Subject: Review: Spider-Man (2002)

From: Harvey S. Karten <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 03 May 2002 02:25:51 -0000

SPIDER-MAN

 Rating out of 4 stars:3
 Reviewed by Harvey Karten
 Columbia Pictures
 Director: Sam Raimi
 Writer: David Koepp, based on Marvel Comic Book by Stan
Lee, Steve Ditko
 Cast: Tobey Maguire, Willem Dafoe, Kirsten Dunst, James
Franco, Cliff Robertson, Rosemary Harris, J.K. Simmons
 Screened at: Beekman, NYC, 5/1/02

   What never ceases to amaze me is that human begins
became lords of all living creatures.  Yeah, I know that the bible
grants us dominionl, but look at how we can be snapped like at
a twig in the hands of an ape; how the most muttish dog can run
faster than we can and have a sense of smell a hundred times
more acute than those of our own species; how little chamelons
and change colors; and most of all how even the lowly flea, the
ugly pigeon and the beautiful butterfly alike can fly under their
own power.  

   That's what might come to your mind when you see "Spider-
Man," David Koepp's snappy adaptation of Stan Lee and Steve
Ditko's Marvel Comic Book series of the same name directed by
Sam Raimi whose gift for imaginative, even surreal cinema has
been proven by his helming of "The Hudsucker Proxy," "The
Gift," and "Darkman."  Whether or not you're a fan of the 40-
year-old Marvel comic or what we used to call joke-books in
general,  you'll marvel at the way a nerdy lad, given some of the
gifts of the lowly spider, is able to conquer evil through his ability
to spin webs, climb buildings, and swing like Tarzan from
Manhattan skyscrapers to the roofs of residences in his own
Queens, New York nabe.

   Choosing wisely, Raimi has put Tobey Maguire in the title role. 
Maguire, so good in roles of a smart young guy who is
nonetheless deferential to those who are older ("Wonder Boys,"
"Cider House Rules"), is an orphan being raised in a lower-
middle-class area of Queens by his Uncle Ben (played in an
appropriately avuncular manner by Cliff Robertson) and doting
Aunt May (Rosemary Harris, known to arthouse audiences in
such works as "Tom and Viv," "Sunshine" and "Crossing
Delancey," Now in high school, Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire)
has had a crush on the girl next door since fourth grade, though
you might wonder why, since hair stylist Janice Alexander took
away the short blond mane that made Kirsten Dunst the cat's
meow in the Peter Bogdonavich picture, replacing it with a
cheap reddish tint that presumably fits a kid from a working-
class, Woodhaven Boulevard row-house.  

   Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst), known here as M.J., has
her eyes on Harry Osborn (James Franco), son of the rich
industrialist Norman Osborn (Willem Dafoe), scarcely looking at
the heartsick Peter Parker, who is pushed around by high-
school classmates who consider Peter a freak.  When Peter is
accidentally bitten by a genetically altered spider while on a field
trip, he pulls a Jeff Goldblum.  But since Sam Raimi is not David
Cronenberg and David Koepp remains true to the comic book,
Peter remains thoroughly human but with powers that could turn
any criminal that gets in his way into an arachnophobe.  The
violent death of Uncle Ben turns the high-school senior into a
crime fighter.  Selecting his targets, he cleans up whatever
violators of the social contract remain in the Big Apple that Rudy
Giuliani missed, but meets his match at the hands of the Green
Goblin who is none other than industrialist Norman Osborn,
victim of an experiment gone awry which turns the stable Jekyll
into a criminally insane Hyde who must fight against the
domination of his evil side like a crack addict battling a force
greater than himself.

   "Spider-Man" is full of comedy, particularly in the person of J.
Jonah Jameson (J.K. Simmons), an editor of a local tabloid,
who fires orders to this cowed staff and suggests as tabloids
would be wont to do that Spider-Man and The Green Goblin are
somehow working together.  Raimi has balanced the comic-
book ambience with a down-to-earth cinematic style, avoiding
the look of a Japanese anime and the morbid look that an Alex
Proyas ("Dark City") might have preferred.  Action scenes are
intersperced with the activities of just plain folks, comic activity
with occasional poignance.  The reliabe Danny Elfman
contributes an appropriate, unobtrusive score.  When we sit at
the edge of our seats, as we may occasionally do, it's not
because we're caught up in some Hitchcokian suspense thriller,
but because we're wondering if or when the Clark Kentish
Spider-Man will reveal his identity to the Lois Lane-like Mary
Jane.  The answer is revealed in a heartbreaking scene near
the conclusion, setting us up for a sequel or two to which we will
happily look forward.

Rated PG-13.  Running time: 120 minutes.  (C) 2002 by
Harvey Karten, [email-masked]

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X-Language: en
X-RT-ReviewID: 310492
X-RT-TitleID: 1112310
X-RT-SourceID: 570
X-RT-AuthorID: 1123
X-RT-RatingText: 3/4