Thematically rich, with nuanced characters (and a nuanced villain), a hopeful outlook on humanity, and an inspired performance from Rosemary Harris. Every superhero movie wants to be this, but none of them are willing to make the sacrifices required to achieve it.
It has an utterly compelling and human core. The first real superhero sequence happens 25 minutes in, and only serves to explain why Peter is late for a play. The villain transformation doesn’t happen for 35 minutes. So much time is spent setting up the human conflict, the choice between selfishness and self sacrifice, that the villain’s plot takes the back seat for the majority of the first hour.
I wish superhero movies wanted to inspire us to be better today. To be noble, brave, and self sacrificial for one another. Raimi imbues this with more humanity than the genre has ever achieved since.
Huge fan of Doc Ock as a villain. He’s actually a little scary. The hospital sequence is fantastic work, and the way his entrances make a subwoofer rumble is reminiscent of the T‑Rex in Jurassic Park.
But mostly, this achieves the incredible feat of expressing the cost of great power, and applying it to the cost of intelligence, the cost of caring for others, and the cost of love. Every major player here is asked to let something go. Peter needs to sacrifice his dream of a normal life with MJ. MJ needs to sacrifice her relationship with the NASA boy and the dream of high society. And Harry needs to sacrifice his desire for revenge. And what they decide, by the end of the film, determines the remainder of their lives.
A real achievement in Hollywood blockbuster filmmaking by Sam Raimi.