Loading ...Movie Review - Spider-Man
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2002 / 116 Minutes / PG-13
Reviewed by Jason Jones
Each year there is that one big movie that kicks off the summer movie season. Some years are more in need of a jump start than others. 2002 just so happens to be one of those years.
Thankfully it got it in the form of “Spider-Man” a film that is a fitting beginning to what is undoubtedly going to be a memorable time in film. It was better than I expected it to be, but not the starry eyed spectacle that many would have you believe it is. It is a fun film that, like most fun films, has its fair share of flaws.
“Spider-Man” is the story of Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire), a senior in high school who only has eyes for his scientific endeavors, oh, and the girl of his dreams Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst). He is the guy who we all knew at one time or another in our teenage years. You know. The guy who got picked on constantly and tripped over his own shoelaces on a daily basis. One day everything changes for him when, on a field trip, he is bitten by a genetically enhanced spider. The next morning he wakes up a muscular young man capable of ejecting a web-like substance from his wrists. As we find out throughout the course of the film, however, his life doesn’t exactly change for the better which I thought was a nice angle that is rarely explored in films of this nature.
Shortly after he begins to understand his new powers his Uncle is killed by a person he could have stopped had he not been so selfish. It is at this point that he heeds his uncle’s advice and acknowledges the responsibility that comes with his new abilities. He begins to fight crime and, in the process, slowly begins to win the heart of Mary Jane. Just when he thought life was good, however, he is confronted with a scientist gone mad in the form of the Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe). Dafoe makes no bones about chewing the scenery whenever possible in this role, but the film is the better for it.
Once the Green Goblin makes his first public appearance at some sort of festival in Times Square the film descends into a much appreciated series of one on one confrontations for the remainder of the show. I was disappointed that the Goblin couldn’t find it in his corrupted soul to snuff out Macy Gray when he had the chance at that festival. I consider it a missed opportunity. For the most part I did enjoy the festival fight sequence with a couple of notable exceptions. Something that rears its head here and continues for the rest of the film is the Green Goblin’s bombs doing whatever the plot needs them to do at any given time. He throws one and it blows the side out of a building. He throws another and it disintegrates the people he wanted it to disintegrate and no one else. Later in the film, one of them rips off part of Spider-Man’s suit! What is up with that crap! This really annoyed me. To me it is an example of sloppy writing by the screenwriter David Koepp. He just thought stuff would look cool, so he put it in there, without any regard for whether or not it made any sense. Had there been a scene earlier where we see some sort of bomb making going on then I would have no problem with it, but this does not happen and thusly it bothers me.
I was also bothered by the ledge that Mary Jane was on. The thing takes somewhere in the neighborhood of an eternity to fall of the building. Basically just long enough for Spider-Man to kick some ass and still have time to save the damsel in distress. Troublesome yes, but thankfully it did not kill the moment for me. For the most part, the scene was well handled with a great amount of activity going on to keep the energy level high throughout.
Now that I’ve aired the majority of my grievances with the film what was good about it you ask? Plenty. The character development was top notch. It’s not often that you see character development like this in a drama let alone a superhero movie! Both Spider-Man and the Green Goblin are given plenty of motivation for their actions. Spider-Man is influenced by his uncle’s words and death amongst a number of other factors. In the Goblin’s case, he starts out as a scientist with good intentions. He has a government contract that he doesn’t want to lose, so in a twist reminiscent of “Hollow Man” he decides to test his experimental formula on himself with disastrous results. Even once he has snapped and become the Goblin he still acts out of a rational thought process that revolves around the well being of his family. This was very cool indeed and definitely a benefit to the film.
Another key factor in the film’s success is the sheer level of fun. The fun starts with Spidey discovering his new powers by giddily bounding about New York City with the use of web slinging prowess. He has a lot of fun doing this, which is great because anyone who is honest with themselves would do exactly what he does in this scene. We would swing all around the city screaming “Woohoo!!” at the top of our lungs and we would love every minute of it. Just like we do here. There are other great moments of fun including a wrestling match against Randy “Macho Man” Savage at an event hosted by Bruce “B Movie God” Campbell and, one of my favorite scenes, that involves the Green Goblin attempting to woo a drugged Spidey over to his side by discussing his plans as if they were old drinking buddies. Trust me. It’s hilarious. Words can’t describe it. It has to be seen to be believed.
