Spider-Man «««
PG-13, 121m. 2002
Cast & Credits: Tobey Maguire (Spider-Man/Peter Parker), Willem Dafoe (Green Goblin/Norman Osborn), Kirsten Dunst (Mary Jane Watson), James Franco (Harry Osborn), Cliff Robertson (Uncle Ben), Rosemary Harris (Aunt May), J.K. Simmons (J. Jonah Jameson). Screenplay by David Koepp based on the Marvel Comic by Steve Ditko and Stan Lee. Directed by Sam Raimi.
Spider-Man would be a great superhero movie were it not the way the film seems to be directly inspired by what is still the best superhero movie to date, Superman: The Movie (1978), which was directed by Richard Donner (Lethal Weapon - 1987).
I find director Sam Raimi’s ambitious yet often flawed Spider-Man and Donner’s epic about the Man of the Steel have a number of similarities. In both movies, Peter Parker and Clark Kent are seen as nerds who are given a gift though Superman was born with his special powers. Parker (Tobey Maguire) gets his power after being bitten by a radioactive spider.
In Superman: The Movie, Clark Kent’s love interest was Lois Lane as played by Margot Kidder. In Spider-Man, Parker’s teenage infatuation is with the girl next door who’s probably just as good looking; a blond named Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst) whose high aspirations to be an actress lead her so far as to being a waitress.
Spider-Man, like Superman: The Movie, is chock full of scenes featuring the wall crawler swinging throughout New York City saving the day. In just about every one of those scenes is at least one citizen commenting on the webslinger’s unexpected appearance and sudden exit.
I just knew the minute Uncle Ben (Cliff Robertson) tells Peter he shouldn’t waste whatever talent God has given him that he’d somehow become the latest crime statistic soon after. Seeing this brought back memories of a similar scene that Glenn Ford’s Pa Kent had with the young Clark in Superman:The Movie before the elder died of a heart attack.
Perhaps if Spider-Man had been the first superhero movie released in 1978 instead of Superman: The Movie, I wouldn’t be complaining about how much it reeks of déjà vu. Even weaker is the villain; Willem Dafoe’s schizophrenic Norman Osborn, who becomes the Green Goblin after an experiment goes wrong. His only agenda is to bring havoc to the city. He’s not as creative as Gene Hackman’s Lex Luthor who wanted to destroy California to create real estate. And the battle between Parker’s Spider-Man and Dafoe’s Green Goblin is nothing more than a scriptwriter saying, “We have a good guy. Now let’s come up with a great looking bad guy for him to fight.”
The battle though between good and evil isn’t a complex one in Spider-Man. It’s too simple. It isn’t like the relationship Bruce Wayne’s Batman and the Joker’s Jack Napier had in director Tim Burton’s dark 1989 blockbuster where their two lives were connected by a tragic experience that caused one to become something else.
All right, fine. Call me a critic. The action sequences aren’t the best thing the film has to offer. They are too fast paced and awkwardly shot. The idea of seeing Dafoe’s face inside the Green Goblin mask didn’t do it for me either. Why couldn’t the filmmakers have made him where he doesn’t even look human like the villains in the Batman movies?
As for suspense, well, I knew the wall crawler wouldn’t let a group of people in a cable car much less allow Mary Jane to fall to their deaths at the hands of the Goblin. Honestly, I was more in knots in the scene in Superman:The Movie where the kids were clinging for dear life in the school bus as it was about to fall off the Golden Gate Bridge during an earthquake and wondering if the Man of Steel would show up in time.
What I liked most about Spider-Man was the character development. David Koepp (Jurassic Park - 1993) supplies us with an assortment of characters I found myself caring about. At one point I had sympathy for Dafoe’s Osborn who it seems doesn’t mean any harm. There are some memorable moments like the sequence where Osborn and the Green Goblin talk to each other in a mirror.
Maguire is a perfect choice to play the wall crawler and the subplot of him attempting to deal with his new powers made for some humorous scenes of him crawling along the side of buildings, creating webs in his room and hanging from the ceiling.
The best character in the movie who steals the show is ironically the one with the least screen time. He is J. Jonah Jameson, played by J.K. Simmons, best known as the psychiatrist on NBC’s long running crime drama, Law & Order. His portrayal of the cigar chomping, irritably irresponsible editor of the Daily Bugle who slants the news with National Enquirer like headlines is everything I remember about the guy in the 1960s animated Spiderman TV series I watched as a kid.
Director Raimi, who has been quoted saying he is a fan of the Spiderman comics, makes it clear he wants to be as faithful to the original Marvel comic book as much as possible. He is already at work on the sequel due out in summer 2004, which will reportedly feature two new villains.
I hope for the next outing, Spider-Man, the character not to mention the film can come up with an identity that truly is their own and not an inspiration of someone else.
