In around a week or so, Sony and Marvel will release the latest Spider-Man movie, Spider-Man: Brand New Day. And people are excited for it and experts are predicting it’ll be a major blockbuster, with the film tracking to have a huge opening weekend of around $180 million in the United States alone. I’m also very excited for it because, somehow, not much is really known about it. Even the trailers don’t reveal who the main villain will be. So, I’m excited because, while I have my guesses (probably Jean Grey/Phoenix?), I could be wrong and I just want to be surprised.

But we do still a week to kill before Brand New Day hits theaters. So, what can I do to while away the time as we wait? Well, why not take a look back at one of the major reasons fans love the live-action Spider-Man movies in the first place? Why don’t we go check out the original trilogy of Spider-Man movies made by the one-and-only Sam Raimi? Do these films still hold up by today’s standards? Or are they a relic of their time? The only way to find out is to rewatch Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man flicks to find out!

Before I do get to the review of all three films, let me go warn you that all of these reviews will be filled with SPOILERS! I mean, it’s been almost two decades since the last film in the series was released. Does that make you feel old? It sure did with me! Still, as this has been out for ages, I think it’s fair that I go discuss some SPOILERS here and there. You have been warned.

First, let’s talk about the first movie that was released in 2002, simply titled Spider-Man. I will say this has always been my favorite in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy. Do I still think the same way after all these years? I would say “yes” for several reasons. Although the main cast of Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker/Spider-Man, Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane Watson, Rosemary Harris as Aunt May and James Franco as Harry Osborn, doesn’t change, their characters do evolve in one way or another. And I just think the first movie was when they were their most interesting. We actually get to see some good drama from them all. I especially love the Thanksgiving scene where everyone is tense for so many reasons. That little can-and-mouse between Peter and Norman Osborn is just good cinema.

Speaking of which, I just love the casting of Willem Dafoe as Green Goblin/Norman Osborn and watch him ham it up. There’s just something special about Willem Dafoe performance here as, while there is certainly a level of overacting here, it just feels right! I also love how he would change his voice between Harry Osborn and Green Goblin, really enforcing the split personality in him. I will say I do not like the Green Goblin’s costume here, though. I know it’s hard to make a good looking Green Goblin costume that looks more menacing than silly. But this just didn’t work for me. So I am glad Willem Dafoe leaned into the whimsical side of it as there were times when he would just act like a jerk instead of scary, like when he “kidnapped” Spider-Man and cajoled him. Still, he could turn on the scary, like when he smashed into Aunt May’s house.

I also do feel the first Spider-Man film has the best action scenes. All the fights between Spider-Man and the Green Goblin had the right amount of menace and the last battle with Peter’s pretty much on death’s door with Green Goblin outclassing him but still managing to eke out the win because of grit and determination as well as his Spider Sense saving him was a very good climax. Yeah, this is still my favorite of all of Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man movies.

A close second would be Spider-Man 2. While the film has a lot going for it, there were a couple of things I really didn’t like. I especially disliked what they did with Mary Jane here. I didn’t understand what they were doing with her as she comes off more like a manipulative floozy than anything. I also didn’t like how Harry Osborn became a one-dimensional character here. I also have an issue of them taking one of Spider-Man’s major storyline from the comics, Spider-Man No More, felt like it was shoehorned in. They honestly could’ve not put this in there and the movie wouldn’t have changed all that significantly.

Still, I do think there are some really good moments in Spider-Man 2, mostly involving Rosemary Harris’ performance as Aunt May. While a lot of fans will point to the “There’s a hero in all of us” speech being the highlight, I contend it’s the one where she doesn’t say anything at all. I’m talking about the scene where Peter tells Aunt May that, if he stopped the thief earlier that day, he would’ve prevented Uncle Ben‘s murder. That look of both disgust and anger at Peter before she just walks away is just a brilliant piece of acting and writing. She may want to forgive Peter but, at that moment, she just can’t.

