2002 / 116 Minutes / PG-13
Reviewed by Dale Nauertz

I was amazed. I was floored. I was awestruck Quite frankly, I was completely unprepared for the greatness, the sheer wonder, the sense of playfulness and the miraculous transition from comic book to movie screen that is Sam Raimi’s “Spider- Man”. Too many summer films like “Tomb Raider” and the disappointment of “Star Wars: The Phantom Menace” had left me with diminished expectations. I had learned to lower the bar. I had learned to accept whatever enjoyment I could get out of a film. Last summer’s “Planet of the Apes”, for example, was not a good movie in retrospect. But it was the best a summer movie in these days of Michael Bay fiascoes could be. Once I had gotten it home, I saw it for the mess that it so clearly was. At the time, however, it was a lot of fun.

How happy I am to report that “Spider-Man” requires no diminished expectations. It does not require you to settle for something less than a truly great film. It does everything right, even the little things. And it kept me magnificently entertained for two solid hours. It is, in short, a REAL movie. It’s the sort of fine, escapist entertainment that films like “Jaws” and “Batman” used to reliably provide. It’s the reason that you look forward to summer movies in the first place. In short: it’s actually a good movie. In fact, it’s MORE than that.

It’s the BEST SUPERHERO MOVIE EVER MADE.

“Spider-Man” is the story of a high school geek named Peter Parker. He has a crush on a girl named Mary Jane Watson (played adorably by Kirsten Dunst, what rational man WOULDN’T be in love with her) and he’s something of science whiz. In fact, he’s the only one who gives a crap when the class takes a field trip to the museum. It is on this field trip that he is bitten by a genetically enhanced super spider.

He falls ill and wakes up the next morning feeling different. He starts to experiment with his new abilities (the ability to climb walls, enhanced strength, the ability to shoot webs from his wrists). But it is only when a menacing villain known as The Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe) arrives on the scene that he realizes how he must use these abilities and what responsibility someone like himself has to the rest of humanity.

But this plot outline does little to illuminate how spectacular the film itself is. It is wonderful to behold. The cinematography and special effects truly give you the thrill of watching a man swing throughout the city, defying gravity at every turn of the way. Tobey Maguire allows you to experience the vicarious joy of his new powers and sheer wonder of his miraculous discovery. He also allows you to see the internal conflicts and the heartaches that such awesome responsibility come laden with. Tobey is better here than I have ever seen him. He takes a role that could so easily have become an exercise in cheesy theatrics and invests it with real emotion. He is a perfect Spider-Man and a perfect Peter Parker. He sells every aspect of the character completely. Kirsten Dunst is also quite wonderful as Mary Jane, the woman that Peter loves for obvious reasons. She inhabits this sweet, wonderful character and truly makes you care. Hell, all the actors make you care. Willem Dafoe even elicits terror AND sympathy with a surprisingly human portrayal of a supervillain. He is better here than he was in even “Shadow of the Vampire”. And, I think, this is the more difficult role. I also loved Cliff Robertson as Peter’s Uncle Ben and Rosemary Harris as Aunt May. They too invest so much in their characters that you can’t help but care.

Sam Raimi helms the film with remarkable enthusiasm and an ingenious command of camera and technical skill. He coaches fine performances out of the actors and has a genuine love for the material which shines through each and every frame. There is a wealth of great stuff here. He is one of our most energetic directors (something which has been evident ever since the first “Evil Dead” film and comes rushing out at you especially here) and I don’t believe anyone else would have done justice to this material the way he has. Not even Tim Burton, who made the second best superhero movie (”Batman”) but in recent years seems to have lost his way. Don Burgess’s cinematography is also integral to the success that the film achieves. The camera is perfectly placed throughout. The music of Danny Elfman underscores the emotions of the film nicely without drawing attention to itself. The script by David Koepp, which has some clunky expository dialogue toward the beginning, really sings throughout the rest of the film. The writing is sharp and filled with emotion. It was the first time that I nearly cried while watching a superhero movie.

The film has so many haunting and exhilerating moments: the upside-down kiss, the scene where The Green Goblin attempts to recruit Spider-Man for his own shady purposes, the first time Peter Parker meets his editor J. Jonah Jameson (J.K. Simmons), and more. But I will let you discover the fine details of the film for yourself. I will only mention the great cameos by Stan Lee, Bruce Campbell, Ted Raimi and Macho Man Randy Savage and the Raimi-trademark use of the line “Tally-ho!”. Also keep an eye out for Raimi’s old car (The Classic) which has made an appearance in all of his movies and actually gets a decent amount of screen time in this one.

I never thought I would say it, considering my love for the film “Batman”, but “Spider-Man” is the best comic book movie I have ever seen. It has an obvious love for the characters that is missing from so many of these enterprises (take “Batman Forever” for example) and a glee with filmmaking that is evident as well. It also has a great story that does not shy away from the darker aspects but isn’t afraid to embrace the truly heroic and even the patriotic as well. There are a couple minor quibbles to be had, but to dwell on them would be really stupid of me. It would be like missing the forest for the branches of a single tree.

“Spider-Man” is giddy, beautiful, soul-stirring and glorious as no other superhero movie has ever been. Telling you to see it would be redundant. You should already be ready to go. It sent chills up my spine and reminded me what it was like to love a movie with all my heart, to sit in the dark and lose myself in someone else’s imagination (the world of Stan Lee, as translated by Sam Raimi and David Koepp). It reminded me what it was like to see dreams and visions realized onscreen. It made me believe a man could fly in a way that the “Superman” movies did not. See the movie. I truly hope that you fall in love with it as I did.

This entry was posted on Friday, May 3rd, 2002 at 3:22 pm and is filed under Dale's Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.