Spidey reviews the Sam Raimi Spider-Man Trilogy
SpideyFunko
Member Posts: 21,954 ★★★★★
Spoilers for 2002’s Spider-Man below
I’ve finally done it. I have finally watched the first Tobey Maguire Spider-Man. I’d seen some of the memes, and some clips online, but I haven’t actually seen the movie. I haven’t seen the second and third installments either, which I’ll post reviews for later in this thread. But that aside, this film was hyped up by many, and some had said it’s the second best, or even best, Spider-Man movie. Did it meet those expectations? Well………. kinda. Onto the review!
The Green Goblin suit looks fantastic. It is one of my favorite supervillain outfits of all time, and the mask really sells it for me. Speaking of Gobby, the entire character was fantastic. Willem Dafoe does a masterful job portraying Norman Osborne, and he is one of my two favorite characters in this film. The balance between sane and insane is great and he really feels like the comic book character in a lot of ways. The other character is, obviously, J. Jonah Jameson. He. Is. Amazing. Wish he was in more of this film, honestly.
The action in this is pretty fun, although Goblin makes some questionable decisions (use the explodey bombs, dang it, not the injury-causing plot convenience ones!) The web swinging in this was super fun to watch, and the way Peter himself just fights and moves in general feels like they copy-pasted bits from the comics. Tobey Maguire does a solid job of playing Peter Parker, and a decent-ish job as Spider-Man. There’s definitely a couple aspects of his Spider-Manning that I’d like to be improved upon, but it’s a solid performance nonetheless. The suit itself is something I’m still undecided on, it’s just silver feels out of place and off for me.
James Franco is pretty fun to watch, and I hear he gets more screen time later. (which makes me happy) Kirsten Dunst was fine as Mary Jane, nothing special or bad about her. Only weird thing with her character is she figured Peter was Spider-Man because of his lips. Not like the voice is a dead giveaway or anything, nooooooo.
As for the plot, it’s basically your generic superhero origin story. Dead parent, freak accident, superpowers, it checks all the boxes. Sets up the villain with a cliche, but it’s forgiven by Willem Dafoe’s amazing performance. The romance scenes are a tad bit on the awkward-ohmygodcanwepleeassssegetbacktothesuperheroingstuff side, but the chemistry is there enough to stop them from being terrible. This honestly works well for the most part as a stand alone film, but does set up a couple things they can explore in the next two. It does feel a bit homagey at certain points, and it doesn’t help they got the dude who scored Batman to score this as well.
All in all, it’s a solid film I’m glad I watched. 7.5 out of 10.
I’ll review the other two later in this thread after I watch them.
I’ve finally done it. I have finally watched the first Tobey Maguire Spider-Man. I’d seen some of the memes, and some clips online, but I haven’t actually seen the movie. I haven’t seen the second and third installments either, which I’ll post reviews for later in this thread. But that aside, this film was hyped up by many, and some had said it’s the second best, or even best, Spider-Man movie. Did it meet those expectations? Well………. kinda. Onto the review!
The Green Goblin suit looks fantastic. It is one of my favorite supervillain outfits of all time, and the mask really sells it for me. Speaking of Gobby, the entire character was fantastic. Willem Dafoe does a masterful job portraying Norman Osborne, and he is one of my two favorite characters in this film. The balance between sane and insane is great and he really feels like the comic book character in a lot of ways. The other character is, obviously, J. Jonah Jameson. He. Is. Amazing. Wish he was in more of this film, honestly.
The action in this is pretty fun, although Goblin makes some questionable decisions (use the explodey bombs, dang it, not the injury-causing plot convenience ones!) The web swinging in this was super fun to watch, and the way Peter himself just fights and moves in general feels like they copy-pasted bits from the comics. Tobey Maguire does a solid job of playing Peter Parker, and a decent-ish job as Spider-Man. There’s definitely a couple aspects of his Spider-Manning that I’d like to be improved upon, but it’s a solid performance nonetheless. The suit itself is something I’m still undecided on, it’s just silver feels out of place and off for me.
James Franco is pretty fun to watch, and I hear he gets more screen time later. (which makes me happy) Kirsten Dunst was fine as Mary Jane, nothing special or bad about her. Only weird thing with her character is she figured Peter was Spider-Man because of his lips. Not like the voice is a dead giveaway or anything, nooooooo.
As for the plot, it’s basically your generic superhero origin story. Dead parent, freak accident, superpowers, it checks all the boxes. Sets up the villain with a cliche, but it’s forgiven by Willem Dafoe’s amazing performance. The romance scenes are a tad bit on the awkward-ohmygodcanwepleeassssegetbacktothesuperheroingstuff side, but the chemistry is there enough to stop them from being terrible. This honestly works well for the most part as a stand alone film, but does set up a couple things they can explore in the next two. It does feel a bit homagey at certain points, and it doesn’t help they got the dude who scored Batman to score this as well.
All in all, it’s a solid film I’m glad I watched. 7.5 out of 10.
I’ll review the other two later in this thread after I watch them.
6
Comments
...sorry, couldn't help myself. Personally agree with a couple of your points, as someone who's been getting more into acting and directing lately Dafoe's performance was a real highlight for me (and, of course, JK Simmons as JJJ, perfection right there). And yeah, I think Tobey does a real solid job, although I'll have to dissent on the score - Elfman's Spider-Man work is one that I'm particularly fond of, and I'd be kinda disappointed if they don't bring it back if the Spider-Man 3 rumors are to be believed.
That's all I got for now. Hope you enjoy the next two, Spidey!
Did your husband give it too you?
I could be highly wrong but this thread will get closed.
7.5? You are being so cruel on this movie.
- Mr.Ditkovich