Hello, moviegoers, welcome to Movie Buff's theater!
As I discussed some time ago, I will over the next week and a half be doing a mini- marathon of superhero-themed films going along with the tw major superhero films coming out this month: First, the Sam Raimi Spider Man trilogy and the new reboot 'The Amazing Spider- Man' (I know it came out last week, but July 2-9th, I was on a missions trip in the Bahamas and thus unable to see it), then next week, Christoper Nolan's Batman films leading up to the premiere of 'The Dark Knight Rises.'
So, let's kick things off with my first review in the set: 'Spider- Man.' Premiering in 2002, it was directed by Sam Raimi (Director of the 'Evil Dead' films I talked about in last year's Monster- Fest), and starred Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, Willem Dafoe, and James Franco. While it wasn't exactly the birth of the superhero- movie craze (2000's 'X- Men' was what started it), it certainly gave it a lot more momentum.
After the opening sequence and a bit of narration, we meet clumsy, uber- nerdy high school senior Peter Parker (Maguire). He's treated like dirt by his classmates, and desperately longs to be noticed by cutie- next- door Mary Jane Watson (Dunst). The only real comforts in life are his friendship with the wealthy but unhappy Harry Osborn (Franco), and the loving support of his Aunt May and Uncle Ben (Rosemary Harris, and Cliff Robertson), who adopted him when his parents died.
Peter's life changes forever, though, when he goes on a class field trip to the advanced science department of a local college. While there, Peter is accidentally bitten by a radioactive spider that the college's biologists had been experimenting on. While he initially feels sick from the bite, he soon gets a new burst of energy, and begins developing superpowers: Enhanced strength and agility, the ability to climb walls and leap great distances, a precognitive “Spider- Sense†that lets him sense danger, and the ability to blast web strands from under the skin of his wrists (Though in the comics, that last power he gained synthetically, through the use of small machines hidden under his costume’s gloves). He begins getting used to them, stands up to school bully Flash Thompson with them in a pretty satisfying fight scene, and finally hits upon a plan to impress Mary Jane (Whom he had indeed started to become slightly closer to) by entering an amateur wrestling tournament so he can get enough money to buy a car for himself.
He proves to be a hit in the wrestling match he enters against the bloated champion wrestler, and the ring announcer (A very amusing cameo by Bruce Campbell) christens him with the nickname “Spider- Man.†The man running the wrestling tournament cheats Peter out of most of the prize money, so in anger Peter lets a thug who then robs the manager get away, only to see that same robber then kill Uncle Ben in a botched carjacking. Racked with guilt (Especially because the last time Peter saw his uncle alive, Uncle Ben had tried to talk to him a little out of concern for the various changes he noticed in Peter’s lifestyle, but Peter rudely blew him off), Peter then remembers his uncle’s words to him that “With great power comes great responsibility,†and to that end, he begins using his powers to help people and fight crime as the superhero Spider- Man.
While all of this is going on, another more sinister scientific transformation is also taking place. Peter’s friend Harry's father, billionaire scientist Norman Osborn (Dafoe), learns that his company may lose its lucrative contract supplying weapons and other equipment to the military (And likely go bankrupt as a result) unless his company can produce a successful human trial of its potentially dangerous performance- enhancer drug. To save his company, Osborn decides to test the performance enhancer on himself. It enhances his attributes to amazing levels, but also causes him to hallucinate to the point of developing a split personality, hear voices, and slowly go insane. He uses his newfound abilities plus some of his company’s weapon prototypes to become a glider- riding, armored villain soon dubbed “The Green Goblin,†attacks a rival company, and later kills his own company’s board members when he learns they want to sell the company and force him out of it.
Peter wrestles with both his civilian life (Things like finding a job, attending college, and still having enough time for Aunt May, Mary Jane, and Harry), and his life as a superhero, especially considering that the public’s view of Spider- Man is mixed at best. He eventually finds a job as a freelance newspaper photographer by using specially- timed automatic camera shots to get pictures of Spider- Man that he sells to the Daily Bugle newspaper’s blustery editor, J. Jonah Jameson (A hilarious J.K. Simmons).
