
Spider-man is directed by Sam Raimi and Stars Tobey Maguire, Willem Dafoe, James Franco and Kirsten Dunst. This film is the film that kicked off the super hero craze in my opinion. Sure the MCU is bigger and more popular but this is what started the trend. Spider-man held the record for the biggest opening weekend of any movie at the time.
It was a phenomenon and it kicked off an entire trilogy. And that’s all down to Sam Raimi.
Sam Raimi is a fucking genius when it comes to film making. If you’ve seen his film Evil Dead 2 then you know what I’m talking about. He knows his stuff and that’s why he was the perfect choice for this movie. He’s a huge comic book fan is is passionate about the source material and the characters within it and i guarantee that without him this movie and trilogy wouldn’t have worked one bit. OK I should probably talk about the movie itself now.
The story: This films story is so simple yet it’s done so perfectly. Peter Parker is your average nerdy kid, people bully him, he has one true and best friend, he lives with his aunt and uncle and has a huge crush on a girl. Then he gets spider powers and has to stop the green goblin… That’s it.
But it’s the way Sam Raimi chooses to tell this story that matters. Tobey Maguire is great as Peter Parker and he genuinely seems like this nerd with no friends in sight except for Harry Osborn. As We get to know Peter we are introduced to Harry and and Norman Osborn and right away we see that Norman is very quick to cast Harry aside to talk to Peter which sets up conflict that will grow throughout the trilogy.
It’s After Peter gets bitten that Norman decides to test Oscorps new experiment on himself which turns him into the green Goblin… Kinda. The hero and villain are born on the same night. After Peter wakes up for school we see glimpses of his powers such as his agility, his spidergrip and his webbing. Once he decides to test his grip by climbing the wall in the alley, it really goes for it. Plus the alley being a practical set pulls you right into this scene as he climbs the wall with the tense but exhilarating soundtrack done by Danny Elfman.
After Failing with his first swing Peter returns home and has this Talk with Mary Jane. (more on her and this scene later) they have this incredible heart to heart before she decides to go with Flash in his new car,leaving Peter behind.
When Peter decides to enter the Wrestling competition to win money he has this amazing Talk with uncle Ben that just makes you feel…. Awful inside. The way Peter talks to Ben makes you want the moment to be over because it genuinely is hard to watch… And then we get “With great power comes great responsibility”. No one is ever gonna be able to top this version of the speech… Period.
After Peter wins the fight he refuses to stop the crook that then robs the Place.. The very same person that kills uncle Ben.
Long story short Peter Chases him down by doing his very first successful swing and it is.. So fucking cool. After Peter catches him he sees that it’s the man he could have stopped, had he stopped the man with his power his uncle would still be alive. But he chose to be selfish and let the man go.
After Peter Graduates he remembers the final lesson he was ever Taught by his uncle and… He decides to become Spider-man and protect people. But then he starts getting slandered by the Daily Bugle and then the Green Goblin comes into the mix and begins to become his number 1 problem. Despite the fact that the green goblin wants Spider-man to join him Spider-man still knows that he Is the number 1 threat.
Their next fight is the amazingly filmed burning building scene… Which has the weird moment of the goblin pretending to be a woman but still. Then spiderman gets that scratch on his arm from one of the pumpkin Bomb batarang things which at first the viewer might see as just some simple battle damage and an example of what these things can do. However this bit of Damage is what helps Norman learn Peter his Spider-man which then leads to the attack on aunt may.
When aunt May is in the hospital she mentions that everyone knows how much he loves MJ which quite naturally makes him have his “OH shit” moment. Because he knows the goblin may know about her to.
The final battle is fucking incredible I won’t lie. I know a lot of people prefer the train scene in the 2nd movie but I’ve always preferred this scene and movie in general. Goblin gives Spider-man a choice “let die the woman you love, or suffer the little children”. As green goblin drops both we see the choices reflected in the spider masks lenses. As he catches both he can’t really do much considering he has both the children and MJ as well as the issue of having to deal with the green goblin.
He tells MJ to climb down which nearly fucks up thanks to the goblin and then there’s a scene which definitely meant a lot to Americans at the time. There’s a moment where New Yorkers decide to help Spider-man against the green goblin an this was a great call from Raimi, this film came out the year after 9/11 and there’s just this scene of.. People coming together to fight a huge threat.
Shortly after we get the absolutely insane fight between Peter and Norman. A grenade blows up in front of Peter and then he gets his ass kicked completely. Raimi didn’t hold back during this scene and I respect him for that, it’s not just some watered down fight at all. However all it takes after Spider-man to be at his weakest is for Norman to threaten to kill MJ and then Peter just sort of Snaps. The tables turn and HE gets to beat the shit out of green goblin until the helmet comes off and he sees that its his best friends dad and someone he idolises…. Kind of.
After Norman makes him an offer to be his son Peter acknowledges that his real father is Ben Parker.. And he always will be. And then The Green Goblin gets impaled on his own fucking glider and it is a brutal moment even for this movie. And after all that’s happened, after all that Norman’s done his dying wish…. Is for Peter to not Tell Harry who his father was and what he did.
Peter delivers the body to the Osborn house still in costume and Harry walks in.. And sees Spider-man with his father’s bloodied body.. And assumes he killed him.
Norman’s funeral is held, Harry Swears Spider-man will pay and Peter rejects Mary Jane because its the safer option.. And then after one more triumphant swinging scene…. The movies ends..
The Characters: Every character in this movie is amazing. Let’s Start with Peter. Tobey Maguire is great as Peter Parker but it’s his performance as Spider-man that drags him down. He’s OK but.. There’s something about him as spiderman that doesn’t feel right… However the suit is fucking amazing.
Norman Osborn/ Green goblin: wow what a performance by Willem Dafoe. You can tell that he pours so much love and passion into playing this role you know why? Because he wanted to do it. He wasn’t gonna play him originally but Sam Raimi finally gave in and let him. And you feel it in his performance, he had the costume department remake the suit so he could do most of his stunts. Now yes the suit is a bit cheesy and yes it looks like a demon power ranger but cmon, would you prefer him to wear a green and purple elf suit? Exactly.
Mary Jane. OK back to that scene I mentioned earlier. A lot of people just say she’s a damsel in distress and has no real character and to that I say… Bullshit.
There’s a scene where Peter is talking to her and she asks him what he’s doing after he graduates and he obviously tells her but then she’s too embarrassed at first to tell him her dream… But once she tells him he says he great that is and her face immediately has the reaction of “wait…someone just praised me for that?”. Both flash and Harry don’t understand her, Harry just thinks he Can solve everything with Money and flash is just.. Flash. In this movie in particular in my opinion she’s more than just a damsel in distress and people need to realise that.
J Jonah Jameson: best. Character in any comic book movie. Ever.. As well the best casting choice for a movie ever. JK Simmons NAILS this role, all his lines are 10/10 and even his look is. As Stan Lee would say (RIP). “nuff said”
The soundtrack: Danny Elfmans score is fantastic. It has the Bold, triumphant adventure feel to it and its iconic. From the Main theme to the music in the final swing (Farewell)
This movie is incredible and was was my favourite movie as a kid and sometimes it still is. I prefer it to the 2nd one but how can I not? I grew up with this one more than I did the 2nd it has my favourite marvel villain in.
Spider-man was a big deal to me as a kid and he still is. He’s been my favourite fictional hero for as long as I can remember and this film (plus the 90s animated series) was everything to me as a kid and for that it gets a 9/10. My only problem is that there’s a few bits of Bad CGI here and then but oh well. Hopefully I’m back soon with a review of Spider-man 2 but who knows.
Thanks for reading.