Once upon a time, in the world of cinema ... comic book
movies were very rare, and rarely were any of them good. Sure, we get like
twelve- hundred comic book adaption’s a year now, but if you were to look back
before the early 2000’s, comic book movies were a dime a dozen. Yet, in time,
superhero movies evolved, and got better. If 2000’s “X-Men” proved that we could have great comic book movies, it was
2002’s “Spider-Man” that proved
superhero movies were here to stay, because they make bank ... $821 Million to
be precise. When this movie dropped in summer of 2002, it wasn’t just another
summer popcorn flick ... it was an event. While Spider-Man had always been a
celebrated icon, he never got the privilege to grace the silver screen. To see
the hero’s trademark web-swinging, and wall crawling in live action was quiet
sensational for long time fans. Now regrettably, I wasn’t a part of this event,
as I actually didn’t see this movie when it first premiered. In fact, I didn’t
see it at all until after “Spider-Man 2”
premiered. I remember I didn’t like this movie at all upon first viewing, as it
seemed like a drop in the water compared to both its sequel, and everything
else I was watching at the time. Thankfully, this film has really grown on my
over the years, to the point where I genuinely enjoy watching it, and I even
consider “Spider-Man” a classic in
its own right.
This is one of the first in the
“Super-Hero Origin” category, building our hero from the ground up, showing how
he got his powers, and how his heroic direction took shape. In the case of this
film, we meet the troubled, nerdy school student Peter Parker, who gets bitten
by a mutated spider, and take’s on many of the arachnid’s characteristics. This
includes organic web shooting, heightened spider senses, the ability to walk on
walls, and enhanced strength. Now with his life turning upside down, he decides
to take some desperate action, and maybe get together with the girl he’s loved
ever sense he was a kid. As Peter uses his abilities to win money, we get a highly enjoyable cage match between Spider-Man and an opponent named Bone Saw. While boxing matches have always been a part of the characters origin, this match has become iconic in-of itself. Unfortunately, fame has it's price, and Peter soon finds himself tragically without an uncle. After a common crook guns down Uncle Ben, our hero
decides to use his new powers for good, and becomes a web-slinging superhero.
Through sheer coincidence, a masked super-villain called The Green Goblin is
born at the exact same time, and is dead set on squashing our hero like a bug
under his boot. In short, this movie follows the basic formula of a super-hero
origin story, but it’s all handled with expert craftsmanship. The key
components to this film’s success are director Sam Raimi and star Tobey Maguire
as our title hero.
While I can’t
say I loved Tobey Maguire as Spider-Man, he was absolutely perfect as Peter
Parker. Sometimes his nerdiness was a little on the nose, but he was genuinely
likable and very charismatic in the role. Something about his wide eyed
innocents just fit the character, and he conveys the right amount of emotion
needed for the audience to feel for him.
Tobey Maguire is the beating heart and
soul that helps give this film life. He’s also a lot funnier than most people
give him credit for. I love that one little scene when he tries to web-shoot
for the first time and he starts throwing out random catchphrases like “Go Web”.
To be honest, I don’t really care for any of the “characters” in this movie,
but I “love” all the actors, and how they bring these roles to life with their
own genuine charm and humbleness. We have Spider-Mans love interest Mary Jane,
who’s basically a clichéd damsel stereotype, but once again actress Kristen
Dunst is just so naturally lovable in the role. She’s an actress I grew-up with
in movies like “Little Women”, “Jumanji”, “Kiki’s Delivery Service”, “Small
Soldiers”, and it was just really cool to see her bring this iconic comic
book girl friend to life. I also like the subtlety of her character, as I’m
invested in Mary Jane as a girl just trying to make a life for herself, away
from her abusive parents, and follow her dreams to be an actress. On a side
note, even though Kristen Dunst is a blond, I think she looks much better with
red hair. Her relationship with our hero is nothing special, but it’s perfectly
fine, and they do have some nice moments. Both Cliff Robertson and Rosemary
Harris are spot on in the roles of Aunt May and Uncle Ben. James Franco plays
Peters best friend Harry Osborn, and I like the arc slowly building between
the two. We see that Harry’s father Norman idolizes Peter Parker more than his
own son, and that subtly builds conflict between the two. Also, select
appearances from talents like Bruce Campbell and Octavia Spencer are very
welcomed additions.
