Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.

Spider-man, the film with the absolute WORST ending, sits atop the box office right now, but does it belong there?

Box office receipts do not equal a great film.
This film goes to show the ease of cashing in on what has an almost cult following by comic book readers. Like "Lord of the Rings" and "X-Men" before, Spider-Man had a ready made audience willing to pony up their dollars for any movie starring the arachnid bitten guy in the red suit.

Is Spider-Man all that and a bag of chips?
Surprisingly it is a well made film. The story itself should keep fans of Spider-Man happy with how it stayed with the comic story. I remember reading Spider-Man in the comics at the back of the paper, so there were a lot of things I expected, and for the most part, came true.

You have the basic story of high school geek living with his aunt and uncle. Geek is Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire), he apparently is in love with Mary Jane (MJ) who doesn't know this, as he doesn't have the guts to even really talk to her. MJ's boyfriend picks on Peter, and the only friend Peter appears to have is a rich kid who got kicked out of an exclusive school.

Well, one day he gets bit by a genetically altered spider, gets all these cool powers, and, after experimenting with them for a while, becomes a super hero.

The film does a really good job of depicting this, and getting us to sympathize with Peter, or at least wish to kick him in the head and tell him to go after the girl!

MJ (Kirsten Dunst) is the poor emotionally abused girl next door. She looks amazingly unglamorous in this role. MJ wants to run off to New York City and chase a life on stage acting. Peter has seen all her performances from Kindergarten on up, and is the only one who encourages her to go for that dream, and the only one who believes in her enough to tell her: yes, she can do it. It's a really nice little side aspect of the story of him believing in her enough to push her towards that dream. A common complaint about Spider-Man is that there is a Love Story in this film. Perhaps these complaining comic book readers don't like love stories, but if they'd leave home and go somewhere other than the comic book store, they'd see there really is love out there, and it's a beautiful thing.

The Love Story?
Sorry, I seem to have missed it. If anything, it appears to be unrequited love. MJ falls for Spider-Man, and eventually smartens up and falls for Peter, he's the one who is always there, he's the one who believes in her. Spider-Man "simply" saves her from various muggings, death, and gang rapes.
But, IS THE CHEMISTRY THERE??
I answer in a resounding NO!

One scene has MJ soaked in rain, wearing some little bitty dress, she's got serious hard nipple poking going on here, and after saving her, all Spider-Man will give her is a little kiss, she seems to want a lot more, but off he swings onto the rooftops, maybe to go swing into a closet.

The real problem with this is, Peter had just been talking to her, seemed all interested in her, and then he has to quickly become Spider-Man to save her, yet he turns down the most obvious reward? Come On! So what if she's dating his friend. He doesn't appreciate her, nor does he have any intention of keeping her.

The Love story is horrible! It has a lot of potential, but nothing other than frustration comes from it. It is so bad, you leave the theater completely let down. You can only think-HOW STUPID IS SPIDER-MAN? Is he straight? What's up with that? One would think he'd have a little bit of testosterone built up after a hard day of crime fighting, and maybe want to get a little of that out with MJ, but he just doesn't seem to want anything to do with that. Instead, he seems to have just a little to much fun swinging from buildings and doing little flips everywhere. If I were to see him hanging out with Sigfreid and Roy, I wouldn't be a bit surprised.

"with great power comes great responsibility"
OK, there is this years' dumbest line from a movie, yet told to Peter by someone with perhaps the silliest name in a movie.
UNCLE BEN. Uncle Ben, yeah, like the guy on the box of instant rice. I thought it was a joke the first time Peter refers to his Uncle as Uncle Ben, turns out I was wrong. But Uncle Ben tries to tell Peter about life, and leaves him with that stupid quote. Peter later uses it to justify being an absolute JERK to MJ. So, does Peter actually learn anything from that line?
Again: NO! He clearly misinterprets it.

The Action Story
Willem Dafeo plays The Green Goblin. Not only that, but he plays the leader of a company which is in danger of losing a military contract. Willem turns in perhaps the greatest performance in the film as the tormented builder of the company who is watching his life's work being snatched from him. He has no other choice but to experiment on himself, leading to incredible powers, a lack of inhibitions, and extreme paranoia. Willem's character goes from rich guy who seems to adore Peter to conniving evil green goblin. It's a character you just don't want to see come to an end.

The Daily Bugle
The newspaper from the story. It's in the movie, very briefly, and pretty much as filler more than anything else.

Spider-Man doesn't seem to have the special effects over done, but in places it is extremely cheesy.

To see Spider-Man or not to see Spider-Man? that is the question.
Half price matinee all the way. You're doing even better if you go see JASON X, and then just sneak into Spider-Man after.

Fans of THE MACHO MAN, RANDY SAVAGE will see him for a few minutes. He looks like he's snapped into a few to many Slim Jims.

Recommended: Yes

Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 9 - 12