Spider-Man (Movie)

The most amazing thing about Sam Raimi's franchise-launching adaptation of the 40-year-old Marvel comic book is that its high-tech special effects are overshadowed by witty writing and inventive performances. Tobey Maguire rediscovers the smart, alienated adolescent underneath the superhero's mask, and mocks the heroic crime-fighter conceit without subverting it. Mr. Raimi and the screenwriter David Koepp are masters of pop realism, tossing off easy jokes and corny sentiment with gratifying enthusiasm. The romance between Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst) is as ripe as an old Hollywood melodrama, and a minor-key conclusion like something out of Henry James. The cold, thin computer-generated action sequences and a fatigued performance by Willem Dafoe dampen the fun a little, but Mr. Maguire, Ms. Dunst and J. K. Simmons, in an uproarious turn as the irascible tabloid editor J. Jonah Jameson, manage to save the day. — A. O. Scott

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