Starring: Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, Willem Dafoe
Directed by: Sam Raimi

There was a time where movies adapted from Marvel comic books were invariably bad. Not just bad but awful. Box office poison. But since X-Men the trend has begun to change. Spider-Man, to the relief of the fans is a very good adaptation of the popular comic book by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. Maybe the hyphen in the title makes for a good movie?

I don't think I have to tell anyone that it is about an awkward teenager named Peter Parker (played by Tobey Maguire) who gets bitten by a genetically engineered spider and is endowed with spider like super powers. Also featured in the movie is Peter's love interest, Mary Jane Watson played by Kirsten Dunst and his nemesis the completely insane Green Goblin played by Willem Dafoe.

Tobey Maguire is an excellent Peter Parker. He plays the geeky braniac very well. Just like the comic book, it is very easy to relate to the orphaned loner, who's picked on at school. Maguire's acting is an asset to the story that is a basic, "I'm a lonely teen" story. Well, not so basic, I mean, he has super powers and stuff.

However, Maguire is a mediocre Spider-Man. It isn't really his fault. They didn't give him enough sarcastic lines and the ones he did have were not delivered in Spidey's trademark smart-alecky way. The action scenes were well directed, packed full of great special effects and some signature Sam Raimi cheese (i.e. extreme close ups on the eyes, demented dilapidated scenery, that cheesy car that travels through time in the movie Army of Darkness, flashing disturbing images as characters become insane). But to make them signature Spider-Man fight scenes they should have been filled to the brim with sarcastic one-liners!

What was really refreshing is that the love story wasn�t just tacked on as an afterthought to the rest of the action of the movie. Instead, it tied into the rest of the plot really well. Kirsten Dunst plays an amazing Mary Jane Watson.

And what's the deal with Green Goblin anyway? What does he want? The villain was well played by Dafoe, but all Green Goblin does is destroy things and torment people. Where's the brilliantly complicated criminal mastermind plot, with bombs all over the city ready to be detonated if Spidey doesn't perform tasks A, B and C in a certain amount of time? I find Green Goblin's lack of creative 'villainry' took away from the suspense of the film.

But don't get me wrong, the movie was great! It's understandable that they had to emphasize character development in this movie, in order to set the stage for many exciting sequels! So Spidey fans fear not. You're guaranteed to be entertained and those fat cats in Hollywood have not ruined our hero! Now let's all hold our breath for Spider-Man 2 featuring Doctor Octopus and dare I say? Spidey 3 featuring Venom and Carnage????

MastaCSG
Jack

DroopyMcC		I waited all my life for this movie, and I was not disappointed. Cheesy Raimi brings his touch to a (let's face it!) cheesy comic character. But why did Parker not hitch up with MJ? WTF? Maybe he's the crazy one and not Green Goblin.
Queen

ASY		As a fan of Spiderman, I loved every second of it! The casting is brilliant, especially JJ. All the tiny details (MJ's diner outfit, how she calls Peter 'Tiger') totally impressed me.
Queen