Spider-Manby Rebecca BuchananReviews may contain information that could be considered 'spoilers'. Readers should proceed at their own risk. Studio
Credits Grade: 8 So, it's Free Comic Book Day and all anyone can talk about (besides all the cool free comics) is Spider-Man. Spider-Man this, Spider-Man that.I admit, I'm as susceptible to advertising and mass marketing as the next person. And there has been a severe dearth of good old fashioned super hero/action-adventure/fight the bad guy save the girl films recently. So, I went. That Saturday night. The 10pm show at the local stadium theater. Everyone else had the same idea. I was lucky to get a seat. I've never attended a film on opening weekend, so this was a new experience for me — and it was a lot of fun. Everyone was in a good mood, excited, chomping on popcorn and shouting jokes back and forth across the auditorium. The theater staff even held contests before the show, and some guy was running around in a bad Spider-Man costume and tennis shoes. The lights dimmed. Five minutes of previews (somebody please explain the appeal of Adam Sandler to me). Then the movie finally started. Wow. Okay, first off, the script. Simple, but not simplistic. And it stays true to its comic book roots. Geeky kid bitten by spider (mutagenic here, not radioactive) gains extraordinary abilities. He uses them selfishly at first, until a loved one is tragically slain and he realizes that he has greater responsibilities now than just looking after himself. That, in a nutshell, is the origin of Spider-Man, and the movie covers it quite well in the first half. In the second half, things get nasty when the bad guy of the piece appears and the screenwriters venture into new territory. The result is your typical blow-things-up super hero flick, saved only by some very cool action sequences and .... Second, the actors. I knew very little about Tobey Maguire before seeing Spider-Man. I knew he had been in The Cider House Rules, but that's it. Well, after seeing him in Spider-Man, I have to go rent The Cider House Rules and Wonder Boys and maybe even The Ice Storm. Maguire is expertly cast as Peter Parker. He's a wide-eyed, friendly, shy, generally good-natured geek. He's got the body language down. He communicates so much with even the slightest facial expression that I had to play particularly close attention to him to pick up all the nuances. Too many actors overact in super hero films; they're all passion and shouting and wild gesticulation; Maguire seems to instinctively know better. Of course, what would a hero be without a Best Bud, a Love Interest and an Arch Nemesis? James Franco, Kirtsen Dunst and Willem Dafoe are all terrific in their respective roles. Anyone else think Franco would make a great young Bruce Wayne? Yoohoo ... Aronofsky, WB executives, anyone?? Kirsten Dunst is fine as Mary Jane Watson, the girl next door. I am so glad that the screenwriters made her nice. And not only nice, but sincerely interested in Peter. Too many of the love interests in super hero moves are in lust with the cape, not the ordinary man beneath. Sure, Mary Jane starts out with a crush on Spider-Man, but she is always friends with Peter, and that friendship has grown and changed by the end of the film to something more. Than, of course, there is Willem Dafoe as Norman Osborn. He plays tortured psychopath very well. Osborn seems like a nice guy. Until you realize that he is ignoring his son and is so obsessed with success that he takes terrible risks, makes a bad decision — and falls into madness. Finally, a note about J.K. Simmons as publisher/editor J. Jonah Jameson. Perfectly cast! Bring him back for the next one, please! Is Spider-Man a perfect film? Hardly. That whole scene in which the Green Goblin offers to Spider-Man to be his partner so they can terrorize the city together is so cliche. What's up with scenes like that, anyway? I already know the hero is a hero and the bad guy is a bad guy. That doesn't need to be reinforced by some cliche scene in which the hero turns down the bad guy's offer. Ugh. Oh, and in a few spots, the CGI was very obviously CGI. I cringed when Peter skipped across the rooftops in civilian garb. That probably would have looked much more realistic with models rather than computer effects. Overall, though, I give the film an enthusiastic nod of approval. :) Go see it, and take your friends along. Written: May 20, 2002
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