Spider-Man (2002)

Willem Dafoe makes Norman Osborn's conversations with himself an unstable contest for control. Even away from the Green Goblin costume, his face and vocal rhythm give the antagonist a vivid, unpleasant intimacy. Tobey Maguire's Peter Parker is endearing because he is still learning how to inhabit his powers; Dafoe appears to be enjoying the danger of having no stable limit. That contrast keeps the villain alive between the larger effects sequences.