May. 16, 2002 - 2:43 am
what's this? Spider-Man is already ranked on the top 100 of the IMDb? i bet in a month it won't be on there. probably just a bunch of people who love Spider-Man comics, etc. went and voted 10 for it. there are way too many 10's and that movie is by no means a 10. it was pretty good though. i give it 7/10.
i was thinking this movie was going to be just a "rental" when i heard about it originally and even after i saw the previews. but it started to get really good reviews from various sources. like i read someone who called it the best comic adaptation since Batman (1989). i'll agree with that. it is probably the best since Batman. but it's still just a rental. i was right originally. that's why it gets a 7.
it has its moments. like there are some parts that are just awesome Sam Raimi style. like there was this one part where there's a guy in the NYC subway singing with a guitar a song he made up about Spider-Man. and i don't know why, but you can just tell that it's Sam Raimi shining through. i also really enjoyed the Green Goblin's costume. it was awesome. better than i could've imagined. i was sooo afraid that they were actually going to make Willem Dafoe's face turn into some cgi creation of a green goblin face. but no, it was this cool metallic mask. awesome idea. it was actually modeled after one of the demons from Sam Raimi's Army of Darkness (1993).
my friend Keith was right. the cgi stuff where they show Spider-Man swinging around, etc. was not really that annoying and was usually quite well done. not tooo fake looking. one thing about the movie is that i really have disliked Kirsten Dunst in every role save Interview With The Vampire (1994) and The Virgin Suicides (1999). those are her only 2 movies that i could recommend seeing. Tobey Maguire was perfect for this role though. movies you should see in his filmography: This Boy's Life (1993), The Ice Storm (1997), Wonder Boys (2000). but he's always fantastic really.
i think this movie drew a little too much from previous superhero films. i saw way too much Superman (1978) in it. there was also one blatant Batman shot where Spider-Man was sitting on a gargoyle type thing overlooking the city. lots of The Matrix (1999) fight moves and special effects. the only really original thing was the comedy brought to the film by the collaboration of Tobey Maguire and Sam Raimi. it was too restrained though. the movie overall was original in a way, but i'd still just recommend renting.