Review of Spider-Man (2002) by Todd A — 26 Apr 2014

Sam Raimi's direction is immediately recognisable, his dramatic flashing lights, strange imagery, stirring sense of wonder accompanied by a marvellous soundtrack, and best of all his camera style consisting of intense close-ups and smooth pans, his movies look great and pull you in.

Everyone knows the story of Spider-Man, and who better to play the web slinging hero than Tobey Maguire. He's great at playing the nerdiness, confusion, shock and then the grasp of his new found powers. There's also outstanding support from Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Rosemary Harris, Cliff Robertson and Willem Dafoe, I love his mad look in his eye and change from devoted scientist to crazy villain.

I loved the high school lunch fight, the robbery montage, the first time Peter climbs a wall and the boxing match too, all the little bits are the great bits, building up to the real action! 12 years on and it's not aged a bit, the visuals are spectacular and the Times Square attack is one of the best superhero movie action sequences ever.

Although it settles more on characters, which is fine, Spider-Man is high flying entertainment and one adventure to go back to over and over.