The Spider-Man Trilogy

Sam Raimi, 2002-2006 (8.3*)

The Spider-Man series is another superhero series based on comic books, but what makes this one different is that the superhero is nothing but an ordinary nerdish high school pupil, played by Tobey McGuire (The Cider House Rules). He becomes Spiderman when on a field trip he comes across some bio-engineered spiders, gets bitten, and somehow the DNA becomes involved with his and he becomes a sort of humanoid spider with some radical spider-web skills. This is nothing but pure fantasy, but works very well on an action-adventure level if you don't want to think very much, especially since the special effects are top-notch; it's like a high speed comic on steroids.

The first film uncovers the family history and secrets, and tells us why Peter is living with his aunt and uncle, and introduces James Franco as a best friend, Kirsten Dunst as the childhood romance, and Willem Dafoe as the villain, who uses science and technology to become the Green Goblin. The second in the series is probably the best paced and features an imaginative villain with mechanical arms played by Albert Molina, definitely a science experiment gone bad. The third shows unveils Spiderman's "dark side" and even his uniform changes from red to black, but it's the slowest paced of the three.