(Review originally written at 30 October 2004)
The movie tries to be more than just a superhero movie. It tries to give the characters and the story more depth and emotions just like in Sam Raimi's other 'superhero' movie "Darkman", it didn't impressed me. At least "Darkman" still had some fun moments and characters. "Spider-Man" is a movie that looks great from the outside but is empty and shallow on the inside.
There is nothing wrong with the casting in this movie. Tobey Maguire is a perfect nerdy Peter Parker and James Franco is equally good as Harry Osborn. The relation between Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson is nicely done thanks to the chemistry between Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst. Rosemary Harris and J.K. Simmons are also examples of some good casting.
The villain however is disappointing. Willem Dafoe is a good actor but he is overacting too much in this movie. His shiny Green Goblin costume looks also very laughable, especially his mask that can't move at all, with as a result that he looks like a "Power Ranger" villain. Not only his mask looks "Power Ranger" like, also some of the action which I also found a disappointing aspect in the movie. The final showdown is also a disappointment and contains one very cheesy scene involving some New Yorkers on a bridge...
Danny Elfman's music stands good on it's own but doesn't really fit the movie since there is no real 'superhero' theme like "Batman" or "Superman" had.
Still "Spider-Man" is kind of a cool movie. Nothing beats seeing Spidey swinging through the streets of New York. The movie is still good as pure entertainment, a real popcorn flick if you like.
7/10
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