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A man in a bright red
and blue suit with great strength, the power to sling webs from
his wrists and spider-like agility is a hard sell. Add to that the
literally colorful villains and farfetched science fiction elements,
and you’ve got a pitch that might seem unmarketable. Fortunately,
the webslinger already had a huge fanbase since his creation by
Stan Lee in 1962 in Marvel comics. Though Spider-Man as a motion
picture doesn’t take itself overly serious, director Sam Raimi
knows how to combine the perfect portions of action, drama and comedy
to make this superhero shine.
Uncool misfit scientist/photographer Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire)
is about to graduate from high school. During his final field
trip he is bitten by a radioactive spider during an arachnid demonstration.
When he awakens the next morning he discovers that he has become
stronger, has better vision, can climb walls, shoot webs from
his wrists and do acrobatic stunts with the agility of…a
spider. Aiming to impress his longtime nonreciprocal sweetheart
Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst), he enters a wrestling competition
to earn money. Donning a makeshift red and blue getup (little
more than a t-shirt and pants), he dubs himself the “Human
Spider”. Instead, the announcer (a cameo by Bruce Campbell)
introduces him as Spider-Man. When he miraculously defeats the
wrestling champion, the owner of the arena refuses to pay. Seconds
later the owner is robbed, and Parker does nothing to stop the
escaping crook. Little does he know, the robber would then hijack
a car from his Uncle Ben, and kill him during his flee. Meanwhile,
Parker’s best friend Harry Osborn (James Franco) has a rich
and powerful father (Willem Defoe) who runs an extensive military
technology supplier company and, after doing some chemical testing
on himself, becomes a maniacal green-armored murderer. “Risks
are part of laboratory science.” |
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Considering this is
the first of what would inevitably become a trilogy, Raimi does
a punctilious job of establishing the Spider-Man universe without
running too long or stumbling over pacing issues. The film flows
smoothly and magnificently combines scenes of humor to balance the
intense action and prominent romance. Maguire and Dafoe are appropriately
cast, while Kirsten Dunst feels out of place (despite the infamous
“upside down kiss” audiences were bound to grow to accept
her). Notwithstanding the even keel to Raimi’s directing,
the screenplay has a hard time taking itself seriously. With the
uncogitable science fiction elements, it’s a shame that some
of the scenes and characters don’t manage to give the impression
that they believe in the world in which they’re immersed.
Faithfully adapted from the comics, Spider-Man is one of the few superheroes who looks good even in obnoxiously bright colors and a skin-tight costume. The same cannot be said abut the Green Goblin who is quite dissimilar from his comic book depiction. The ridiculous green armor is waggish, and his overdone raspy laugh is equally comical. As a villain, he is one of the least frightening and least impressive. A great superhero needs a correspondingly pronounced villain, but the Green Goblin is just not up to par. Here, Spider-Man’s origins prove more entertaining than his dueling with the metal megalomaniac. A testament to the special effects wizardry of the time, Spider-Man’s acrobatic stunts through the crowded streets of New York are all done with a CG model. While some of the movements are a bit too flexible and he is perhaps too immune to bumps and bruises, the computer graphics work wonderfully well. Explosions, miniatures and green-screens are used with deft precision and the film is doubtlessly enhanced by these visuals. Several of the slow-motion scenes in which Spidey battles the Green Goblin inside a burning building are absolutely breathtaking. “With great power comes great responsibility”. It’s a line that befits every superhero and is echoed several times throughout the film. It also applies to the filmmakers who have a responsibility to do the webbed hero justice. An abundance of hype and anticipation surrounded this film, and it paid off. Grossing over $400 million and becoming an instant fan favorite, cinema does owe some gratitude to the webslinger who has paved the way for other comic book superheroes who anxiously await a film of their own. My only question: where did Spider-Man get his indestructible costume, and how many of them does he have? - Mike Massie |
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