Our villain for
the day is The Green Goblin, who’s only motivation is killing or corrupting our
hero. Now most Spider-Man villains, or heck super-villains in general have some
kind of ulterior motive that the hero keeps foiling, but The Green Goblin
really has no other motivations to speak of. While this doesn’t make him a deep
or interesting character, his strait forward plan of defeating Spider-Man dose
add to the simplicity of the film. Now obviously The Green Goblin is a mostly
stupid, and very cliché villain. His costume is silly, his hammy personality
goes way over the top, and every attempt at being scary comes off as
unintentionally funny at times ... but none of that matters because Willem Dafoe
is freaking amazing in the role. Every time Willem Dafoe is on screen, he is
clearly having the time of his life, and that always makes for a fun villain. He
was also very passionate about this role, as he wasn’t the directors first
chose for the part, but Willem Dafoe really pushed for it. He also did the
majority of the stunts and fighting, because he didn’t think a stunt man could
convey the same level of menace, and I just admire an actor for getting so
invested in his character. While the performance is anything but subtle, he’s
still consistently entertaining to watch. Plus, he has a decent rivalry with our
hero, nothing deep mind you, but it’s genuinely exciting when the two
characters clash. My only real complaint is that the Green Goblin from the
comics and cartoon show is very expressive, but that’s not the case with this
film as he’s wearing a mask with a permanent grin.
Now obviously
I’ve loved movies my whole life, but I never appreciated the art of film-making
until my high school years. So when looking back at this movie, I was quiet
impressed with Sam Rami’s directing style, which I completely glossed over as a
kid. Sam Rami beautifully transitions Spider-Mans universe from the page of a
comic book to the big screen. Of course he proved very creative with his film
making and camera skills when he directed “The
Evil Dead Trilogy”, and his style cares over to these films with ideal
grace. I love his method of editing, how he transitions to different scenes,
how he plays with the camera, and it’s all just very artistic. I especially love the opening credit sequence, which became a tradition with all three of the original Spider-Man films. In short, these openings are very colorful, artistic, and really help set the mood. I wish more movies, especially superhero movies had openings like these films. The pacing of
the movie is also very good, as it’s brisk, but has just enough slow moments to
feel submersed in this world with these characters. There’s also a great sense
of fun to this movie, which is so refreshing considering that everything is so
dark and brooding these days. There’s also some well placed drama here and
there, but it’s just enough to make us care without spoiling the films lighthearted tone.
Sam Rami is also a
long time fan of the source material, and he puts his all into recreating
moments from the classic comic books, while also creating original scenes of
his own. There’s a great little moment when Spider-Man returns to his
apartment, takes his mask off, and soon discovers he has house guests just
outside the door. He hides on the ceiling until they leave, but a little drip
of blood is about to drop on one of their heads.
Its little scenes like this
that keep the film exciting without tones of action. Another terrific original
scene is Spider-Man’s upside down kiss in the rain with Mary Jane. Even though
I wasn’t 100% invested in their relationship, this moment in of itself is still
very memorable, and kind of iconic. Unfortunately, I do have some issues with
some of the adapted material, and I think the worst of all comes just after the
death of Peters Uncle Ben. After a thrilling chase, Spider-Man catches the
criminal responsible for killing his uncle, but during a brief scuffle, the
crook accidentally crashes through a window. Now in both the comics and the TV
series, Spider-Man saves the crook from falling to his death, which is a
pivotal action that establishes what kind of hero Peter has become. That
mutated spider gave him super powers, but it was his choice to spare his uncles
killer that made him a hero. In the case of the movie however, when the crook
crashes through the window, Peter just lets him fall to his death, and it
paints an ugly picture around him. For all the criticism “Spider-Man 3” gets, I think this moment alone is the worst aspect
of the original Spider-Man trilogy by far. This isn’t me nit-picking,
Spider-Man sparing the life of his Uncles killer is a very important part of
his character growth, and in order for this movie to be a perfect telling of
his origin, it really needed to show his first steps of being a hero. So, with
that said, let’s get back to some positives.