Spider- Man and the Green Goblin repeatedly clash, with the Goblin first trying to get Peter to join him, then trying to kill him directly, then upon discovering Spidey’s true identity, he decides to start targeting Peter’s loved ones instead. It all leads to a thrilling climax atop the Brooklyn Bridge, as well as a more somber ending.
As much as I like ‘Spider- Man,’ it does have a couple problems. In some cases, the special effects look great, but at other times (Especially an early scene with Peter testing out his leaping powers by jumping across rooftops), it looks rather fake. Another bit of a problem lies with how the Green Goblin is portrayed. While it’s scary to see Norman Osborn as himself descending into madness, for the most part the scenes with him as the Green Goblin make him look a bit goofy. Between his rather silly- looking costume/ mask (I heard they originally wanted to have Osborn use makeup rather than a mask to disguise himself as the Goblin, they decided against it because they felt doing it with makeup would make it a bit unfeasible for him to change into the Goblin as rapidly as he does, which makes sense, but they still could have chosen a less silly costume), and the almost cartoonish attitude he shows (i.e. when flying away after Spidey defeats him the first time, he actually screams “WE’LL MEET AGAIN, SPIDER- MAN!â€), it’s hard to take him seriously as a supervillain, though he does ratchet it up a little and become more menacing in the climax.
Now, for all that I liked about ‘Spider- Man.’ It has a VERY solid story, one that’s easy for the audience to get into. ‘X- Men’ had more brains, but ‘Spider- Man’ had more heart.
The action sequences were exciting and impressive, and the fight scenes (His initial fight with Flash Thompson, the wrestling match, various fights with random thugs, and his many showdowns with the Green Goblin) were all a lot of fun to watch.
The music by Danny Elfman is awesome. It has a really drawing quality to it (Especially the music for when Spidey’s swinging through the city), and the main theme heard at the beginning and end is flat- out gorgeous. The only superhero movies’ musical scores that are more memorable than the ‘Spider- Man’ theme were the themes for ‘Superman’ and Tim Burton’s ‘Batman’ (Also done by Elfman).
However, ‘Spider- Man’’s main strength lies in its characters and the actors who play them. It really is Tobey Maguire’s show, he brings a lot of emotion and depth to Peter so you quickly feel everything that he’s feeling and sympathize with everything he goes through. He also injects a good deal of humor into it, between how geeky and awkward he is as a high school student, and how frequently he taunts and heckles opponents as Spider- Man. He makes Spidey into one of the most likable and relatable cinematic superheroes I can ever recall.
The supporting cast is very good too. Although as I said, they made the Green Goblin a bit too goofy, Willem Dafoe still manages to make a solid performance out of it. In particular, the scenes in which he’s alone in his mansion slowly going insane will make your skin crawl. You see how conflicted he is over all the damage his split personality is doing and how he has no control over it. As Harry Osborn, James Franco makes for a pretty sympathetic character. He’s a bit arrogant, but you can also tell how torn he is, between trying to live up to his father’s expectations and trying to live a normal life.
Kirsten Dunst makes for a sweet and very charming Mary Jane (Unlike in most movies in which the popular girl doesn’t pay attention to the dorky male lead simply due to being stuck up and mean, Mary Jane’s apparent reason for not noticing Peter at first was more because he was someone who didn’t really stick out a lot and was too shy to talk to her), making her the sort of girl you can easily understand Peter fawning over for as long as he has. Rosemary Harris brings a quiet dignity and gentleness to her performance Aunt May, though she doesn’t do as much as she ends up doing in the sequels.
J.K. Simmons is an absolute riot as the newspaper editor Mr. Jameson. He cracks me up in every scene he’s in and captures the spirit of the character from the comics and other venues flawlessly, you can tell he’s having a lot of fun with this role. He’s mainly a grumpy, unsympathetic jerk (Albeit in a very funny way), but at the same time he also does have a heart deep down (i.e. When the Goblin tries to get Jameson to tell him who takes the pictures of Spider- Man, Jameson lies to protect Peter). Just a hilarious, fun to watch character.
And so, there you have ‘Spider- Man.’ A great film, and a great way to start the franchise. Come back tomorrow when I review ‘Spider- Man 2’!
