Review #1,356: 'Spider-Man' (2002)

While Bryan Singer's X-Men will always be remembered as the film that kicked off the superhero craze of the 2000s, it was Sam Raimi's Spider-Man that truly knocked it out of the park, both in terms of critical reaction to a genre often unfairly sneered at, and box-office returns. It broke the opening weekend record, surpassing that of the first Harry Potter film, going on to gross over $800 million worldwide. Every studio executive with the rights to a comic-book hero started to lick their lips, and the subsequent years was a mixed bag to say the least. For every X-Men 2 there was a Ghost Rider, and for every Batman Begins there was a Catwoman. Raimi's Spider-Man is still fondly remembered as one of the best during a frustrating time for comic-book fans, long before the Marvel Cinematic Universe raised the bar.

Nerdy young Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) lives in a New York suburb with his Aunt May (Rosemary Harris) and Uncle Ben (Cliff Robertson). Next door is the object of his affection, the beautiful, red-haired Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst), but she's currently the arm candy of resident douchebag Flash Thompson (Joe Manganiello). The only person he can call a friend is Harry (James Franco), the son of millionaire Oscorp founder Norman Osborn (Willem Dafoe). Peter seems content with his position at the bottom of the school popularity hierarchy, until a visit to Oscorp sees him bitten by a radioactive spider. The bite grants him the power of super strength, agility and reflexes, as well as the ability to scale walls and fire webbing out of his wrists. But when Norman experiments on himself with a performance-enhancing drug after learning he is be ousted by the company board, he goes insane and dons a green goblin suit, reeking havoc on the city and its new hero, Spider-Man.

Spider-Man is now 16 years old, and is quite remarkable how well it has aged. Naturally, the special effects are now nowhere near as seamless as they once were, but the sight of Spidey swinging through the streets of New York with Raimi's gliding camera behind him is still a sight to behold. The technical aspects aside, Spider-Man still holds up because it takes its time to develop the characters and their relationships. Peter is certainly a bit of a cry-baby, but Maguire shares great chemistry with Dunst, and there's certainly an argument in favour of their iconic upside-down kiss being the most romantic moment in comic-book movie history. However, the film undoubtedly belongs to Dafoe, who hams it up to such extremes that it's almost impossible not to root for him, despite the shoddiness of his costume. Richard Donner's Superman is obviously the crown jewels when it comes to superhero origin stories, but Spider-Man isn't that far behind, paving the way for little B-list heroes such as Tony Stark to announce himself to the world. And we all know how that went.


Directed by: Sam Raimi
Starring: Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, Willem Dafoe, James Franco, Rosemary Harris, Cliff Robertson, J.K. Simmons, Joe Manganiello
Country: USA

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie