Spider-man

Riding a Spider-man kick (we watched Into the Spider-verse with the kids last weekend), today we saw the 2002 film, Spider-man. 

Peter Parker is a typical high school nerd, loving class and being bullied as he longs to be with the popular girl next door, MJ, and spend time with his friend Harry Osborne. But a class trip takes an unexpected turn as he's bitten by a genetically-modified spider, granting him amazing abilities . . .

Norman Osborne is a rich and renowned scientist, on the verge of a performance-enhancing breakthrough. But with experimental setbacks and deadlines looming, desperation set in and he makes himself the test subject, with horrifying results . . . 

Spider-man and Green Goblin will clash as Peter grapples with his Uncle Ben's life lesson: "with great power comes great responsibility."

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Has it really been almost 20 years since this movie's release? This film and X-men are largely responsible for the wave of superhero films that followed, as CG technology  improved enough to enable realistic comic book adaptations on the big screen. This film has aged . . . okay. It wasn't as deep as I remembered it; you see Peter grapple with his Uncle Ben's death [and Peter's role in it] and how to protect loved ones as he dons the suit, but outside of that, it's a pretty straightforward story. MJ's character was more annoying than I remembered, and other deviations from the classic comic books (like Spidey having natural webshooters vs. making them himself) irked me for some reason. It's not bad- there are still some great characters and good storytelling- but better things in the genre have followed.

Rating: B