“Spider-Man”(USA 2002)
Rating: ***1/2
Directed by Sam Raimi
Primarily with internet pre-release promotion in the form of a two minute trailer half a year back, the US$140 million “Spider-Man” opens with the greatest hype any movie this year has generated. Directed by Sam Raimi, master of horror movies like “The Evil Dead I and II”, action flicks like “The Quick and the Dead” and the other comic book movie “Darkman”, “Spider-Man”, like Raimi’s many other films, is fast and furious if not dark and sometimes chaotic.
The filmmakers and Raimi have played it safe with the Spider-Man movie. Apart from a few changes (Peter Parker is bitten by a genetically altered super-spider instead of a radioactive one), the film begins with the origins of the super-hero and ends with the destruction of one villain, the Green Goblin (Willem Defoe). There is a good old-fashioned climax, with the heroine Mary Jane (Kirtsen Dunst) in peril with the hero arriving just in time to save her from the villain, much like the first silent films where the heroine is tied on the tracks or sent in a barrel over the falls. (Compare the recent “Lord of the Rings” geared towards the next episode with a less satisfactory open ending.) The story of “Spider-Man” is simple enough. Geeky Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) loves Mary Jane but is unable to show his emotions. Growing-up angst! Things take a turn when he discovers his web-like powers after being bitten. He encounters the villain, the Green Goblin, who in real life is his best friend’s (James Franco) father, Norman Osborn. Mr. Osborn also serves as Peter’s father figure providing some of the film’s darker elements. “Spider-Man”, though based on the Marvel comic plays like an action flick with a strong romantic slant. It all makes sense as the tactic builds a strong narrative binding the action bits together.
Raimi moves his story quick and effectively. There is a lot to tell in the 120 minutes running time. The most interesting part of the film is Peter Parker’s metamorphosis into Spider-Man. The scenes in which he first learns to leap through the canyons of buildings in NYC often smashing straight into walls are genuinely funny. As the meek hero gradually learns responsibility and punishes the bullies, the viewer, naturally begins to root for the transformed person. Wisely, Raimi concentrates more on Peter Parker than on Spider-Man in the film’s first half. It is only after all the logistics have been covered that Raimi dives into the action scenes.
“Spider-Man” is necessarily violent. The Marvel comic book was itself vicious in its story-telling, catering for the older teens. There is a wrist breaking, an impaling, death (of Peter’s Uncle Ben played by Cliff Robertson), bloodied faces and even a caged wrestling match. Amidst the action, which Raimi blends masterfully with live-action, computer generated images amidst slow and fast motion (reminiscent especially of the shoot-out scenes in “The Quick and the Dead”), there is the occasional wild and non-disciplined camp charm that is characteristic Raimi. This is illustrated in the film’s two best sequences, one with Defoe in front of a mirror displaying the two sides of good and evil and the other, a brilliant image of the Green Goblin gliding away on a motorized board with a dazed Spider-Man in his arms. Raimi even gets away with some of the script’s (by David Koepp) corniest lines. NYC is appropriately photographed in grey and blues by Don Burgess giving the film a dark, troubled look as its citizens cope with two unknown super-human beings. The only bright colours occur in the interior scenes.
“With great power comes great responsibility,” Peter Parker is advised by his Uncle Ben prior to his death. And with great hype for a film, comes great expectations. “Spider-Man” is basically good old fashioned story-telling, one involving the struggle of good vs. evil with romance and some morals thrown in. Updated with modern breathtaking CGI effects and action sequences that often soar, “Spider-Man” delivers!
