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Viewing: 5/3 @ 6:00pm

Welcome to your summer of movies. Each year there is a massive film released near the beginning of May that will make you want to see movies all summer, or so the studios hope. Spider-Man, following in the footsteps of Indiana Jones, Top Gun and Gladiator, kicks things off with a bang this year. The bang is for everyone, as this is the most entertaining comic-inspired film since the first Batman and it brought in $115 million for Columbia Pictures in its first weekend.

As you hopefully know, Spider-Man is the story of Peter Parker and his entry into the world of super heroes. In his last semester of high school Peter is bitten by a radioactive spider, which provides him with spider-like super powers. Peter hones his new skills as he realizes that he can use the newfound talents to prevent crime in the city. The crux of the film is Spider-Man's battle with the Green Goblin, who is his best friend's father and the victim of exposure to an experimental nerve gas rendering him incredibly powerful and certifiably insane.

The plot is nothing new to most, but that doesn't keep the film from being consistently engaging. Columbia made the right decision by sticking closely to the original storyline and signing on Stan Lee to oversee the scriptwriting process. Everyone loved the original story, so why change it? So instead of taking creative license, Sam Raimi, the director, carefully used special effects and beautiful camera work to bring the original comic book to life.

The budget for this film was $130 million, and it definitely shows as the film pulls out all the stops. Thankfully, the special effects were never used solely to display technical prowess. But without them, seeing Spidey swing could have been painful. Instead it is a pleasure to watch the camera follow Spider-Man gliding through the sky swinging from building to building. Raimi was the perfect choice for this film.

Tobey Maguire was perfectly chosen. When I saw him doing press before the film was released I became an instant skeptic. He was a scrawny little dude who did not fit the mold of a super hero. Thankfully, the original Peter Parker was the same way. The film does a great job getting the audience acquainted with Tobey in the hero role, by watching him explore all of his new powers. I won't ruin the surprises, but an attempted web slinging results in the rock sign.

Tobey's performance is both subtle and magnetic. He plays Peter Parker perfectly, and it would be a shame if he didn't do every subsequent film. In the words of a friend, "They should lock him in a cage and only let him out to film new Spider-Man movies."

There were two other standout performances, by Willem Dafoe as the Green Goblin and JK Simmons as J Jonah Jameson, the editor of the Daily Bugle. Unfortunately, the other main actors' performances faded into the background.

This is usually the part when I tell you what I thought the film did poorly. Amazingly, there are no glaring mistakes in this film. There are definitely areas that could improved upon, but they do not detract from the film.

It seems that the measure of success is whether or not I am excited to see a summer's worth of films. If each film were made with the same attention to detail, superb camerawork and a healthy dose of top-notch acting, I would eagerly await each Friday. Sadly, movies like Deuces Wild exist. I guess I'll have to take the sweet the sour, but it's going to be tough for any action movies to live up to my pal Spidey.