Spider-Man (2002)
The film that made the genre legal: Raimi, Maguire, Dafoe's Goblin, 90% on RT. Where the modern era began. The spine of the whole shelf.
Cast & Key People
Our Review
The one that made the whole genre legal. Sam Raimi, working at the top of his sincerity game, cast Tobey Maguire as the most inward looking Peter Parker ever filmed, built a Green Goblin that Willem Dafoe plays like a stage villain with a psychotic break, and finished the point that the sublime and the ridiculous share a building. The upside down kiss was a punchline until it wasn’t.
90% on Rotten Tomatoes from 277 reviews, the highest box office of 2002, and a craft standard, the Dubin bridge, the apartment fire, that superhero films still spend against. Its flaws are the era’s: the Bugle scenes are broad, the finale is a rooftop brawl, and James Franco’s Harry gets promoted in the sequel instead of here.
The spine of the Spider-Man shelf. If the multiverse boom made you wonder where the modern era began, it began here, in a Times Square screen the size of a building. 8 out of 10.
Seasons
Season guides coming soon.
