Runtime: 121 minutes
Directed by: Sam Raimi
Starring: Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, Willem Dafoe, James Franco, Cliff Robertson
From: Columbia
Will people be offended when I say that I hadn’t seen this movie in more than 20 years? If not, then you probably will when I say that I’ve never viewed the other Raimi Spider-Man movies! As there are many new Letterboxd followers since my last review of a comic book film… I’ve never been a big fan of the genre so I’ve only bothered w/ some of them. This film was only tackled back in the day (at home, and only one time) because it featured Macho Man Randy Savage-jacked as heck; sadly, it did not shock me that he passed away years later due to a heart attack-for a few minutes. As Sony brought this back to cinemas for once an evening showings, it seemed like a nice way for the second viewing… and to finally discuss this here.
As someone mainly looking from the outside in at the genre and am ambivalent about many of those films, even I am tired of cinematic universes and even worse, the metaverse. Thus, the film’s origin story tale which was simple and just had one villain: refreshing. Not needing to read pages of notes or viewing several films and episodes of a few streaming shows to fully understand the plot-a relief. Peter Parker is bitten by a radioactive spider & becomes Spider-Man while doing battle against the Green Goblin while a relationship w/ Mary Jane Watson develops.
Yes, there were moments I’ll describe as “comic book silliness” which is undoubtedly my biases. That noted, I was still happy to have revisited this movie on the big screen. Peter Parker as presented was easy to root for: despite acting like a typical teenager at times, he was still a picked-on nerd who still acted human-not to mention awkward-despite developing those super-powers and wanted to help people. The rest of the characters were also enjoyable for what they were, including literal girl next door Watson and Norman Osborn, who proved you shouldn’t test unproven performance-enhancing drugs on yourself. The CG wasn’t 100% flawless but mostly worked. What always worked: the vibrant score from Danny Elfman.
Perhaps I would not rate this as highly if it wasn’t for the theatrical experience. It was in a large auditorium where many of the seats were filled. Thank heavens the crowd was well-behaved. Besides the rapturous applause heard at the end and laughter during the funny moments, the biggest reactions came from the director credit and… J. Jonah Jameson’s first appearance. I imagine he had more time on screen in the sequels; even I have seen the meme of his uproarious laughter in the second film.
What I really appreciated in this picture: the lack of MCU nonstop “humor” which usually was just stupid instead of funny and undercut even the serious dramatic scenes. Instead, there was some laughs which for the most part were at least worthy of a chuckle while the serious moments (deaths, someone injured to the point of an extended hospital stay) weren’t ruined by a quip. In hindsight, waiting until this unexpected opportunity for a big theatrical experience for me to finally discuss a movie I only remembered fragments of.
Next week is Spider-Man 2. I know some would be AGHAST if that is never experienced by me period. Yeah, the week after that is… Spider-Man 3. Because it’s the Internet, “Emo Peter Parker” and his “dancing” was viewed in clips a long time ago. Then again, in 2024 when Madame Web was crapped out, 3 might not be so bad now. From Fandango, I know the rest of the Spidey franchise will be shown in the upcoming weeks. Who knows how much of that journey I'll take.
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