Well, as far as comic book to movie adaptations go, I think this one impresses me the most of the ones I've seen.

A very very cool movie with some great effects that weren't overdone. A very believable Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson. Tobey Maguire is believable as both the geeky Peter, and later the reluctant superhero. He's good looking enough to be a good leading man, yet not too pretty to be unbelievable as the geeky Peter. And Kirsten Dunst makes a very good girl-next-door. I thought Willem Dafoe was also very well cast for the Green Goblin, and managed to pull off some depth for the character.

I never read the comics, just saw some of the cartoons, so I'm not sure how much the comics fans will enjoy this, though I think they should be quite happy with this as it's a very impressive movie.

Music by Danny Elfman which is always a bonus... he usually does the music on most Tim Burton movies and I really enjoyed the score for this movie.

The movie is well worth it if you like action spectacular, and I thought it had enough depth to make it rise above the general action genre. It has sequel material written all over it, so I'm looking forward to another installment of this, hopefully with Sam Raimi at the helm again.

Lilith

Any explanation as to why the goblin guy wears that awful costume?
I was going to see it but then saw a clip featuring the goblin, so i decided not to.

Yes. It's because the original costume, the one worn in the comics, was even worse. Okay, so the dude looks like a reject from Power Rangers. But it's still better than he would have looked had he been in the original costume.

I dont know, all superheros should be wearing spandex again. None of this rubber padding, and metal body armour nonsense.

The old Batman series rules, i still watch it
POW
ZAP
KABOOM

Spider-Man wears spandex if that makes you happy.

*shrug* yeah the Goblin's suit is kinda silly... but you should see what Peter Parker wears as his first Spider-Man suit, in comparison the Goblin's suit is a lot better.

Still, it's a very enjoyable movie.

Lilith - Star Wars Episode 2 next week...

I've heard that the SPiderman movie got sued just for having changed the commerisal on Times SQuare or something like that. And that they had to remove scenes because the WTC was in it them...

America never stops amusing me...

The WTC thing I knew.

As for the lawsuit about the commercials in Times Square... it will be interesting to see how that goes. Unless the companies are paying you to advertise, I'm not so sure you can be forced to keep the ads in there.

I'm also pretty sure nobody really noticed or cared about the changed ads, I know I didn't. There's so much advertising on Times Square you can't see the forest for the trees most of the time... it's just one big neon blur.

Lilith

A good one, but not a classic. The acting was above par for an action-adventure, but I've seen better. Certain discussions, especially those involving romantic sentiments and other cootie-filled mushy stuff, felt awkward. However, Mary Jane in the first 2/3s and Peter Parker's rich friend throughout were both stellar. Not academy award stuff, but very true to life and believeable.

On a whole, it was a well-constructed plot. The main let-down is the resolution to the climatic bridge scene. I suspect that it was put in post-September 11. I don't object to the fact that they put it in; I object to the fact that it feels tacked-on, after-school-special-simplistic, and out-of-place. If you're going to do something, do it right.

The action scenes were a high point. The real joy of the movie is watching Peter Parker develop into Spider-man and harness his super-powers. The Green Goblin really only comes in halfway through, and the first half is more enjoyable than the second.

Overall, it was a good film, a great way to spend an afternoon or evening, but nothing to hold up as a triumph of cinema.
SS

I thought the romantic sentiments came off quite well in this movie, a lot better than they would have in another movie or even just delivered by another actor. Tobey Maguire's acting made the romantic sentiments stay away from being cheesy as I'm sure they would have been coming out of the mouth of someone else.

Considering the acting in many other action-adventures these days I think Spider-Man is definitely a cut above the rest. COLLATERAL DAMAGE is one such movie that springs to mind... I can't say I've found Arnie a very compelling actor anyway, but that movie had him on auto pilot.

MJ and Harry were both very well acted, as was Peter Parker himself.

Agreed on the bridge/cable car scene. It did feel somewhat out of place in the movie. Other things that kind of bothered me were the fact that while he could single-handedly hold up a cable car he got beaten to a pulp for a while by the Goblin in the end fightscene later on.

As for the triumph of cinema... in comparison to some of the movies it's up against, like say Jason X... arguably it *is* a triumph

Lilith

I can't say I've found Arnie a very compelling actor anyway
But then that isnt the point of Big Arnie is it? He isnt there to be an actor, hes there to be Arnie, hes there to throw quotable one-liners to the fans, throw ridiculously large guns away as soon as they run out of ammo, rather than re-load, hes there to look big, he is the deity of the action movie industry.
I love Arnie. It dosent matter what the character he plays is, he always shines through simply as Arnie.
Commando has to be my fave, dumb plot, great(or stupid, whichever term you prefer) one-liners, massive guns, arnie flexing at any and every oppurtunity, and he kills about 1 million bad guys, what more could you want?
*ahem*
Back to the point, Im looking forward to spiderman, but its not out til the 12th next month over here.

[tangent]
In terms of meathead actors, I like Sly better than Arnie. It's hard to compete with "Adrienne!!!" or "I am da law!" You can just picture him, in front of a mirror, practicing those lines for hours at a time...
[/tangent]

On the meathead tangent... after seeing THE SCORPION KING I prefer The Rock over Arnie or Sly... at least he can enunciate and speak properly without sounding as though someone inserted too much painkillers into his tongue.

Lilith

You shouldn't get a basset hound for its intelligence, and you shouldn't watch meatheads for their enunciation

*shrug* so I prefer a man who can speak properly... sue me.

Lilith

I really wasn't impressed with Spider-man. I thought it was very so-so.

I liked a lot about it ... and the characters definately have a lot more depth to them then most action movies. I dunno, the Green Goblin seemed silly to me more than he should have.

Batman and Batman Returns are still my favorite superhero movies. There's just so much more going on in those movies.

I think I even liked X-men more than Spider-man ... both I think need a very good sequel in order to not be forgotten in the long run.