Spider Man - 2002

 It starts with a narrating voice, Peter’s, asking “Who am I? You sure you wanna know?” Why, yes, that’s why we’re here. :)

Peter looks rather like an ordinary guy, which is good. He’s madly in love with ‘the girl next door’, a popular girl, and the movie begins with him chasing the bus because he was late, yelling for help to tell the driver to stop, although the driver saw him too and still he keeps driving while laughing with everybody else… and this somehow reflects on Peter being a loser, for whatever reason. I say it reflects of that town’s people being a whole bunch of bullies. In some (many) of these American movies apparently it matters more how you dress or how much money you have than about being decent human beings - how was he supposed to go to school, walk the whole way, which would have meant to miss the school trip, probably, how far was the school? Or he could have called a taxi or a personal driver, why not, everybody has money coming out of their bums in this place, huh?

Finally though Mary Jane yells at the driver and he stops the bus. Everyone else: just a bunch of bullies and jerks, the whole lot.

They go to visit the Columbia University’s Science Department. Harry Osborn, son of Norman, is so rich he arrives on a Rolls, but he’s also Peter’s friend.

Norman is very into science and nanotechnology, and Peter is interested in all that too.

The dumb kids keep bullying Peter, but that’s what dumb people are, jealous that the other is smart and they’re not. 

When the lady starts talking of the 15 “genetically designed super-spiders” Mary Jane notices there’s only 14 there. Peter takes the chance to shoot some pictures of her, when a brightly coloured spider bits his hand in what is probably the best scene in the movie because you can see the spider landing on his hand, choosing a spot, and then preparing itself for a good bite. 

Osborn deals with researching advanced stuff, but the military is interested in results here and now (since the current leaders are not ‘really’ interested to begin with); Osborn then feels under pressure and wants to test the performance enhancers on himself, even if the other scientist is so against it. It’s in gas form, a glass chamber fills with green gas. He appears dead for a few seconds but comes out stronger than before in a rather hulk-ish scene, and kills Dr Stromm.

Peter wakes up not needing his glasses anymore, with better muscles and amazing reflexes. He even beats that bully Flash instead of being beat up. He can crawl up walls… and that’s when he gets it and starts going mental, jumping from roof to roof, yelling and nobody notices… he even trusts his webs so much as to risk smashing himself on the road below.

Poor MJ can’t wait to leave that place with the alcoholic father she has. Peter wants to buy a car to impress MJ, and wants to make the money fighting, since an ad promised money for a three minute match. he draws the spider-man costume himself for this. His uncle Ben gives him a speech, probably the few words that make the movie, I wonder how many remember them and not just the flying… 

“This guy, Flash Thompson, he probably deserved what happened. But just because you can beat him up, doesn’t give you the right to. Remember, with great power comes great responsibility”

Peter, the stupid teenager, hurts him saying he should stop pretending to be his father.

About to enter the ring, Peter calls himself “the human spider” but the announcer didn’t like it, so the man introduces him as the Amazing Spider Man to make it cooler.

He whines about it.

Then he wins the match but gets only 100$ instead of 3000$ because he didn’t last three minutes.  He says he needs the money and the guy says “I missed the part where that’s my problem”, which is what Peter will say back to him after he lets a robber go instead of stopping him. Later, he finds his uncle Ben dead because the guy shot him to steal his car. Here starts Spider Man’s first manhunt. The guy dies and Peter understands what he did.

Peter, Harry and the lot graduate. Peter misses uncle Ben a lot, and starts protecting the neighbourhood. The newspaper wants his pictures so Peter sells them (he takes pictures of himself in action) and gets a freelance job at the Daily Bugle.

He also learns Harry is dating MJ and didn’t tell him. Even if Norman started the Oscorp company, the board wants to sell it and also wants his resignations; Norman later shows up at a big event killing people (the board members are his target), causing chaos, and nearly killing MJ but Spider Man saves her, calling himself her friendly neighbourhood spider man.

A side effect of that green gas was insanity and now Norman has a kind of Jekyll-Hyde problem, he talks with his ‘other-self’ and remembers what happened. The paper calls him the Green Goblin. Jameson of the Daily Bugle is a jerk, still he doesn’t give the Goblin Peter’s name. 

When Spider Man arrives, the Goblin abducts him to talk to him into joining forces and leaves him to think about it.

The Bugle writes about Spider Man as a wanted criminal. Spider Man saves MJ again when four men corner her on a dark street and she gives him a big kiss upside down as a thank you.

Spider Man saves a baby from a house on fire, then the Goblin confronts him again and they become officially enemies.

The Osborns , the Parkers and MJ have Thanksgiving together, and Norman sees Peter’s injury in his arm and runs away, after saying bad things about MJ. She’s hurt and calls the man a creep, and Harry gets mad at her for it. He worships his father.

The Goblin attacks aunt May and leaves her terrified. MJ tells Peter she’s in love with Spider Man; he says touching words but while they’re having a moment Harry comes in and the moment is ruined. Now Harry thinks Norman was right about her, and tells his dad how crazy Peter is about her, so Goblin takes her and gives him half a Joker-choice: save MJ or a whole lot of children. He manages to save them all, with a bit of help from New Yorkers throwing stuff at the Goblin to give him time. Then there’s their showdown. The Goblin beat him up good until he threatens MJ, then the Goblin dies in his own attempt to kill him and his last words are “don’t tell Harry”. 

Spider Man puts his body without the Goblin armour in his bed at home, but Harry sees him and swears revenge on Spider Man for killing him.

After Norman’s funeral, MJ tells Peter she thought of him when she was about to die, tells him she loves him, but now he understands that his loved ones will always be in danger because of him and tells her they can only be friends.

P.s. Stan Lee was a man who helped a little girl when the Goblin attacked the first time.

Peter - Tobey Maguire

MJ - Kirsten Dunst

Norman - Willem Defoe

Harry - James Franco

Aunt May Parker - Rosemary Harris

Jameson - J.K. Simmons

(Man at Daily Bugle - Ted Raimi