The film wisely only shows glimpses of their alter-egos, and it’s at the halfway point that they finally have their first confrontation in full costume. The first half of the film takes its time introducing Peter Parker and his most important relationships, focusing on all the right character beats and showing his steady leveling-up into Spider-Man, while Norman Osborn grows increasingly insane and becomes more and more of a threat – the hero and villain’s arcs running parallel, unbeknownst to each other (they’re even ‘reborn’ on the same night).

I’d also say “Spider-Man” has excellent pacing, moving along at a brisk but calculated rhythm that rarely ever drags. And it’s a story about power and what people choose to do with it, since Peter Parker and Norman Osborn act as foils to each other and their opposing ideologies are pitted against each other as the main conflict of the movie. It’s a story about about father figures, their legacies and the lasting impacts they can have on their kids, as we see with Ben Parker, Norman Osborn, and Phillip Watson (who flies under the radar more than the previous two examples, since he has so little screen-time). It’s a coming-of-age story, since we follow Peter from the last days of his wide-eyed boyhood to the first days of his loftier, jaded adulthood. Part of that is because on top of being an origin story, “Spider-Man” is also a film about three different topics at once without it feeling disjointed and unfocused. It’s over fifteen years old now, and I still always find something new to admire about it whenever I revisit it.

The 2002 “Spider-Man” film (as well as it’s 2004 sequel) is not only one of my favorite superhero films, but also one of my favorite films in general.

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