Spider-Man

Review by By Clint Morris

Anyone could weave together a feature version of Spider-Man - geez, all it would take is a red jumpsuit and a good pair of rock-climbing boots - and so when Hollywood announced plans for it I didn't lose a breath. In all honesty, I was convinced - like Superman Lives - that it would start filming one month and then be in development hell the next.

Fast-forward to June 2002, Sam Raimi's got director credit, Tobey Maguire's got lead billing and there's a young film critic smiling from ear to ear at the end result. How could I have ever doubted The Amazing Spider-man!

For those waiting with eagerness, Spider-Man is everything you hoped it would be and more, a monstrously enjoyable couple of hours of startling stunts, larger than life action sequences, astute performances and best of all… a religiously faithful adaptation of one of Marvel's most treasured comic-book heroes.

Maguire is Peter Parker, the nerdy, orphaned Queens high schooler. He is in love with the girl next door - Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst), but she's about as accessible as a tour to the Lucas ranch. Parker lives drearily with his Aunt May (Rosemary Harris) and Uncle Ben (Cliff Robertson), and suffers a severe case of jock abuse.

That is, until the day he's bitten by a genetically mutated arachnid and starts defying gravity, thrashing goons and slinging webs (an adjustment from the original, wherein the scientifically inclined Peter devised wrist-dispensers and his own web formula).

But where there's a superhero there's always a villain, and Raimi has enlisted comic favourite, The Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe), to rip through Spidey's web. The Goblin's altered-ego, capitalist Norman Osborn, has gashed his own personality during a reckless attempt to save a military contract. On one hand, he's Norman, indifferent father of Peter's good friend Harry (James Franco) and a potential father figure to Peter. On the other, he's the Goblin, a wonderfully bloodthirsty wacko flying a nuclear Jet Ski through Manhattan, reducing Times Square to debris and sending the populace into the nearest hard-roofed shelter. In between winning the heart of his precious Mary Jane, Spidey has to take this guy down.

Don't let the opening theme from Batman's Danny Elfman put you off - this isn't a dark movie, not that it doesn't have its more serious moments but, in essence, it's a cool, campy and authentic adaptation of the comic.

Like the original Superman movie, Raimi's film hasn't been tweaked to the point of it being unrecognisable to hard core-fans (hello Batman!), just modernized, jazzed up and drowning in masses of energy.

The CG effects are even-handed but not landmark, and the script is fun but not explicitly novel, so why the brouhaha? For one, Tobey Maguire. This kid is Spider-Man.

He's got the nerdy Peter Parker antics down pat, and can convince the audience that he's this punching bag turned all-deserving wonder kid finally getting a bit of a break from the superhero powers that be.

Without someone with such proven acting ability behind them, I can't imagine some of the more serious scenes coming off as believable as they have.

Secondly, Sam Raimi obviously loves the genre and the comic. He's treated this film as delicately as a gardener would his show-winning Roses. He's spruced things up here and there, but only to the point where they are an improvement and not a distraction.

And, finally, Spider-Man is made all the more pleasurable because of our "Green Goblin" Willem Dafoe who is so deliciously campy. J.K Simmons is uproariously hilarious and dry-scotch authentic as Jameson, who is truly one of the movie's highlights.

Kirsten Dunst looks the part of Mary Jane and we all know she can act, but a character like this (nothing more than token love interest who has to cavort around looking perky and flashing her pearly whites) won't win her any awards. In some ways, one might have looked for someone without the back catalogue baggage to pull off the role. Still, she does the job and most of her scenes with Maguire are convincing.

Spider-Man is a brimming hamper of fun from its vivacious energy to its escapist hypnotism and, for once, it's a film that lives up to it's hype... And more.

Spider-Man isn't just amazing… it's flamin' fantastic!

Sam Raimi interview

5 out of 5

Spider-Man
Australian release: Thursday June 6th
Cast: Tobey Maguire, Willem Dafoe, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, J.K Simmons, Rosemary Harris, Cliff Robertson, Bruce Campbell.
Director: Sam Raimi.
Website: Click here

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