The actors all do great work here, although the best of the bunch has to be Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane. She makes this character exist on so many levels that it’s hard to pick out what I liked best. She has a great deal of inner conflict, which shows itself when it is as natural as possible. Her warm, assuring smiles to Peter. The way she shows her embarrassment when Peter realizes what she does for a living. She hits every note perfectly. It is a performance that will definitely solidify her as an “A-list” star, as all of us who have watched her all of these years knew she was capable of from the very beginning.
Tobey Maguire and Willem Dafoe also bring a lot to their characters. Tobey invests the proper amount of geekiness in his character, but he augments that with his newfound confidence in himself given his new abilities. He makes the character very likable and endears the viewer to him quite easily. At one time or another the majority of us have walked in this guy’s shoes during our lives, which makes it all the easier to cheer for him as the film moves into its final act. As I said before Dafoe chews the scenery to nearly outrageous levels, but it works in the context of this film because his character is larger than life on all accounts. Even in his normal life he is a leading scientist, which is not exactly normal to those of us who punch a time clock every day. Then when he transforms into the Green Goblin it is all the more necessary for him to be over the top much the same as Jack Nicholson’s interpretation of The Joker in “Batman”. There is always a certain amount of menace about his character even before he undergoes the transformation which I interpreted as being due to the strain he was under at work and I thought that it worked quite well.
The other element of note is the direction of Sam Raimi. As you watch this film unfold you can still see his underlying love for film in every frame much the same as in his low budget cult classic “The Evil Dead”. The style of this film makes it a lot of fun in and of itself. Raimi has managed to capture what I imagine it would be like if a comic book came to life on the silver screen. The vibrant colors and lively action are all here for the viewer to revel in to their heart’s content. One scene in particular that I loved was the scene when Peter designs the Spider-Man suit. It feels like page after page of a comic book passing by as we see Peter’s influences passing behind him as he gleefully brings the design of the suit to fruition. It takes what could have been a very bland, lifeless scene and injects it with enthusiasm and vitality that many of today’s action films fail to capture in any given scene.
I also really enjoyed Danny Elfman’s score. Overall it was rather subtle, but it sprang to life when necessary. Such as in the scene when Spidey hunts down the man who killed his uncle. The music and visuals meld together to really get the blood flowing. I really hope they bring this score out on CD, because I will be compelled to buy it immediately.
A couple other quibbles I had with the film are more personal than anything, although I must say Spidey being able to hold a trolley car in the air with one arm was ridiculous even by superhero standards. Something that bugged me to no end was the insistence of all the characters in the film to refer to Mary Jane as “M.J.” all the bloody time unless they were introducing her to someone for the first time. Then they were kind enough to call her Mary Jane. Perhaps, this has something to do with my deep rooted hatred for Michael Jordan, who also carries the initials M.J. I don’t really think this is a flaw of the movie, but it did get under my skin, so I felt the need to mention it.
The other thing that rubbed me the wrong way was the shameless patriotism at the end of the movie. I almost felt like puking when I saw this nonsense transpire in front of me. I am sick of this ham fisted flag waving nonsense that goes on simply to give the impression of patriotic when one is merely trying to do what is politically correct. Had the filmmakers truly wanted to be patriotic they would have cut this crap out of the film and left the World Trade Center footage in place that was originally supposed to be in the film prior to September 11. Anyone who saw that footage in the original teaser trailer knows that every audience in America would have cheered when the World Trade Center took up the heroic role it originally played in the film. That would have been a lot more patriotic than having Spidey hanging off of a god damn flag pole.
Ah. I feel better now. Despite what seems to be a largely negative review I did enjoy the film. It’s not the best superhero movie ever made. Not by a long shot. It isn’t as intelligent or witty as “X-Men” and it doesn’t have the atmosphere or presence of “Batman”. It is, however, a hell of a lot of fun and at this dismal time at the theaters it is easily the best option available. Just suspend your disbelief for two hours and you’ll enjoy it, flaws and all.
