Here’s my first crack at a film review.  I thought the film, as a whole was very good, the story was fairly close to the original comics that I used to read when younger.  It had a nice plot, not too convoluted but not too shallow either.  Peter Parkers discovery of his abilities was amusing and served a counterpoint to his Uncle dying.  The realization that he could have prevented his Uncles death and therefore his passion for later on saving lives, his supposed ‘responsibilities’ was well thought out and I thought acted. 

The downsides to the movie from m point of view were the Green Goblin; in the comics, he actually looks like that all the time. Whereas the film gave him the ability to look normal as well, although the split personality idea was very nice and more suitable that the original idea, but I can see purists having a problem with that.  The second problem I had was with the web slinging that Spiderman does, in the comics the webs came from a device invented by Peter, although the film interpretation was also an improvement on the original comic idea.

After all if Peter could develop a spider-sense and strength and wall climbing, then why not the ability to sling webs, although it could have been amusing to see him sling them from his butt, like real spiders!  The last problem was the computer generated fight scenes, these look a little to fake and could have worked a little better maybe with wire work or more live action stuff, but this is a minor point.

Overall, a good movie, and adaptation from the original material, I gave the film 4 out of 5 stars.

Staring:- Tobey Maguire as Spider-Man/Peter Parker, Willem Dafoe as Green Goblin/Norman Osborn, Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane Watson, James Franco as Harry Osborn, J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson, Michael Papajohn as The Burglar, Randy Poffo as Bone Saw McGraw, 
Joe Manganiello as Eugene 'Flash' Thompson, Rosemary Harris as Aunt May, Ted Raimi as Hoffman, Cliff Robertson as Uncle Ben Parker, Bill Nunn as Joe 'Robbie' Robertson, Bruce Campbell (I) as Ring Announcer Stan Lee 
rest of cast listed alphabetically 
Peter Appel as Taxi Cab Driver, Joni Avery as Cop #2, Rick Avery as Cop #3, Elizabeth Banks (II) as Betty Brant, Jayce Bartok as Street Performer, Amy Beth Bennett as Cat Burglar, Brian Bennett (V) as Door Man #1, Alex Black Jophery C. Brown as Chef #1, 
Samantha Brown (II) as 47th Street Burglar, Jacob Chambers as Cop #8, Jillian Clare as Girl #2 in Tram, Chris Coppola as Kyle, Chandra De Alessandro as Cop #5, Mark De Alessandro as Cop #4, Richard C. Everbeck as Eddie Brock, Jeanie Fox as New Yorker #4, Al Goto as Cop #1, Macy Gray as Herself, Shane Habberstad as Little Billy, Randy Hall as Cop #7, 
Rance Howard as Man in Street, Kevin Jackson (I) as Bell Man #1, Loren Janes as Board of Directors Member, Kolby Kirk as Festival Guest #1, Erik Kleven as Chef #2, Brendan Morante as Man in Street, Justin Neill as Flash Thompson's Crony #2, Debra Orenstein as Doctor #1, 
Gary Otto as New Yorker #2, Jason Padgett (I) as Crony, Scott L. Schwartz as Wrestler, 
Robair Sims as Bell Man #2, Lindsay Neel Thompson as M.J.'s Friend #2, Deborah Wakeham (I) as Billy's Mom.

Directed by:- Sam Raimi 

Written by:- Stan Lee (comic book) and Steve Ditko (comic book) 

Tagline:- With great power comes great responsibility.

Film Review by E G Lyon-Taylor.

Film Age Rating In The UK

for stylized violence and action.   

 Our verdict 4 stars out of five stars.