The Worst Film Ever

Powerful

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

I know a lot of people like this movie, but hear me out: this is not a good movie. This is most due to the fact that every second of Tobey Maguire's acting makes me cringe. He gets way too much credit for this movie. I also thought the Green Goblin villain was weak, despite a strong Willem Dafoe performance. The only part of this movie I ended up enjoying was J.K. Simmons' J. Jonah Jameson, who was well-acted and hilarious. This movie, also, every time I see it, can't help feeling campy. I'm sure at the time, this was probably a (small) step up for superhero cinema, but movies like the Dark Knight, which is celebrating its ten year anniversary at the time I'm writing this still have a huge impact all those years later, whereas this just doesn't feel special anymore.

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.

When this came out that particular summer, I thought to myself, "Big deal. It's just another superhero movie." Most of the superhero movies, including the Batman films by Tim Burton and Joel Schumacher, weren't doing it for me and I don't know if I even had a favorite superhero film back then. After Spider-Man ended its run in theaters and came out that fall on video, I watched it and was pleasantly surprised. It wasn't bad at all. Another superhero origin film with all the right elements. A high school youngster, a loving older couple, newly-discovered abilities, and a reason to help the less fortunate. Still, I've heard some say that Willem Dafoe's Green Goblin was a little lame and that he looked like something out of the Power Rangers, but it worked as a realistic villain. At least the suit wasn't too CGI; just a man-in-suit creation. I'd never even heard of Spider-Man's origin story before this movie but later read about it and discovered some minor differences. Those didn't bother me in the slightest though not everyone would and will agree with me. But whatever. Even if you're not the biggest fan of superheroes, try this one for starters. It got me on the path to Marvel, as did Iron Man and the Avengers. And hopefully I'll get to watch the later Spider-Man films (Amazing Spider-Man 1 and 2 don't count). But just give this a chance. Please?

If you want to know what the standard for a superhero origin movie is, this is the place. Everything about the way this movie plays is to have a basic origin about Peter. There wasn't a lot too it.It showcased his powers then, villain. The famous Uncle Ben line was not played out, so was the rest of the acting. Toby McGuire's acting is not really my favorite. His acting is as a boring and tired character. He doesn't even act like a nerd to fit Peter's character. And there was nothing visually good from a superhero who'd be swinging around a lot.