Review of Spider-Man (2002) by Shane S — 28 May 2015

I feel they got Peter Parker's origin story about half right. The Goblin is an alright introductory villain and Willem Dafoe owns the role. They don't really do the Goblin story any favors though. They botch it to be quite honest. If you're going to lead your franchise off with the Goblin, then you got to lead off with Gwen Stacy as your love interest for Peter. Goblin wouldn't have been my first choice, and was never my favorite, but his attack on the Macy's Parade was probably the most thrilling scene in the film. It redeems him somewhat.

I've never agreed with the Kirsten Dunst/Mary Jane casting decision. Mary Jane is a stunning model type in the comics and Kirsten Dunst is just sort of Plain Jane. The Aunt May casting decision is also a little sketchy. She seems too old to be Peter's Aunt if Peter is supposed to be a high school student. I call her Grandma May.

Tobey Maguire makes an alright Peter but suffers from Aunt May syndrome, where he seems too old to realistically portray his character. I'd buy Maguire more if Parker were a Grad student at Empire State University. The real winner from the main cast is Cliff Robertson as Uncle Ben. But the story sees fit to take him away rather too quickly.

All the miscasting aside, it's still a fairly decent, sometimes overly cheesy, comic book adaptation.