|
I hope no one minds me posting this here. Spider-Man A review WARNING...... If you are one of those types who do not know who Peter Parker, the Amazing Spider-Man is, or have not heard about the movie, seen the trailers, or read one of the hundreds of thousands of stories that have been written about him since August of 1962, proceed with caution, there will be spoilers. Additional space for them....... Some more....... Just a touch more...... Ok, here goes. Well, they did it. After almost 40 years of web-swinging, they finally brought Spider-Man to the big screen. And they did a fairly decent job as well. Except they screwed up his webs. More on that later. Tobey Maguire comes to us as Peter Parker, a nerdy, weak, unliked high school senior who is crazy about his next door neighbor, Mary Jane Watson. Peter lives with his Uncle Ben (Cliff Robertson) and his Aunt May. Peter’s best friend is Harry Osborn, son of scientist and millionaire Norman Osborn, head of Osborn Industry’s. On top of all the other high school age problems Peter has, he is a science geek. While on a field trip to a science exhibit, while the rest of the class is goofing around, Peter is busy snapping photos for the school newspaper. As well as being on the school chess club, Pete is also the Newspaper Photographer. Could it get any worse? Well, actually, yes. While one of the scientists is explaining all about how their work involving spiders is progressing, how they are trying to combine the various types of spiders to develop on Super-Spider, someone notices that instead of 15 in the exhibit, there are only 14 on display. Shrugging off that bit of information, the class and instructions proceed; Peter is taking photos of Mary Jane, she of course, is oblivious to his attraction. As she moves away, we see a small, red and blue colored spider descend from the ceiling..... What happens next is Comic Book, and now cinematic history. Peter, after sleeping through a fitful night, awakens the next morning and discovers that he no longer needs glasses. In fact, he doesn't even need that old Charles Atlas Body Building tape... He now has the build of an athlete, and excellent vision. At school, the bully, Flash Thompson, who is currently Mary Janes boyfriend, attacks Peter after an incident in the lunch room involving a tray of food, some webs and more teen angst then an unsightly bulge during biology. Flash, swinging his fists madly, keeps missing Puny Parker. Peter on the other hand, is moving so fast, it appears Flash is almost standing still. When another boy enters the fracas, Peter quickly defeats the two of them, and the crowd around him gathers him up on their shoulders, happy that someone has finally defeated the jerk, Thompson. No such luck. Instead, the rest of the students stand there in shocked silence, staring at Peter in disbelief. One of them even comments, “We always knew you were a freak, Parker”!!!!! You just can’t win. But, that brings up another editorial about bullies and self defense that has no bearing on this review. Instead, we continue to see Peter attempt to learn to deal with his new found powers. Like shooting webs out of his wrist. With no mechanical devices. Just...right....out....of....his....arm...... Peter making 50-75 foot leaps between buildings, sensing danger moments before it happens, crawling and sticking to walls.... Attempting to cash in on his power, he enters a wrestling match with the Champion, Bone-Saw (Randy Savage). calling himself the Human Spider. The ring master (Bruce Campbell ????), not impressed with this name calls Peter the Amazing Spider-Man. All Peter has to do is last 3 minutes with Bone-Saw, and he will win $3,000. However, he knocks his opponent out in under 2 minutes, so the promoter only pays him $100. Disgruntled, Peter complains, only to be told by the crooked promoter, “I didn’t hear the part about how this is my problem”. Walking to the elevator, Peter turns and sees someone robbing the promoter. After standing back, and watching the thief get away, with this word to Parker “Thanks”. The promoter runs up to Pete, complaining how he just let him get away. Peter responds, ““I didn’t hear the part about how this is my problem”. These words will come back to haunt Peter, later. Arriving to meet his uncle, he discovers there has been a car-jacking. After the funeral of his uncle, and his graduation from high school, Peter reflects with his Aunt about his life, and the last words he said to his beloved Uncle. It is here that Peter finally realizes that he has a responsibility to the rest of the world. And thus was the legend born. MAJOR SPOILERS FOLLOW...... Peter faces off against a super-powered mad man named by the newspapers ‘The