When the original Spider-Man came out, I was pretty disappointed with it. I really did like it, but not as much as most people seemed to. I was also pretty surprised when it made 114 million at the box office.
Spider-Man 2 came out a couple of years later, and was far better than the first. I loved it. Seeing Spider-Man 3 was an absolute thrill. Sam Raimi is a genius with comic book cheese. Sure, a lot of highly coincidental things happened in the film, but that honestly happens from time to time. There were enough story-lines to keep the movie going forward, and the introduction of Sandman was monster-movie to the core. The way that Sandman discovered who he was and while trying the stand up, he falls apart. That engrossed me.
And once again Aunt May pulls through at the heart of the story, teaching Peter something very valuable that we can all apply to our own lives.
Well done, Sam Raimi. Very well done indeed! I have heard that the movie is better the second time through, because you know what to expect from it, and I'm going to see it again this week.
If you've seen it and were let down by it because of expectation: try it one more time. You'll know what to expect and perhaps you'll find yourself having a blast the second time around!