Spider-Man (2002)
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 "With great power comes great responsability" - Uncle Ben
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Spider-Man is a 2002 superhero film directed by Sam Raimi, written by David Koeep and based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. It stars Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, Willem Dafoe, James Franco, Cliff Robertson, Rosemary Harris, J.K. Simmons, Ron Perkins, Joe Manganiello, and Michael Papajohn. It released on May 3, 2002
Plot
Spider-Man centers on student Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire), who, after being bitten by a genetically altered spider, gains superhuman strength and the spider-like ability to cling to any surface. He vows to use his abilities to fight crime, coming to understand the words of his beloved Uncle Ben: "With great power comes great responsibility."
Why It Rocks
- This film is widely known for being super faithful to its source material, for its writing and direction from Sam Raimi.
- Great casting choices, which are still remembered even to this day.
- Tobey Maguire does a spot-on job as Peter Parker, despite being inaccurate to the comic version; therefore, his portrayal of Peter (as well as the more famous Bully Maguire) has sparked several memes on YouTube, Twitter and several social media websites.
- Willem Dafoe was an very excellent choice to play Norman Osborn/the Green Goblin, and plays both sides of his torn-up psyche perfectly.
- J. K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson was a picture-perfect casting choice. Simmons nailed Jonah's personality very perfectly, which is why his performance is considered one of the greatest casting choices of all time.
- The action scenes are well-shot and well-choreographed.
- Great acting.
- Fantastic direction from Sam Raimi, director of the Evil Dead trilogy.
- Amazing soundtrack by Danny Elfman, especially the opening theme.
- Solid mix of humor, action, suspense and drama. It also manages to feel like both a realistic and a classic superhero movie.
- Deals really well with the theme of responsibility and has a great allegory for puberty.
- Good moments.
- The iconic moment where Spider-Man and MJ kiss in the rain after saving her from a group of perverts while he is upside-down in the rain.
- Green Goblin and Spider-Man's final battle was both awesome and emotional. His death is also emotional.
- Uncle Ben's death might be the most heartbreaking death in the Spider-Man trilogy, especially since Peter is actually with him when he dies in this version.
- The home-video versions have the reflection of the World Trade Center's "Twin Towers" on Spidey's lenses as a way of respecting the victims of 9/11.
- Decent cinematography, for the most part.
- The poster is iconic.
- Awesome and memorable lines: such as:
- "I had to beat an old lady with an stick to get these cranberries!"
- "My fist breaking your teeth, that's the accident."
- "Peter…don't tell Harry…"
- "With great power, come great responsibility."
- "I missed the part where that's my problem."
- Because of its box-office performance, it went to spawn two other sequels (Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man 3), which are also awesome, just like this, and have all of the stuff that made this movie amazing in the first place.
Bad Qualities
- It has some really campy moments, particularly the moments involving the Green Goblin.
- The CGI hasn't aged too well by today's standards.
- Tobey Maguire's portrayal as Peter Parker and Spider-Man is very inaccurate to the comics:
- As Spider-Man, he was changed from a cocky and energetic superhero who constantly makes funny quips to the bad guys to a generic superhero who barely has any personality. He spends the majority of his screen-time either being silent or just saying short lines that deliver no personality from him, and he hardly makes any quips to the bad guys. When he does (i.e., "Sit down, and let Mom and Dad talk!"), it sounds extremely phoned in.
- A part of his backstory of what leads to Uncle Ben being murdered was changed from him letting a crook go out of selfishness and indifference that was caused by letting his fame as a wrestler go to his head, to getting petty revenge on a greedy wrestling manager who scammed him out of 3,000 dollars. This makes his way of learning to take responsibility come off as less impacting, and it denies a moral about what happens when a person lets their selfishness get the best of them.
- While Tobey Maguire did a great performance, his acting can get way too quiet and awkward in some scenes, and a few of his tear-jerking moments are hard to take seriously with his goofy facial expressions.
- His personality portrayal (which is still a problem in the next two movies) makes him come off as a wimpy dork who lets people push him around even after his years of crime-fighting, while in the comics, he became more self-confident and less awkward after all those years of crime-fighting and doesn't let anyone push him around.
- He doesn't have his genius-level intellect. This is one of the character's most interesting character qualities, and it was featured in the comics of how he created his web-shooters, while in this movie it is just organic web-shooters that come out of his wrist.
- Some of the action scenes look very bad. For example, the fight between Spider-Man and the Green Goblin at the World Unity Fair looks like it was taken directly from Jingle All the Way.
- While most of the writing is good, some of it hasn't aged well, such as where Spidey asks "That’s a cute outfit. Did your husband give it to you?" to Bonesaw McGraw, which could be considered homophobic.
- Mary Jane has a clingy outfit during the rain scene where you can see her nipples, which could be too much for a PG-13 film.
Trivia
- It spawned the "Crying Maguire" (or "Spider-Tears" by Honest Trailers) meme along with other memes.
- During years of development hell, early attempts like Spider-Man were turned into a hairy, suicidal eight-armed spider-monster who refused to join the scientist's new master race of mutants and sought to fight mutates kept in a basement laboratory by Cannon Films. Another attempt was to have Spider-Man, a college student, get his powers from a cyclotron accident rather than a spider bite. In contrast, Doctor Octopus had the same incident. There was also a third attempt from Carolco Pictures where director James Cameron submitted a "scriptment" that kept much of Spider-Man's origins from the comics (where his organic web shooters are used from the 2002 film). It even was to deviate Spider-Man villains such as Electro, a corrupt capitalist named Carlton Strand, instead of Max Dillon.
- Initially, the Green Goblin's mask was supposed to be animatronic before Willem Dafoe was cast.
- The original trailer for the movie depicted a helicopter full of bank robbers getting caught by Spider-Man with a web suspended between the World Trade Center's "Twin Towers". After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the trailer (along with a poster that had the World Trade Center reflected in Spider-Man's eyes) was pulled.
- The scene where bystanders on the Queensboro Bridge pelt the Green Goblin with garbage, yelling, "You mess with Spidey, you mess with New York!" was added in post-production as a direct response to the attacks.
- Leonardo DiCaprio, Jude Law, Heath Ledger, Wes Bentley, Chris Klein, and Freddie Prinze Jr. were all considered for the role of Spider-Man.
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