Spider-Man is a 2002 film directed by Sam Raimi and it stars Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Rosemary Harris, Cliff Robertson, J.K. Simmons and Willem Dafoe. The film is about a young boy named Peter Parker who is bit by a radioactive spider and becomes the iconic superhero Spider-Man. He faces a villain that is also iconic and that is the Green Goblin. This was the first ever live action Spider-Man film ever to be made.
My General Thoughts:
As I said in my previous blogpost, I grew up watching this film and it’s two sequels during my childhood. I LOVE the entire trilogy so much. I remember when this film was first announced, I was just completely mind blown. An actual live action Spider-Man movie was legitimately was going to be released in May of 2002 and I was so hyped! This film was the second American film I’ve ever seen in theaters and it was an amazing experience. I remember my mom bought me a T-Shirt of the first movie and she also bought me a few toys that was based on the first film. I couldn’t stop thinking about this movie for the next couple of days after I’ve seen it for the first time. After this movie came out, I became an even bigger fan of Spider-Man and sometimes pretended to be Spider-Man as a kid! This movie was a dream come true to every little kid like me back at 2002. I eventually got the movie on DVD a few years later and I’ve seen this and it’s two sequels countless of times.
The Positives:
There are tons of great things about this movie. The first great thing about this movie is the title sequence. Danny Elfman’s music theme for the movie gives me chills every single time. It’s a theme that makes the movie come to life and it’s one of my favorite themes of all time. The second great thing about this film is the story itself. The story is really simple and the movie kicks off in a satisfactory way and there is never a dull moment. The movie makes you be drawn to it right after the title sequence. The third great thing about this movie are the action/fight scenes between Spider-Man and the Green Goblin. The final fight scene between the two at the last act of the film was really something else. Both of them going at it and seeing Spider-Man taking blows in slow motion at certain times made me say in my head “Damn!!”. If you’ve seen the movie, you know what mean. The fourth great thing is the scene where Peter is drawing the iconic suit and the music that was playing in the background. The suit in general that was used for this movie and just the entire trilogy was really gorgeous. It’s my favorite suit version. The other scene when Peter first takes a swing at Manhattan and taking out thugs with the iconic suit was one of the top moments of the movie. It was the moment we’ve been all wanting to see after seeing the movie posters in the movie theater. Another top moment was when Peter discovered he has super powers and he was testing them out. Tobey Maguire nailed it as Peter Parker and Spider-Man and he’ll always be my favorite Spider-Man. Andrew Garfield and Tom Holland are really good but Tobey’s Spider-Man was part of my childhood. J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson is the definition of perfection. His performance in this film by showing his dislike for Spider-Man was spot on. Such a great actor. Everyone else in the movie was perfect with their roles too. There was sufficient character development within the film and it made you be invested with the characters for the sequel. The turning point where the Green Goblin knows who Spider-Man is (spoilers) was a moment that took me off guard the first time I saw it. This was the first movie that changed the superhero genre of films in my opinion.
The Negatives:
There is only one negative thing I have for this movie and that is the pacing. During the middle act of the film, I thought the pacing was a bit slow. After the scene where the Green Goblin offers Spider-Man friendship and tells him to think about it (again spoilers) I just thought the pacing was a bit slow after that scene. But the pacing kept up eventually and I thought it was a little slow again when Harry saw Mary Jane holding Peter’s hand at the hospital. But the final act of the film definitely had the pace in normal no doubt. That is the only issue I had with the movie but it doesn’t hurt the film too much.
The Verdict:
Overall, the 2002 Spider-Man film is a really good film. As I said before, I think it was the first film that was a game changer for the superhero genre in films and it’s a movie that I think led the pathway to have more superheroes on the big screen. This film and even the two sequels never get old in my opinion. Despite the one negative issue that I have with this movie, it’s a highly enjoyable film. I’m going to rate the movie four out of five stars. If you haven’t seen the movie, I would highly recommend it. You won’t be disappointed!
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Stay tuned for my next review which will be one of the greatest sequels ever made, Spider-Man 2! 🙂
The Elite Film Prodigy 