Green Goblin” because of the hideous face mask he wears. The goblin is empowered by a serum that was being developed by Osborn Industries for the Military, a type of Super-Soldier formula. Testing it too early, the Goblin is created. Norman Osborn is played to perfection by Willim Defoe (Last Temptation of Christ) and he makes the most of his character. Watching his descent into madness is both chilling and humorous. Listening to the mocking but eerie laugh surrounding him when he is alone, then seeing Osborn talk with the Goblin is nothing less then surreal. The final confrontation between Spider-Man and the Green Goblin follows the Comic Book almost to a ‘tee’. Yes, there were variations, but they were almost unimportant. What was important was, what we saw on the screen, matched within 90% what we have read about for 40 years. Marvel has done it. Hot on the heels of Blade ll, the sequel to Blade (of course) Spider-Man stands to usher in the new series of Marvel Super Heroes to come to the screen. In the coming months, Daredevil, Ghost Rider, The Incredible Hulk and others are looming just outside the door, waiting for the chance to step onto the big screen. If they are half as good as Spider-Man, they will be a glorious vision. Maguire is Peter Parker, both before and after the bite. Cliff Robertson is Uncle Ben. Although his role was brief, he is one of the most important characters in the life of Peter. His Aunt May, the main stabilizing force for him for years to come is played perfectly. Kirsten Dunst is Mary Jane Watson. And, frankly, I liked the way she played her. MJ’s history, while not explored in the Comic until several years later, is laid out from the first here. We see a desperate girl, someone who wants to be something more then the abused child of put-upon parents, reaching out to other, first in need, then finally in realization of who she is, and who she can count on. Harry Osborn, Norman's son, looks enough like a young Willim Defoe to make you believe they actually are father and son. This will come in handy later. And yes, Stan Lee does make an appearance.... and this time, he gets to be a hero himself. Tim Raimi, the brother of the director Sam Raimi, makes an appearance as an office boy for the Daily Bugle, the New York Newspaper that Peter works for. J.Jonah Jameson is here, and he is possibly done better then anyone, outside of Maguire and Dafoe. Like I said, there were some changes. There had to be. Mary Jane instead of Gwen Stacy on the bridge is probably one of the major ones. But, that makes sense if you think about the target audience. And those dang web-shooters. One of the outstanding scenes, among many, was the battle between Spider-Man and the Goblin at the Brooklyn Bridge. The actions of the people on the bridge made me quite happy. It brought images of some of the sights seen the last few months between New Yorkers. Yeah, you take on one New Yorker, you take on them all. I liked that. The ending is poignant. Not really sad, because you know there will be another one. There better be. But, it is somewhat of a tear jerking scene when Peter starts to realize who a future enemy is, that his life is one of danger, and so he fears having to many innocents in the line of fire that he knows will be directed at him. Watching him walk away, moments before the final... “Who am I? I’m Spider-Man”, and watching his web-swing his way through the streets of New York will bring to mind dozens of other heroes who realize that they will be alone, because of who they are. Some of the special effects, including the CGI in some places, looked a bit obvious. They looked almost Comic Bookish. Not that that is a bad thing. They simply reminded me in some instances like a cartoon. But, I did find myself forgetting that after a bit. Watching Peter design the costume was great! Seeing the art work as he drew made me think of how Ditko probably worked when he was creating the character’s look so many years ago. The music by Danny Elfman was quite good. I could have done without the girl singer during the carnival, but that is just me. I can’t wait to hear the sound track. In my car, fairly often. The activities of the people of New York, discussing Spider-Man, and talking to the camera about his was excellent. I think in one place, it simply looked like someone just straight out asked a stranger on a construction site to describe Spider-Man while they filmed. The singer in the Subway entrance was great to. Couldn’t sing.... but the song was nifty. The opening credits, using some images from the Comic combined with graphics of web-strands was excellent. They had me from “Who am I?” But they still screwed up the web-shooters. Larry the Ultimate Fanboy
|
