I did a topic like this for Spider-Man: The Animated Series, and felt it was appropriate to do one for the Spider-Man Trilogy starring Tobey Maguire and directed by then cult horror icon Sam Raimi. Let's discuss and share what we think of the Spider-Man Trilogy, looking back after nearly twenty years have passed since the first movie came out.
For me, there are many aspects I like, and positive things about it that the movie did for superhero cinema that no one can deny, yet on a more nitpicky level there are things I don't care for, and some moments are rather cringeworthy. Back when I was a kid I absolutely loved these movies, and I still enjoy them (well, the first two) even though there are flaws. I'll talk about the good stuff first before I get to what I don't like. I remember being like 7 when the first movie came out. It was a big event, my classmates were all dying to see it, and I remember seeing it after school the day it came out and it was incredible! I'll never forget the experience of seeing superhero action like this on the big screen, especially from a child perspective.
It really can't be overstated that this movie was crucial to superhero movies as we know today, as it essentially gave way for the MCU to exist. The movie featuring Spider-Man with a (mostly) accurate portrayal of his powers, fighting crime and the Green Goblin, was actually something different for its time. Only the X-Men movie prior was comparable. Back then, most superhero movies either featured badass normals or enhanced individuals in action movie like scenarios, or the Superman movies with the flying brick set. In the case of Spider-Man, his action scenes are examples of unique power sets, from Spidey's agility, webs and spider sense, and Green Goblin's glider and weapons, creating scenarios you wouldn't normally be able to see back then. A lot of the performances were great, from Cliff Robertson and Rosemary Harris as Uncle Ben and Aunt May, Willem Dafoe as Norman Osborn, Tobey Maguire as Spidey himself, and of course, J.K. Simmons' legendary performance as J. Jonah Jameson. A lot of the side character felt like real people in many cases.
The movies takes place in a weird anachronistic representation of New York City, done as a deliberate stylistic choice to give it a feel of its own. Very few references to using internet, the elevated train battle literally couldn't happen today due to there no longer being elevated trains in NYC, the costumes and visuals are based on the '90s and aughts, Peter's job as a photographer is maintained in an old school representation of the Daily Bugle, Peter's idea of being cool in SM3 comes from Grease, the streets have high crime in a manner similar to pre-gentrified NYC, Mary Jane's focus is to make it big in Broadway as an actress, as opposed to the more contemporary Los Angeles, yet it's still set unambiguously in the aughts (if only due to the 9/11 references and the use of then-contemporary pop/rock music). Also, there's schizo tech involved even further when you factor in the futuristic Goblin Glider, Doctor Octopus' arms and death machine, the thing that gave Sandman his powers, the alien parasite, and of course the genetically engineered super spiders. I guess it does to this as to what Batman: TAS did with its setting. It definitely contrasts both TASM and MCU, which are undeniably modernized Spider-Man stories. I do like the effect, to be honest, especially given that it's an isolated world where the other heroes don't exist.
Tobey Maguire did a great job playing Peter, even if it's not the Peter we usually see (being much more subdued than the snarky one), he portrayed the character as the director intended. Overall, he's likable, you often want to see him succeed and you feel bad when the world feels like taking a collective dump on his life. In the end of the first movie, when Spidey gets that extra boost of willpower when Green Goblin said he's going to kill Mary Jane after he kills him, and then proceeds to kick his ass, it was so satisfying. In fact, I was bummed such a scene didn't happen in Homecoming. Instead, Spidey there only got his ass kicked by the Vulture.
Spider-Man 2 was also a great follow-up to the first movie. It was a great study portraying both the struggle between Spider-Man and Peter Parker, which again is something I should stress -- movies just hadn't done something like that up to that point, making it a unique thing. Doc Ock was a great follow-up to the Green Goblin, as a sympathetic and yet undeniable dangerous adversary, helped by the charismatic portrayal of Alfred Molina. The train battle is still iconic, and something that hadn't quite been done before, and the effects really came together here to portray some great cinematic action.
Spider-Man 3, unfortunately, just doesn't hold up. It had a lot of cringey moments, too many things going on at once, an inconsistent direction, and wasted potential. Harry as the Green Goblin (or "New Goblin"), Sandman, and the Symbiote, are at odds with each other the whole way through. Harry is a psychopath looking to avenge his father after learning Spider-Man is Peter and thinking he killed him, Sandman is an anti-villain who gains powers after an accident and is trying to cure his daughter, the Symbiote is actively corrupting Peter and making him into something he isn't before going to Eddie Brock. All of these things could carry a movie on their own, but are going against one and other and fighting for time. Plus, just things like Emo Peter, the dancing, Mary Jane continuing to be helpless, Eddie Brock's massive adaptational villainy making him basically Carnage in personality (and little presence of Venom in general), and a lot of things are badly written if only for a lack of time (such as Sandman's daughter having some incurable phantom illness to justify making him a bad guy or Harry learning Peter didn't kill his dad thanks to his butler only just now telling him). When I was a kid, I loved the movie. It just doesn't hold up from an adult perspective.
Other than that, for things I don't care for as a whole, things like some effects (especially in the first movie) don't hold up, the music from then also seems aged badly (Macy Gray and Nickelback?), Green Goblin looking like a Power Rangers villain despite the charismatic portrayal of Willem Dafoe, a lot of the cheesy moments and dialogue, Mary Jane being completely helpless and a damsel always needing saving (going against the comics portrayal as a tough civilian who could take care of herself), Peter being a little too much of a doormat with no agency of his own at times, and (I know this might be controversial) the organic webbing. I think Spidey shouldn't have organic webs, and the webshooters help show he's more than just his powers. I think them coming out of his body is disgusting. I also hate how it's given ammunition to the people who want organic webs, going "well, the Raimi Trilogy did it!".
But yes, without this series, we wouldn't have gotten superhero entertainment as we know today. Blade and X-Men may have set things up for superheroes, but Spider-Man completely proved that the genre had legitimacy as a cinematic medium, thus giving way to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Oh, and here's a fun fact: There were actually plans back in 2008 to retroactively integrate Maguire's Spider-Man into the MCU, but fell through when Raimi and the crew had a falling out leading to TASM. Just imagine that one!
Anyways, I've gone on long enough, but I think I covered all the points I wanted to make. I hold the series dear, even if it had flaws that can't be overlooked, because they're core to some of my best childhood memories and they were important to superheroes as a genre outside the comic books.
What do you think?