Look Out Here Comes The Spider-Man

"Spider-Man" this movie holds a special place for me. It was the movie that made it cool to be a comic book Nerd. It also opened the flood gates for all the superhero movies of the last 10 years. So with any more delay here is my Review of Sam Raimi's "Spider-Man"

Plot Summary 

 The Film opens with a narration by Peter warning does that this is not a happy story. We are quickly introduced to the 4 major charters. The 1st act of the film is about Peter learning his powers and his responsibility with those powers. The 2nd act  is Peter coming to terms with his life as Spider-Man and dealing with Green Goblin. The 3rd act is the climax the final show down between Peter and Norman.

The Good

This movie did a lot of things right both as a film and as a Spider-Man story. One of the 1st things that this movie did right for me was it introduced the four primary characters in the 1st 15 minutes and established their relationships. This also brings me to my next good for this movie the cast. With the exception of one actor this cast is perfect. Willem Dafoe is an amazing Norman Osborn, and I can not see any one but J. K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson. Another thing done right is something I've fussed over in other Spider-Man adaptations/retelling is the field trip to Columbia University is when Peter gets bitten a lot of   adaptations/retelling (including this summers ASM) make Oscorp the company behind the spider. Another really well done aspect of the movie is Flash Thompson the movie shows how he goes out of his way to bully Peter in the field trip. After the field trip we are then taken to Oscorp and shown the "super soldier"project that would end up making Osborn the Green Goblin. one of the things that was just right shown in this scene was the glider. It was perfect it was the same bat like design with out the goofy head on the the front. The movie then moves on to the 1st scene with a heavy amount of CG. Now for a move this old I have to say the CG is not bad it doesn't stand out to much from the real world shots. The next thing I want to talk about is Mary Jane (MJ) Watson though I not a big fan Kirsten Dunst in this roll (More on that in bad), however there are some things they did do right with this character. One being her home situation her father was not the best of care giver to MJ. Another thing that was done really well was the movie does show the chemistry between Peter and MJ very well. The next part that stands out is the end of the 1st act where Peter tries to sneak off to do the armature wrestling. The library he is taken too is the same New York Public Library from Ghostbusters that just makes me nerd out a little. Next is the talk and this is the moment were  Cliff Robertson shines as Uncle Ben. Then at the wrestling matches we get to see 3 thing that though bring the movie together very nicely. We have the one Bruce Campbell who gets to name Spider-Man, We see what I call the Proto Costume, and last but not least this is the 1st instance of Peter running is mouth. After the match we see the area get robbed and Peter do nothing about it. This leads to Uncle Ben being shot and dieing in Peter's arms. Peter chase down the shooter only to find that it the robber from the arena. Tobey Maguire shines here as the shock is truly believable from his performance and thus Peter learn that with great power comes great responsibility. One of the next scenes that I found really well done was the intro scene of the Daily Bugle Staff though none of the actors have big part every one does well and as I have said  J. K. Simmons it the best JJ ever. Now as the movie moves on we see the duplicity of Norman and the Goblin the movie this this perfectly. the scenes where Dafoe talks to him self are brilliantly done. Another thing that the film  does well is the back and forward between Spider-Man and the Green Goblin and how this eventually leads to Norman finding out Peter is Spider-Man. The movie then brings the Spidy Goblin conflict to a epic  confront atop  The Queensboro Bridge.  This scene is great because it is "Amazing Spider-man V. 1 #121" with some modification. The fight leads to the eventual self inflicted death of Norman Osborn and the best way of ending this film that their could be.

The Bad

Their is not a lot of bad in this movie but their are a few things that do erk me if nothing else. The 1st thing is the opening credits done in the same style as the X-Men movie. I didn't much like it then I don't like it here. the next thing that bugs me was the Green Goblin Costume. Early in pre production of the film Alex Ross reveled his concepts of the characters, and his goblin was awesome. Then the trailers hit and here it this rejected power ranger villain the only thing they got right was Green. Now the Green Goblin wasn't the only that bothered me they do some stuff with Peter's powers. One was the Organic Webbing I haven ever really liked this idea and the over explanation of his wall climbing. I know Spider-Man climbs wall I didn't need to see these little hairs like those of a spider on his hand mostly because it makes me think would his palms be hairy. Now still on the subject of Peter the movie does fall short with one thing they never show how smart he is. Sure he got some facts on spiders, he won the science award, and was a chess club member. All of this tells us he is smart none of it shows it. Peter is an engineering genius he designed and built his web shooter and the web formula  for said shooter. My next and this is a big problem with the movie is Kirsten Dunst and how she plays the character of MJ. Dunst can't seem to deiced is she a strong female character or is MJ the damsel in distress. She never the same in any two scenes. Another problem with the MJ is during the rain fight are the nipples poking out of her shirt. I know when it's cold like when it is raining that happens but Dunst is clearly wearing a bra which should of prevented that. On top of all that it was just distracting from the scene. other than that i have two little nitpicks. One was Bone Saw and it's not that The Macho Man played him it was his name in the comic the wrestler name was Crusher Hogan. My other little nitpick is Macy Gray I'm not a fan. There is not a lot wrong here my biggest problem is Dunst and how she plays the character.

The Ugly

There is not a lot that I would change but the changes I would make would make it a different story. the 1st big thing I would change is MJ would no longer be a mix of 3 character I would separate her and add Liz Allen and Gwen Stacy. Now doing this would also remove the Peter, MJ, Harry love triangle. Another thing I would change as a fan is I would give Betty Briant a larger roll other than JJ's assistant because this is a character that is beyond a shadow of a doubt Peter best friend. These are just some of the things as a fan I would of done differently. I am also reminded this story took over 121 issues to come to that end point.

 Over all Score 

This movie is near perfect even with my nitpick as a fan and how much Dunst just ruins a pivotal character this move gets a 5 out of 5. The movie is good and I remember just loving this movie 10 years ago. This movie is still really good and hold to the test of time. So if you don't own the DVD or BlueRay get this movie.