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 he major treat of all
"Golden Age" comic book
characters is the simplicity of their Origin Story. Superman is an alien who
came to Earth as a child and was raised by a kind Kansas couple, and he fights
evil because he's been raised to stand up for the little guy. Batman's parents were killed before
his eyes, which spurs him to fight evil as a means for revenge. The point is
that the best superheroes are
the ones with a simple background story. "Spider-Man" is no different. Nerd
Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) has been picked on all his life, until one day when
he's
bitten by a radioactive spider while on a school field trip.
The bite imbues
Peter with incredible powers such as allowing him to stick to walls, as well as
giving him tremendous agility and strength. When Peter fails to stop a criminal
who ends up killing his Uncle Ben (Cliff Robertson), Peter feels responsible, and
becomes determined to fulfill his Uncle
Ben's golden advice: "With great power comes great responsibility." Wishing
to prove himself "worthy" of his newfound powers, Peter dons the Spider-Man costume and fights
crime. And oh yeah, along the way he pines for the lovely Mary Jane
Watson (Kirsten Dunst).
It's amazing how closely the movie follows the comic book
origins of Spider-Man, who was created decades ago by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko.
As envisioned by Lee, "Spider-Man" was supposed to be a teenage student with all
teenage problems, with the one exception being that he dresses up in a bright red and blue spider
outfit and fights crime. Over the years, despite the change in creative
teams (i.e. different writers), the many comic book incarnations of Spider-Man has always remained
loyal to Lee's vision. The books were just as much about the trials and
tribulations of ordinary Peter Parker, struggling photographer, as they were about
Spider-Man's neverending battle against his Rogues Gallery.
The Rogues Gallery in "Spider-Man" comes in the form of
Norman Osborn (Willem Dafoe), a corporate tycoon and scientist who becomes the
Green Goblin, a glider-riding killer in a powerful green exo-skeleton. Dafoe's Osborn
develops a split personality (the tycoon on one side, with the destructive, murderous, and
completely insane Goblin on the other) after he subjects himself to one of his own
experiments. The Goblin's presence and his reasons for being is oddly not very "comic booky", at least in comparison to
Spider-Man's own origin. Osborn is a
businessman trying to protect his wealth, and decides to use everything in his power to do
so. This gives the character a more grounded reason for being what he is instead
of the usual brightly colored villain who wants to "rule the world."
The true highlight of "Spider-Man" is the dizzying
camerawork by director Sam Raimi (the Evil Dead films) and
cinematographer Don Burgess. The two men go completely insane whenever
Spider-Man appears on the scene and swings his way through the city. The camera never stops and is
always twisting and twirling and winding and moving sideways and over and under
– you get the idea. Besides making the audience "follow" Spider-Man's
webslinging across the cityscape of New York City, the chaotic camerawork also
helps to hide the fact that Swinging Spidey is obviously a CGI Spidey, and
not Tobey Maguire in costume.
Which leads me to this: If there is one negative to "Spider-Man"
it's that
CGI Spidey is sometimes painfully obvious. The same is true for the Green Goblin, who
flies around on his silver glider firing rockets and missiles at people. Not
very "realistic," and Raimi must have realized this because there are quite
a number of scenes where we only see the Goblin and Spidey from very far away.
That isn't to say Maguire doesn't do any of the Spidey stunts, because there
are numerous scenes of Maguire clearly in the Spidey costume, hanging or
climbing or bouncing off walls.
There was a lot of press about how Tobey Maguire, a usually
skinny young man, bulked up for the role. It's true; Maguire is, as the
saying goes, "pumped." Maguire is an old hand with dramatic roles and makes
us care about the troubles of young Parker and his undying (and unrequited) love
for his neighbor Mary Jane. Kirsten Dunst is appropriately red-haired and spunky
as Mary Jane, and it's easy to see why Parker is so in love with her. Yet at
times Mary Jane is too much of damsel in distress, waiting for Spider-Man to
rescue her. That last part, of course, is in comparison to all the "tough
chick" characters of today. Dunst, as always, is perky and lovable, and you
can't help but fall in love with her just as Peter did.
"Spider-Man" also has a couple of very dark moments
that caught me off guard. The final fight between Spider-Man and the Goblin is
quite violent and bloody, more reminiscent of the Terminator movies than
a PG-13 comic book film. Another scene, where Spider-Man confronts his uncle's
killer, is also quite chilling, much more so than I had expected. In another
scene Mary Jane is chased by thugs into an alley and nearly raped. Despite my
surprise at the movie's slightly darker tones, I wasn't completely unhappy
because the darker moments added to the movie's overall feel of teen angst and
emerging adulthood. In a way, they added some "real life" into what might
have been a silly comic book movie.
"Spider-Man" is a fast-moving film that despite being
over 2 hours long feels short. It's filled with intense drama, a lot
of teen crush and love affairs, and plenty of thrilling action sequences. Ignore
the too-fake CGI Spidey and remember that this movie would not have been
possible just 5 years ago. At the rate technology and films are progressing, in
a few years too-fake CGI Spidey will become so-real-it's-scary CGI Spidey.
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