I've only seen the movie once, and I had a pretty good time, but after it was over I remember finding more to gripe about than rave about. The biggest problem I had was what JB referenced - the belabored scenes (You wanna know how unlucky Peter Parker is? Oh, we'll SHOW you!). Also had a hard time with the more loveable, huggable Dr. Octopus, though I can at least see why they went the route to differentiate him from the Goblin's megalomania in the first flick.

Still trying to figure out where Raimi came up with the scenes with the Russian girl.

And here's a question: when Peter lost his powers, am I remembering correctly that there's a scene where he walks away from a guy getting his ass beat down in an alley mugging? I'm hoping I'm misremembering it, because no incarnation of Peter Parker, comic or otherwise, would ever turn his back on a guy in immediate physical danger.

-Dave

Dan Helpingstine wrote: one of the problem i had with the movie(amoung others) was the mere act of "Spider-Man" pulling his mask off during a rescue... our Spider-Man would not have done that...the movie Spider-Man and M*****'s current Spider-Man seem to think nothing of revealing their secret identities... dan

I had a problem with Spider-Man doing that too, as he has managed to make it through thousands of rescues in the comics without needing to pull off his mask. And even when his mask had to come off, he always managed to make a web mask that went over the lower part of his face, or whatever.

Then it occurred to me that I wouldn't have been able to see Tobey Maguire's face during the runaway train sequence had the mask remained on, and the scene would have been diminished as a result.

Plus none of the people on the train know who he is, so his "identity" is not completely compromised. To the people on the train, he's just a kid.

Honestly, I had a bigger problem with Alfred bringing Vicki Vale into the Batcave in the first Burton BATMAN film.

Something I was hoping to see as a fan...

Okay, so regarding the first flick - liked it a lot, but I'm definitely one of those who would've liked to have seen more wisecracking from Spidey. But, hey, he was just getting his legs and the Green Goblin's threat was extremely personal, so I can deal. Cut to the second movie, though, and what I would've loved to have seen was Peter Parker learning to break out the wise-ass routine as the only trump card he's got against a guy who's so much more powerful than he. Ock's got all the advantage when it comes to straight up fighting, but when Spider-Man winds him up, he starts getting sloppy and...

Well, I think it'd be dramatically satisfying and offer up an in-story rationale to get Spider-Man's characterization closer to the comics.

-Dave

Then it occurred to me that I wouldn't have been able to see Tobey Maguire's face during the runaway train sequence had the mask remained on, and the scene would have been diminished as a result.

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The Final Chapter is considered to have one of the best Spider-Man scenes of all time and we don't see Parker's face. In fact, most of the best Spider-Man scenes show us only Spider-Man's face. I'm not convinced you couldn't make that work on screen.

You may want to compare and contrast an actual human being being filmed versus lines on paper. You will find that the human being is able to express more true emotion, no matter how well-rendered the drawing may be.

In any case, Lee and Ditko had the advantage of Peter's thought balloons and talking to himself, which are unworkable or laughable on film.

My biggest gripe?  When he lost his webbing, I thought they might make up for the first film, and have him invent web-shooters.  Imagine my dissapointment. 

And second - I was pretty let-down by the fact that, in the end, there was like 4 people in NYC who didn't know he was Peter Parker.

My biggest dissapointment was that it was by the same guy who brought the world Army of Darkness...

Brendan Howard wrote: In any case, Lee and Ditko had the advantage of Peter's thought balloons and talking to himself, which are unworkable or laughable on film.

Wouldn't the longstanding tradition of first-person narratives from silver screen gumshoes test this notion? First-person narration is generally used more sparingly than comic thought balloons of old, but the principle's pretty much the same, and seen as recently as SIN CITY. Comes across a little larger-than-life, but wouldn't that be about perfect for the tone of a Spider-Man movie?

-Dave