Spider-Man

"With great power comes great responsibility".These words, spoken by Peter Parker's uncle Ben(Cliff Robertson)during their last conversation and which have become Spider-Man's motto, also perfectly represent the challenge Sam Raimi was facing when asked to bring one of America's most loved superheroes to the screen.

You can relax, fellas: Raimi's movie is definitely worth a look.Loosely based on the origin story and the Stan Lee/John Romita Sr. run, it's a fascinating mix of spectacular action and powerful drama, as it chronicles Peter Parker's(Tobey Maguire) transformation into a superhuman and the responsibilities deriving from said metamorphosis: while fighting crime to avenge his uncle's death, he also has to deal with his feelings for Mary Jane Watson(Kirsten Dunst) and his friendship with Harry Osborn(James Franco); add Harry's father Norman(Willem Dafoe), who's become schizophrenic psycho Green Goblin, and you've got a quite complicated situation.

Raimi's excellent at showing us the hero's pain, as well as the one he causes to others, and he gets terrific performances from the entire cast, particularly Maguire, Dafoe and Robertson.

On its own, it's a very good superhero flick, alongside the sequel, it's an absolute masterpiece.

Recommended even if you don't care about the comics.

Classic! It's a simple origin story that leads into a rivalry between Peter Parker/ Spider-Man and one of his most iconic foes the Green Goblin. The movie gets more intense as it goes on while also being a 50/50 spilt with Peter Parker's personal life. Very easy to follow. If you want to keep your kid busy for two hours, put this on for them, but you'll probably be just as engaged as they will be. The theme is also very recognizable. What makes Spider-Man so great is that he learns responsibility after many mistakes, which makes him relatable. The acting is great while the dialogue is cheesy, but that's what you'll get out of any early 2000 comic book movie. The cinematography is great too, but you'll probably see it improved in the 2nd and 3rd movie, at least in my opinion. It's fast paced and great and iconic scenes just keep coming one after another. The effects look good for its time but nothing mind blowing. Great sound and the score is iconic and one of the best themes for a superhero. Sam Raimi knew how to do Spider-Man right and this movie is truly one of its kind. 10/10. A+.

That movie starts the string of the spider man that I'm grown with and raise the bar really high for the next super hero movie which comes soon after it. This part is really good synthesized. I can tell much more good thing abouy the movie but you can make them on your own.

Really good movie, I enjoyed the whole Trilogy with Toby Maguire but this was the best of the 3. Willem Dafoe made an excellent villain as the Green Goblin. Excellent super hero movie.

Having seen the trailers for this film I have to say that I didn't walk into the cinema with high hopes. The computer effects looked badly integrated, the Green Goblin's costume looked awful and comic book adaptations usually have such painful scripting and plotting. Thankfully I was wrong on most counts (The Goblin still looks rubbish).

As it turns out, this is probably the best super-hero film I've yet seen - certainly up there with Superman and Batman. People seem to automatically comment that the script and acting was bad because they expect it to be the case in these films; and indeed it usually is. But if you go into Spider-man without this prejudicial attitude you'll be pleasently suprised. The acting is generally great - there is never a time when anyone is not believable as their character and you think "Hey, that's an actor, not Peter Parker". The effects do look artificial but the pace of the movie means you don't have time to dwell on this and the script is fine! What do people want, Shakespearian soliloquies? That would sound incredibly out-of-place in modern day New York. There are few of the painful cliches or dreadful dialogue that plague films like The Phantom Menace and the catchphrases like "friendly neighbourhood spider-man" are fully in-keeping with the character.

The comic turns from J.J. Jameson hit the mark, the snarling facial contortions of Willem Defoe were suitably evil-looking (and the conversation with his mirror-image was a great touch). My only gripe was with the Green Goblin's costume. Very monotone green and not very scary.

All-in-all a great film that I wouldn't hesitate for a second in recommending.