Subject: Review: Spider-Man (2002)

From: Dennis Schwartz <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 06 May 2002 22:43:01 -0000

SPIDER-MAN (director: Sam Raimi; screenwriter: David Koepp/based on the Marvel
comic book by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko; cinematographer: Don Burgess; editors:
Bob Murawski/Arthur Coburn; music: Danny Elfman; cast: Tobey Maguire
(Spider-Man/Peter Parker), Willem Dafoe (Green Goblin/Norman Osborn), Kirsten
Dunst (Mary Jane Watson), James Franco (Harry Osborn), Cliff Robertson (Ben
Parker), Rosemary Harris (May Parker), J. K. Simmons (Jameson), Gerry Becker
(Fargas), Joe Manganiello ('Flash' Thompson), Randy Savage (Bone Saw McGraw),
Stanley Anderson (General Slocum) Ron Perkins (Dr. Stromm); Runtime: 120;
Columbia Pictures; 2002) 

"This Spider-Man is a sticky popcorn film, that should appeal to a multiplex
audience looking for an escape film." 

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz 

It's not Superman, it's Spider-Man--and it's a sure-fire critic-proof film that
should do well in the box-office. So let the onslaught of summer movies begin
with this comic book story started in 1962. It's coldly but efficiently directed
by Sam Raimi and is adapted from the Marvel comic book by Stan Lee and Steve
Ditko, with David Koepp as the screenwriter. The film looks good, but other than
that it fails to have any emotional impact. This Spider-Man is a sticky popcorn
film, that should appeal to a multiplex audience looking for an escape film and
those not caring how incredulous it all is but filled with amazement at how
faithful it is to the comic-book. 

It's all about childhood hero worship for a superhero to save the world, and in
this case he's an ordinary guy from the city. I was not inspired by the trying
story, and was not overwhelmed with the CGI special effects (except for the
fight scene on the girders of the Queensboro Bridge), which mainly consisted of
Spider-Man scaling walls at superspeed and fighting with his arch villain the
Green Goblin. 

Peter Parker (Maguire) is a nerdy high school senior who lives in a
working-class Queens neighborhood on a street with a row of houses. He has lived
with his kindly Uncle Ben (Robertson) and caring Aunt May (Harris), ever since
his parents died. He secretly pines for his next-door neighbor, the attractive
redheaded Mary Jane Watson (Dunst), but she's going out with the school bully
Flash and doesn't even consider him as a serious prospect. He has made friends
with another outsider, Harry Osborn (Franco), who is a rich kid kicked out of a
private school. On a high school field trip to visit a Columbia University
exhibition on spiders, a genetically modified superspecies spider escapes and
bites Peter. 

Peter realizes he has now been given the powers to scale walls, create webs, has
developed super reflexes, doesn't need glasses anymore, has sticky hands, and he
is also proud to observe in the mirror the new muscles he has developed. The
first test of his powers is when he beats up the bully Flash up in a school
fight. He then decides to get money for a sports car to impress Mary Jane --
taking the challenge to fight a wrestling match with Bone Saw McGraw in a steel
cage by dressing-up as Spider-Man. He wins but gets cheated out of his promised
money by the crooked promoter, who then gets robbed. Peter refuses to help him
stop the thief. When he goes to meet Uncle Ben for a ride home, his uncle is
shot dead by a street criminal. Peter now vows to use his new powers to get rid
of evil. He becomes, as he sarcastically says to himself, "your friendly
neighborhood Spider-Man." He keeps busy fighting street crime and rescuing fire
victims from burning buildings, while concealing his identity with his costume
and mask. After high school graduation he moves in with Harry and with his
tycoon industrial scientist father Norman Osborn (Dafoe) to their city mansion.
To support himself he gets a job as freelance photographer for the crass Mr.
Jameson on his exploitive newspaper, taking pictures of Spider-Man in action. 

At the same time Peter is undergoing an identity crisis, so is Norman. His
research company, which develops "human performance enhancement" applications
for the military, is about to lose a big contract, so Osborn is induced to
perform a risky 
experiment on himself and becomes the evil Green Goblin when the experiment
fails to materialize properly. In his evil state he is reduced to flying around
on a rocket-powered board and he gets his revenge by killing off the board of
directors who sold him out. 

Also, to Peter's travail, Harry is dating Mary Jane. This human interest part of
the story was far more interesting than the phony looking and emotionally empty
computer-generated images of Spider-Man in action. Those images were
superimposed on real backgrounds and instead of enhancing the film --took the
excitement and pulse out of it. 

The corniest scene is saved for last, as Peter has finally broken the ice with
Mary Jane as she swears her love to him. All Peter can manage to say is that he
just wants to be friends. "Only a friend?" she repeats. "That's all I have to
give," he says. Now what was that about! Did the spider bite effect his
sexuality? 

The acting was less than amazing by everyone, the script was stripped of any
wit, and the special effects were hardly riveting. It's a ridiculous film that
somehow managed to survive all the things that were wrong with it and become one
that's easy on the eyes. There's already a sequel in the works. 

REVIEWED ON 5/9/2002     GRADE: C 

Dennis Schwartz: "Ozus' World Movie Reviews" 

http://www.sover.net/~ozus 

© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED   DENNIS SCHWARTZ

==========
X-RAMR-ID: 31754
X-Language: en
X-RT-ReviewID: 311052
X-RT-TitleID: 1112310
X-RT-SourceID: 873
X-RT-AuthorID: 1315
X-RT-RatingText: C