely goofy by today's standards and is nowhere near perfect it's still a very clever and enjoyable adaptation of our favorite web-head. I may not love it as much as I used to when I was younger but it still makes me feel good every time I watch it. Because that's our gift, our curse, who are we? We're Spider-Man fans.