Superhero Media: Spider-Man (2002)

Is this the best Spider-Man film? Some seem to think so, but I'd have to rate it around fourth or fifth if I'm being honest. Not that Sam Rami's Spider-Man is a bad film, or even overly flawed, just dated and built on a very particular take on the comics. The film that Spider-Man reminds me of most is the 1989 Batman, which I also love, but is probably not the best representation of the character. For example, the Spider-Man costume looks great, as do the stunts and web-slinging, but Spidey is curiously silent during fight scenes, only having one or two quips throughout the film; this bugged me back in 2002 and it still bugs me now, even The Amazing Spider-Man did this better. Also, I'm not a fan of Tobey Maguire, he's a bit too mopey and sad for the role, which I realise is an attempt to recapture the motifs of the Silver Age comics, but fell flat for me, as I grew up on 1980s and 90s Spider-Man. I honestly get the feeling that Rami hadn't read a Spider-Man comic since he was a teenager and had a bit of tunnel vision on this. Again, I really like almost all of Spider-Man, but a very Silver Age film set in the early 2000s has something of a jarring tone. 

Willem Dafoe, Cliff Robertson, Rosemary Harris and J.K. Simmons are all brilliantly cast, Simmons as J Jonah Jameson particularly and we'll get back to that in a moment. With the value of hindsight and the Marvel Cinematic Universe films casting actual teenagers, some of the younger cast members are hilarious, with Flash Thompson looking around 35 in most scenes. Seriously, it's like an old WB sitcom from the '90s where the "head cheerleader" is older than some of the teachers. Green Goblin is a villain performance for the ages, and probably one of the best in superhero film history, right up there with Terrance Stamp as Zod and MCU Thanos; the scenes where Norman Osborn talks himself into murder are brilliant, and there's no effects there, just Dafoe on set. Hell, he's so good, they bought him back for cameos in the next two films, despite the fact he was dead, pretty sure only Jor-El (Brando) and William Striker (X-2) can lay claim to that honour as well. 

And how fucking amazing is Simmons as J Jonah Jameson! He's so good, they brought him back for the MCU. He's so good, he plays the same character in several episodes of The Simpsons, up to demanding pictures of Spider-Man from Homer. Simmons has also reprised the role in cartoons and video games, much to my personal delight, because I never tend to know in advance and the surprise is wonderful. If I've come across a little critical of Spider-Man in this review, I don't mean to dismiss it or your love of it, but I've run into a few people in my time who will tout this film over all others and, sorry, it's not that good. It's good, yes, but the versions that came afterward took what worked and built on it to create something better. Nostalgia is powerful, and I remember my parents surprising me with opening night tickets and loving this film and the entire series, but I'm older now and can appreciate Spider-Man for what works and what doesn't.