Rewatching Spider-Man (2002)

It's been a while. I originally saw it in the theater, liked it a lot, then bought the DVD. I am raising my rating from a 7 to an 8 out of 10.

I believe they intended to make a trilogy, and they did, but this movie works best as a standalone film. I say this because the two sequels, while the first is good in several ways, fall short of what I expected. I would rather leave it be, with Peter feeling guilty about Uncle Ben's death Harry swearing revenge on Spider-Man and MJ & Pete's relationship in flux.

The movie itself feels very comic book-y, from scene to scene, as if it they meant for it to be a live action episode of the cartoons. The next two films don't follow this style, and I find myself missing it. The film is stylish (even compared to the more stylish remake) and has good pacing. 

One thing I would've done better is the costume changes. For example, when the Green Goblin attacks Jameson, poof! and suddenly Peter is in costume. It is about 10 seconds if I recall, and Peter's outfit wouldn't allow that fast of a change. By prolonging the dialogue, this would've been more believable, as well as the attack during the parade. There is a neat slow-mo shot of Peter revealing his costume, but then too quickly again, he's rocking the whole thing. I also don't understand why Peter has to be mask-less during the alley attack. Seems like the easiest part of the costume to put on, since he is already wearing the costume beneath his clothing. I realize that this is not something that is taken seriously in comic books/movies, but it could've been done better.

And the award for best nipple-otography goes to...

I understand the romantic ambiance of the rain during the upside down kiss scene, but Dunst's nipples are so difficult to ignore. She appears to be wearing a bra, but I think the solution would've been a different top entirely. She has such a low neckline throughout the picture. I'm not saying that I don't like seeing her all wet and smitten, but it is quite jarring from the rest of the film.

Another issue is how Spider-Man calls MJ by name several times, and it doesn't makes sense. One scene of MJ telling him her name would've made this less annoying. It makes MJ look really stupid for not wondering how Spider-Man knows her name, aside from the obvious vocal similarity that is usually ignored in superhero films. Speaking of which, Goblin's voice is mostly different enough to not tell it is Norman, and Spider-Man has a deeper voice in most scenes.

Guess who I invited to Thanksgiving dinner!

Willem Dafoe gives the best performance, with Tobey Maguire not far behind as well as James Franco. They did a good job of making Harry & Norman look and appear like father and son. The CGI actually held up remarkably well, despite my predictions that it would be glaringly bad. The worst instances are with the Goblin during the parade attack.

What do you think of this movie? For reference, I also gave the remake an 8 out of 10. This one is definitely more theatrical though and it works wonderfully with the Goblin in this scene. Watching the special features was neat, because Dafoe had a ball doing the fights and glider motions.