21 out of 21 people found this review helpful.
With great power comes great responsibility...and cool web-shooters!
Date of Review: Oct 25, 2002
The Bottom Line: This is really a 4.4 rating. Really.
Months after Spider-Man was released to theaters, i finally jumped on the bandwagon and agreed to undergo my first-ever encounter with the famed superhero. i also reluctantly decided to join the plethora of epinions writers who had already reviewed this movie with adept verbal skill in hopes that this review could perhaps entice those few readers who, like me, are not familiar with Spider-Man and have no real desire to watch the live-action version of the popular comic book character.
My ideal movie is steeped in innocent romance (A Walk to Remember) or filled with hilariously witty lines (The Emperor's New Groove). i've never been a fan of action movies with gory fight scenes and terrifying villains. i've also never known anything about Spider-Man, except that my dad might own some of his comics and that he wears a funny red suit. So as i entered the theater to watch Spider-Man, i anticipated a less-than-thrilling, dizzying piece of cinematography. Thank goodness, i was wrong!
Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) is the typical shy nerd; he allows himself to fade into the background and stare at his dream girl, MJ (Kirsten Dunst), from afar. One day, on what seems to be a typical school field trip, Peter is bitten by a genetically-altered spider. Suddenly affected and mesmerized by the bite, Peter ambles home, collapses on his bedroom floor, and finds the next morning that he has been endowed with magnificent superpowers.
At the same time, Norman Osborn (Willem Dafoe), head of a large company named Oscorp, has just been informed that funding for his latest project is about to be pulled. In a desperate attempt to save the corporation he's invested his life in, Norman takes a large dose of his experimental "performance enhancers" and ends up turning into Spider-Man's arch-nemesis: The Green Goblin.
As Peter is adjusting to his new powers, he is also on a quest to impress MJ. With hopes of earning enough money to buy himself a new car, Peter designs a costume and signs up for an amateur wrestling match--3 minutes in the ring for $3000. After defeating his opponent, a disgustingly buff guy named Bonesaw, Peter is disappointed when the promoter of the wrestling match hands him only a $100 bill. Seconds later, the dejected teenager makes his way to the elevator only to come face to face with a criminal who has just robbed the promoter.
On the way home, Peter runs into a large crowd on the sidewalk and finds that his beloved Uncle Ben (Cliff Robertson) has been shot. Fueled by sudden fury, Peter dons his Spider-Man costume and takes off, employing his new wall-climbing, web-shooting, punch-dodging powers to track down his uncle's attacker. When he realizes that the shooter is also the criminal he'd met earlier, he takes him out and makes his way home, dwelling on Uncle Ben's last words: "With great power comes great responsibility."
From that moment onward, Spider-Man becomes everyone's hero. He appears on the scene of every crime, selflessly helping every victim he can find. Some are still cynical..the local newspaper editor, for example, who believes that Spider-Man is behind all the crimes.
The rest of the movie finds Peter/Spider-Man in constant struggles involving his best friend, Harry Osborn(James Franco), who just happens to be the son of aforementioned tycoon Norman, MJ, and the evil Green Goblin.
The special effects were very good: quite convincing and not as headache-inducing as those found in, say, Attack of the Clones. The casting was great as well:
Tobey Maguire is charming as Peter Parker, the quiet, dorky high school guy with a love for science, photography, and his beautiful neighbor, MJ. Peter's alter-ego, Spider-Man, turned out to be a surprisingly vulnerable and wonderful superhero.
Kirsten Dunst, although not spectacular, played her "helpless heroine" role well. She is easily believable as Mary Jane (MJ), the girl whose dreams to become an actress are subdued by her harsh reality.
Rosemary Harris and Cliff Robertson pull off the roles of Aunt May and Uncle Ben as sweet caretakers with a dash of spice.
Willem Dafoe chillingly portrayed Norman Osborn/Green Goblin. This man is a perfect fit with his deceivingly kind character who later morphs into the sinister foe of our arachnid hero. James Franco does a pretty good job in his role of best-friend-turned-jerk.
The most endearing thing about Spider-Man was the discovery that this human spider is not an egotistical, muscular hero who believes that he is unstoppable. Rather, Tobey brings out his human, vulnerable side, showing that Spider-Man is just an ordinary guy (err...spider) trying to make a difference in the world with the abilities he's been given.
Although this movie was not one of the best i've ever seen, it ranks right up there. The profanity was kept to a minimum, for which i was very thankful (and also quite surprised!). The random appearance of Macy Gray for five seconds and the slightly off-kilter ending were a little disappointing, as was the often semi-scantily-clad MJ. Still, i was impressed with the lack of overwhelmingly violent fight scenes and the emotion put into Spider-Man's character.
Debate no longer, my friends. Spider-Man is a movie you'll want to see. Spend the money for a ticket (if you have any local theaters that play movies late) or, if you're cheap like me, wait for your friends to buy it =) Spider-Man earns a rating of 4.4 from me.
