What I really appreciate about movies like this and _The Crow_ is how they capture the B-movie feel of comics (yeah, this isn’t technically based on a comic, but conceptually and aesthetically it’s exactly the same feel). Don’t get met wrong, movies like _The Dark Knight_ are an incredible achievement, but that’s not how the source material was ever intended in the first place. This is a very stripped down story, and with Raimi at the film, the cheese and camp are embraced to the fullest extent (flashy directing; OTT performances). It’s essentially your usual Spider-man villain origin story (science experiment gone wrong), the hook being that this guy is actually our anti-hero protagonist. The story and characters are pretty unambitious and predictable, it mostly serves as a framework for Raimi to come up with interesting and weird scenes. I think he does that really well, it’s filled with hilarious dark comedy and entertaining moments. Visually it’s a lot bolder than his subsequent _Spider-man_ movies, which is understandable because he probably had more creative freedom with this one. Not to mention that Liam Neeson and Frances McDormand are way better actors than Maguire and Dunst, of course. However, as per usual with Raimi, some of the visuals have aged like milk (it’s a shame that during the awesome helicopter sequence it occasionally cuts to some really wonky close-ups) and the score is too overbearing. The romance could’ve used a little more development, and like already mentioned the writing takes little to no risk. It’s quite entertaining, but not a great film.

5.5/10