Peter Parker is not the only one who should heed the advice of his Aunt May when she tells him he’s not Superman. The filmmakers and screenwriters should take heed as well.
©5/3/02
PG-13, 121m. 2002
Cast & Credits: Tobey Maguire (Spider-Man/Peter Parker), Willem Dafoe (Green Goblin/Norman Osborn), Kirsten Dunst (Mary Jane Watson), James Franco (Harry Osborn), Cliff Robertson (Uncle Ben), Rosemary Harris (Aunt May), J.K. Simmons (J. Jonah Jameson). Screenplay by David Koepp based on the Marvel Comic by Steve Ditko and Stan Lee. Directed by Sam Raimi.
I find director Sam Raimi’s ambitious yet often flawed Spider-Man and Donner’s epic about the Man of the Steel have a number of similarities. In both movies, Peter Parker and Clark Kent are seen as nerds who are given a gift though Superman was born with his special powers. Parker (Tobey Maguire) gets his power after being bitten by a radioactive spider.
In Superman: The Movie, Clark Kent’s love interest was Lois Lane as played by Margot Kidder. In Spider-Man, Parker’s teenage infatuation is with the girl next door who’s probably just as good looking; a blond named Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst) whose high aspirations to be an actress lead her so far as to being a waitress.
Spider-Man, like Superman: The Movie, is chock full of scenes featuring the wall crawler swinging throughout New York City saving the day. In just about every one of those scenes is at least one citizen commenting on the webslinger’s unexpected appearance and sudden exit.
I just knew the minute Uncle Ben (Cliff Robertson) tells Peter he shouldn’t waste whatever talent God has given him that he’d somehow become the latest crime statistic soon after. Seeing this brought back memories of a similar scene that Glenn Ford’s Pa Kent had with the young Clark in Superman:The Movie before the elder died of a heart attack.
Perhaps if Spider-Man had been the first superhero movie released in 1978 instead of Superman: The Movie, I wouldn’t be complaining about how much it reeks of déjà vu. Even weaker is the villain; Willem Dafoe’s schizophrenic Norman Osborn, who becomes the Green Goblin after an experiment goes wrong. His only agenda is to bring havoc to the city. He’s not as creative as Gene Hackman’s Lex Luthor who wanted to destroy California to create real estate. And the battle between Parker’s Spider-Man and Dafoe’s Green Goblin is nothing more than a scriptwriter saying, “We have a good guy. Now let’s come up with a great looking bad guy for him to fight.”
The battle though between good and evil isn’t a complex one in Spider-Man. It’s too simple. It isn’t like the relationship Bruce Wayne’s Batman and the Joker’s Jack Napier had in director Tim Burton’s dark 1989 blockbuster where their two lives were connected by a tragic experience that caused one to become something else.
All right, fine. Call me a critic. The action sequences aren’t the best thing the film has to offer. They are too fast paced and awkwardly shot. The idea of seeing Dafoe’s face inside the Green Goblin mask didn’t do it for me either. Why couldn’t the filmmakers have made him where he doesn’t even look human like the villains in the Batman movies?
As for suspense, well, I knew the wall crawler wouldn’t let a group of people in a cable car much less allow Mary Jane to fall to their deaths at the hands of the Goblin. Honestly, I was more in knots in the scene in Superman:The Movie where the kids were clinging for dear life in the school bus as it was about to fall off the Golden Gate Bridge during an earthquake and wondering if the Man of Steel would show up in time.
What I liked most about Spider-Man was the character development. David Koepp (Jurassic Park - 1993) supplies us with an assortment of characters I found myself caring about. At one point I had sympathy for Dafoe’s Osborn who it seems doesn’t mean any harm. There are some memorable moments like the sequence where Osborn and the Green Goblin talk to each other in a mirror.
Maguire is a perfect choice to play the wall crawler and the subplot of him attempting to deal with his new powers made for some humorous scenes of him crawling along the side of buildings, creating webs in his room and hanging from the ceiling.
The best character in the movie who steals the show is ironically the one with the least screen time. He is J. Jonah Jameson, played by J.K. Simmons, best known as the psychiatrist on NBC’s long running crime drama, Law & Order. His portrayal of the cigar chomping, irritably irresponsible editor of the Daily Bugle who slants the news with National Enquirer like headlines is everything I remember about the guy in the 1960s animated Spiderman TV series I watched as a kid.
Director Raimi, who has been quoted saying he is a fan of the Spiderman comics, makes it clear he wants to be as faithful to the original Marvel comic book as much as possible. He is already at work on the sequel due out in summer 2004, which will reportedly feature two new villains.
I hope for the next outing, Spider-Man, the character not to mention the film can come up with an identity that truly is their own and not an inspiration of someone else.
Peter Parker is not the only one who should heed the advice of his Aunt May when she tells him he’s not Superman. The filmmakers and screenwriters should take heed as well.
©5/3/02
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