Spider-Man (2002) Review

“Whatever life holds in store for me, I will never forget these words: "With great power comes great responsibility." This is my gift, my curse. Who am I? I'm Spider-man.”

    “Batman and Robin” put a sour taste in people’s mouths with the superhero genre. They wanted to stay away from that genre. Then it happened the superhero craze resurfaced with Bryan Singer’s little film called “X-Men”. It got people excited for superhero films again. Soon it was announced that Sam Raimi would be directing Spider-Man. Film goers were ecstatic and it showed when the film became the first to hit pass the $100 million mark on an opening weekend. Spider-Man truly is an amazing film and is probably my favorite superhero origin story.

   In the beginning of the film Peter states the story is about a girl, but the film is essentially about change and growth that I will dwell later on in the review. The film starts out like a teenage drama movie. The cute girl has a jerk boyfriend, they break up, and then she starts dating the protagonist’s friend. Sounds like something out of “My So-Called Life” or some “degrassi” type thing.

  The characters are great. MJ is desperate to chase after her dreams. She’s in a relationship with Peter’s friend Harry Osborn. Harry struggles with his relationship with his father Norman who likes Peter more than his own son. Norman is more in love with keeping his job than anything else. Lastly, there is Peter who is just trying to do the right thing.

   The best part of the film for me was the final fight between Spider-Man and the Green Goblin. Unlike in Spider-Man: Homecoming there is hand-to-hand combat. The Green Goblin beats Peter to a pulp. The whole scene is extremely suspenseful since Peter has his costume torn, he’s bleeding everywhere, and it looks like he’s going to die. Then it’s exhilarating when Peter starts fighting back as hard as he can. (Spoilers here) The scene ends in an extremely satisfying tragic death of Norman. Peter finds out the true identity of the Green Goblin, which will set up conflict for the future films. It was a satisfying ending.

     As I stated earlier the film is essentially about change and growth. Both Peter and Norman experience a change and they embrace the change, but in different ways. Their change happens inadvertently at the same time. Peter is driven by his emotions. When the spider bites Peter, MJ starts to notice him more. He wants her to admire him so he decides a new car would do the trick, so with his newfound powers he enters into a wrestling match to get some money for it. He gets upset at the man who refused to give him his winnings so he didn’t stop the robber because he got what he deserved. So in letting the robber get away uncle Ben is shot in the process. The consequence of his actions helps him understand responsibility and to always rethink what action to take. So he grows because of this. “Just be careful who you change into…with great power, comes great responsibility”. Norman on the other hand is driven by knowledge and power, which is what makes him lose his mind. He has the Jekyll and Hyde persona. Much like Dr. Jekyll, Norman is a respectable man of science. When Norman is pressured the Green Goblin appears and at first Norman isn’t aware of what is happening. Norman’s first lines in the film was “don’t ever be ashamed of who you are”. While Peter isn’t ashamed of who he is, Norman is struggling with who he is now.

   I only have a few complaints with the film. The first is the Green Goblin’s reason for killing Spider-Man. He’s already killed the men who wanted to let him go. Since they were gone Norman still had his job and there was no need to kill Spider-Man. He doesn’t really say why he wants Spider-Man dead and that has always bugged me. I’ve heard some people complain about the Green Goblin suit. I didn’t mind it because it captured the silliness of the older comics. Second is that it feels dated in some parts, but for the most part it holds up really well. Like Nickelback, why that band was ever popular I will never know, that’s extremely dated. Then there’s the climax on the George Washington Bridge. At times you can really tell that it’s CGI. Spider-Man does have its flaws, but it is a really great film.

4.9 out of 5