Spiderman turns 20. Bonus Cinematic Throwback.

No, Sam Raimi's first Spiderman was not the beginning of the modern comic book movie. Blade and X-Men came first. But neither were a complete phenomenon like this film was.

Spiderman was HUGE. This was the first of the modern comic book movies to become its year's top grossing movie (which is now pretty common). And after 20 years of Spiderman movies and even spinoffs now, the film still holds up as one of the very best origin films.

It will forever remain one of the great what-ifs in movie history if James Cameron had been the guy to make this film in the 90s. 

Instead that job went to Raimi, who prior to this film's release was known mostly for the Evil Dead movies. I knew him best for the fantastic A Simple Plan and The Gift. But he certainly wasn't an obvious choice for a big movie like this. Of course now he's known mostly for Spiderman, and now Doctor Strange.

Also an offbeat choice was Tobey Maguire as Spiderman. Maguire was an up and coming actor at the time, probably best known for The Cider House Rules, but he was great in stuff like Wonder Boys and Pleasantville. But this was an era of young stars and he was less of a leading man. 

But what a couple of decisions they were.

Spiderman was definitely the undercard for me heading into that summer, but when I saw it opening day I walked out and immediately proclaimed it the best comic book movie I had ever seen. They nailed it, and it still holds up as one of the best comic book origin movies ever, and is at worst a top 3 Spiderman flick.

One thing that really stands out now is how, well, kind of hokey it is. Not in a bad way, but there's such a gee wiz vibe to a lot of it. And this can go the wrong way (Spiderman 3 drowned in over the top cheese and sentiment), but here that makes Peter Parker very endearing and sympathetic. His origin story is handled so well that it made Sony's decision to basically re-tell it in the first reboot all the more baffling. 

It was one of the last summer blockbusters that really had that feel of one. 2002 they were still mostly only putting these things out in the summer. They just felt different. I can't really explain it. You had to be there.

The fx mostly hold up. There are a couple scenes where people look rubbery while doing action. The Green Goblin mask got a lot of hate at the time cause it looked like a Halloween mask. 

Maguire is great. I feel like his whole 3 movie arc has been meme'd to death so much that it can make you forget how excellent he is in these movies. I'm sure it made it hard for him to really carve out a career outside of the role. 

Kirsten Dunst became much less appealing as the trilogy moved on (she's loathsome in 3) but in this one Mary Jane is very sweet and I got it. I don't think the degree to which she is just a damsel in Distress would fly if the film was made today.

Willem Dafoe's Goblin return in No Way Home was so popular because he laid the ground work here. It is just an absolute classic hammy villain performance, but the way he pulls off the Norman/Goblin duality is actually very skilled. 

James Franco, eh. I never thought much of him as Harry.

Cliff Robertson is a wonderful Uncle Ben.

It's just a great film that completely holds up. It has a permanent place in the pantheon of great comic book films.