I am a little hit or miss with Alfred Molina‘s version of Otto Octavius/Doctor Octopus but it’s not exactly his fault. This version of Otto Octavius is much more benevolent than his comic book counterpart and that’s where I have issues. I wanted him to be more like he’s depicted in the source material: a mad scientist with a superiority complex. While he retains some of those traits, I wanted it to be over-the-top like what they did with Green Goblin/Harry Osborn.

Honestly, my biggest issue I have with Spider-Man 2 is the scene involving the subway train. After Doctor Octopus sabotages a subway train full of passengers, Spider-Man risks his life and almost dies stopping it from crashing. Once he does, he passes out and the people in the train carry and see the unmasked Spider-Man into the train car to take care of him. While this is supposed to be a touching moment as they all swear they won’t reveal Spider-Man’s secret identity, I just have to call “bullcrap” to this! You just know that, in a moment of weakness, drunken stupor or trying to impress someone, one of them is gonna blurt out “Yeah, I saw Spider-Man without his mask” sometime in the future. Sure, they won’t be able to name him because who the heck knows who Peter Parker is. Still, someone with some drawing skills could be able to sell this news story to the Daily Bugle for a huge payday.

We finally get to the last and the worst of Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy, Spider-Man 3. Now, I can’t really blame Sam Raimi for this movie being as bad as it is because his heart wasn’t in it. Sam Raimi was set to make a movie with Sandman as the main antagonist but the studio heads at Sony had different ideas. They wanted to add more villains, specifically, Venom. Sam Raimi did acquiescence and, if you felt that the character was shoehorned in, that’s because he was!

This led to a domino effect as, since Sam Raimi already had plans for Sandman and Harry Osborn to be the duo of baddies here, they remained but they lacked significant screen time because, hey! We gotta have Venom front and center here! This also meant they had to rush in the entire symbiote Spider-Man because, once again, we gotta have Venom in the film! With too many moving parts in the mix, Spider-Man 3 was doomed to fail all because they just needed to put Venom in here.

Of course, I cannot talk about Spider-Man 3 without talking about the Bully Maguire meme. Like most people, I really hated this as, well, it’s bad. We had Peter Parker trying to act cool… but he doesn’t come off as cool in the least. He also does that little dance after clothes shopping and all that. It’s terrible but what if I told you that’s the entire point! This is this version of Peter Parker’s idea of what someone who is cool would do! He’s never been cool in his life but he’s seen what people think is cool. So, what would happen if a geek like Peter Parker tried to be cool? You get Bully Maguire! Seeing it under this lens kind of changes how you view these scenes, doesn’t it? But if the highlight of your movie is Bully Maguire, a glorified meme, then your movie has some really big problems.

Even with a movie this bad, Spider-Man 3 does have some highlights. I particularly like the first action scene where Peter Parker/Spider-Man and Harry Osborn/New Green Goblin battle through the city skyline while Peter is trying to retrieve a ring he wants to give Mary Jane. I also enjoyed seeing Sandman’s origin where he first turns into a pile of sand and tries to grasp his daughter’s locket and fails initially before concentrating enough to be able to pick it up. These are all nice and all but every thing just felt like they were rushing through the story beats and, because of that, nothing else was sinking in. In the end, Spider-Man 3 ended Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy with a whimper. It’s so bad that a part of me kind of thinks I should even recommend you don’t see it as it doesn’t really give a satisfying conclusion to it all. But a part of me also thinks you might as well see it just for completionist sake.

I guess the question is if these movies are still good by today’s standards. Honestly, rewatching it now, I’d say yes and no. They are definitely a product of their time and the movies never took themselves too seriously. They were just flying by the seat of their pants and they weren’t trying to lay the groundwork for a franchise with all of the stories being interconnected or anything like that. They’re much more campy than you would expect, too, and more “serious” fans will dislike them. Still, if you just let go, there is still a lot to enjoy here, especially with the first two films.

What’s your take on Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man movies? Let me know in the comments section below!