This had the best origin story of any comic book adaptation I've seen.

A-

I love the movie, though I thought the Green Goblin was a bit too SFX and and glossy. The 2nd is most definitley the better film...

A -

I thought the second was better, but SM1 was still a great movie, looking forward to SM3.

While spectacular when first seen, this movie does not age well at all. Even now, only four years after its opening, the special effects look dated and cartoony, and the story seems shallow and underdeveloped. It could be because of the release of much superior comic book films in that time span, or simply because the film dazzles at first and then begins to fade. Still, this is a very entertaining movie, albeit a bit cheesy and campy, which works at times, but not for the whole movie.

Though the origin story is done very well - one of the best of its kind - the main plot of the movie is weak and pales in comparison. Part of this is the poorly done villain - not nearly developed enough, with a horrible costume to boot. Had the Jekyll-and-Hyde aspect been done better, the Goblin would have been much scarier, but now it just seems laughable. Speaking of laughable, the romance in this film is terrible - some of the lines are cringe-worthy, and it doesn't help that the actors are mostly wooden. Maguire is decent, but better and more believable as the nerdy Peter Parker than the amazing Spider-Man. Dunst is terrible, and unfortunately began the tradition of younger female leads in superhero movies. Dafoe is way over-the-top, but still enjoyable, and Franco is moody and unremarkable. Only J.K Simmons as the newspaper boss Jameson stands out, as he is both funny and true to his character.

That's not to say this is a terrible movie. As mentioned previously, the origin story is very strong, from the original spider bite all the way until his superhero status. Though some of the drama is poorly developed, the comedic aspect of it is perfect, and suits the story perfectly. The action scenes are spectacular, and the poor CGI is only really noticeable during the close-ups. And the film is never boring, and tells its (somewhat weak) story well. So, overall, an entertaining superhero flick, but nowhere near the best comic book flick ever.

Fun first half of the movie followed by tedious and boring second.

C

I can't remember the grade I gave this movie, but it was surely an A or A-. Highly entertaining.

Sure the special effects aren't perfect, but that's not why I think a lot of people love Spider-Man. It really, really captures Peter Parker and his transition from a boy to a man, and it works so well because it makes him a real person, not a glowering caricature. Actually, I'd forgotten how enjoyable the film is, in part because (as said) Spider-Man 2 raises the bar even higher.

Past one or two scenes, I can't even remember this film. I can't grade it. Uh oh, the mind's going.

I remember the locker scene and something to do with the green hornet... wait, the green goblin ???

Um, I'll give it a B because if it was truly terrible, I would remember more. Seriously, I remember thinking it was fine, but not anywhere as good as the hype for it. Not bad though.

A-. I loved it.

A+

The best superhero film ever, period.

Good movie, even if the third act is kind of lame.

It works whenever the Green Goblin (suited up or otherwise) isn't on screen. Sadly, he's on screen a lot.

B-

Just rewatched this. Cheesy and dated but still enjoyable, maybe due to nostalgia.

Not seen it in a while, but it's a bad movie.

C-

I don't know if I'd still give this an A+, but it's still one of the best superhero movies, IMO, and the best of Raimi's trilogy. My grade would probably be an A/A- at this point. I always watch this when it's on TV though. So many great/iconic scenes.

I wouldn't particularly call this a great film, but it's really fun even to this day. Sure the special effects haven't aged that well and the cheesiness/campiness is a bit too much at times, but I love Dafoe's hammy, over the top performance as Green Goblin. He just felt like your old-school comic-book villain, but I understand that's kind of a good and a bad thing. The action sequences are well done and the performances are good, although J.K. Simmons kills it in all three movies.

Pretty good. One of my favorite superhero flicks. Much better than the shitty Webb ones.

A-

A game changer. Cheesy sure but 1 and 2 still hold up.

This series has aged horribly. I can watch the entire Superman and Batman series before these. These movies and the filmmakers involve without any real troubled production stories have no excuse. I think Raimi outside of some brilliant sequences was just the wrong guy. I think this one still at least skates by.

Still one of my Top 3 all-time favorite comic book adaptations.

I think that is a lie, ill go with superhero comic. Ah you said favorite, nevermind.

I was in the mood to rewatch this last night since I'm seeing Homecoming today. This is my favorite of the franchise, and honestly I prefer it to a lot of the Marvel movies that came afterwards. It's kind of nice that you don't have to have knowledge of like 10+ other films to enjoy this one. I think it holds up really well particularly due to the Peter/MJ relationship. As I mentioned before too, there are just a ton of really iconic sequences here.

This movie feels so old, from a much more innocent time. It's got that Spielbergian wide-eyed wonder that pretty much went away after this. And they just move from scene to scene, more concered about plot points then what Spider-Man means to a world divided. Still pretty good though! And that kiss is still red hot.