For one of the first superhero adaption’s of
the early 2000’s, the action scenes have held up very well, and in some
respects are better then what we get today. When Spider-Man and the Green
Goblin battle in a burning building, I genuinely feel the excitement, but I can
also admire the practicality of the piece. I like that while special effects
are present, there isn’t an over abundance of it. In fact, most of the action is
very much in camera, but still with a lot of flare and energy. Granted the
fighting choreography looks like something from a six flags stunt show, but the
battles themselves are still on a big scale, which makes them exciting. For
example, the battle over time square isn’t exactly riveting, but it’s very creative
with the setting, and feels like something on a large scale. On a side note, I
love how this scene builds up the first appearance of the Green Goblin, and it
helps draw me into the excitement of the following action scene. Some of the
effects on display do look dated, and it’s especially cheesy in that one moment
when the Goblins bomb turns those people into skeletons. Other effects like his
Spider-Senses, and some shots of him web-swinging still look good. The film did
in-fact receive two Oscar Nods for both visual effects and sound design, so it
definitely accomplished something for its time.
Another key
ingredient to this film is Danny Elfmans outstanding music score. If your
familiar with Danny Elfmans work, you’d know he mostly dose music for Tim
Burtons films, all of which have a similar loony yet haunting melody. However,
his score for “Spider-Man” is very
different, and feels like something grand, exciting and larger then life. In
short, Danny Elfman can go to his grave knowing he composed two of the greatest
superhero themes of all time, the other one being his “Batman” score. Speaking of music, let’s take a moment to look at
the soundtrack, as this film came from an age when every action movie had a
similar Christian Rock, Boy Band feel. The main song “Hero” performed by
Nickelback is the perfect example of what music was like back then. To be
honest, while it’s very dated, and I'm by no means a fan of Nickelback, their song “Hero” is something I can't help but enjoy on some level. By contrast, I
hated the song “What We’re All About” performed by sum 41. This movie also features the original 1960’s Spider-Man theme song, which I know is iconic,
but I just find it annoying.
Now let’s talk
about the films Climax, which I have split feelings about, and by that I mean
the first half sucks, and the second half is phenomenal. The first half of the
battle takes place on the George Washington Bridge, where the Green Goblin is
holding Mary Jane and some kids hostage. To be honest, this sequence
just felt like a rip-off of the climax from “Batman Forever”, in which a green suited villain forced a superhero
hero to rescue one of two things that fall from a deathly height.
Also, this
was the same setting from the classic comic book, where Spider-Mans first girl
friend Gwen Stacy died during a battle with the Goblin. It’s only a visual
reference to fans, because while Mary Jane is a hostage, nothing really serious
comes of this situation. The girl is rescued, and there’s a painfully forced
moment with all the people of New York turning on the Goblin. Once Spider-Man
and the Green Goblin are alone, and fighting in that broken down building, this
climax suddenly goes from lame rip-off, to one of the greatest finales I’ve ever
seen in a comic-book movie. It’s actually quiet suspenseful as the villain just relentlessly beats
the crap out of our hero. Once again, the whole fight is in camera, and the
lack of music just adds to the tension. Once Spider-man stands his ground, and
really starts fighting back, it’s absolutely riveting stuff. It all escalates
to a very satisfying, yet kind of tragic villain death. Spider-Man discovers
that the goblins real identity was his best friend’s father the whole time,
setting the stage for future conflicts. That final shot of the Green Goblins
beaten mask is just the perfect icing on the cake.
Looking back, I
think 2002’s “Spider-Man” has aged
much better than most older comic book adapted films. That’s not to say it’s
perfect, as it does still have those problems, like Spider-Man letting his
uncles killer fall to his death. Also, for as much as I’ve grown to like this
film over the years, I still don’t “love” it. It still feels like an average
good superhero movie, but nothing truly amazing. Having said that, there are
still lots of things to admire from Sam Rami’s stylish direction, to memorable
scenes, to the iconic cast. Plus, it’s very nice to look back at a superhero
movie that’s very self contained, and can be viewed as just a movie on its own.
Seriously, it wasn’t mandatory for this film to have a sequel. You can watch “Spider-Man” by itself, and be perfectly
satisfied, unlike everything else today that’s relying on the audience to watch
every film in a series. Whether you like this movie or not, it’s undeniably
earned the right to be called a classic for both the superhero and Sci-Fi
genera. My only personal problem is that it looms in the shadow of its far
superior sequel, which I’ll talk about later this month. Next I’m going to
review “The Amazing Spider-Man”, to
see how that origin film compares to the original. Whether any new films are superior or inferior by comparison, lets never forget
the original that started it all.
I give 2002’s “Spider-Man”
... 4 stars out of 5.
To Be Continued ...
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