Spiderman is not a movie star!!!

Rating: Null/10 (23 July 2004)

I'm sure that, in one way or another, most of us have some connection with Spidey. Maybe, we read the comics, maybe we saw the cartoons. For many, he is their cherished figurehead of the comic book universe. He is human enough for us to identify with him, yet powerful enough to be totally at home amongst the ranks of Superman, Batman, Wolverine, etc as a true super-hero. However, I don't know if he'll ever be the centrepiece of a truly excellent piece of cinema.
I'd found the first film mildly entertaining, but far inferior to the first (and then the second) X-men film, and while I thought that this was slightly better, there is hardly a scene or a line that has stuck in my mind a week after my first viewing. Its not that Raimi did anything particularly wrong, in fact I think that his direction was generally very good, though the pacing was a little slow at times. I thought that the casting was excellent again, as well, with the exception of Dunst. Her relationship with Jake Gyllenhall seems to have been taking its toll, as like Gyllenhall, she looks increasingly like she's about to fall asleep (come on Kirsten, you can do it, open those eyelids.A little more, a little more, oh forget it...) Doc Ock was ace, and I don't think could have been done much better, either in characterisation or special effects. I enjoyed the flying cars (especially the cafe scene), the wall crawling battles, and the subtle comic moments. In fact, the only scenes that attracted my violent dislike were the ridiculous scene on the train (people love you really Spiderman!) and the risible final wedding dress-through-the park sequence. Overall then, I have to admit, it was a pleasant and entertaining way to spend a couple of hours on a Friday night, but something was definitely missing.
On reflection, I've got to say (and I know that I risk possible assassination for this next statement) that I think the problem was that Spiderman does not actually cut it as a movie star. Let's get this straight, I love the cartoons and the comics, and I think that the character is great as a 2-dimensional wise-cracking crime fighter, but I don't think that he or the world that Stan Lee and others created around him transition as well on to the silver screen. Batman brooded with menace through his first two installments (lets forget about the Schumacher debacles), and with the x-men, there were so many of them that I never got fed up with any of the characters, with Spidey though I didn't get anything new from watching Maguire portray him although I think he did as well as he could. If anything, the injection of another dimension to his cartoon persona actually made him seem flatter than before.
Now, before the backlash begins, I don't think I'm directly attacking Spiderman as a character. My point is that to move from cartoon/comic to movie star is not always a good career move. Its not always a welcome promotion. I think this is definitely the case with Peter Parker and his masked friend. Its not that he's not as good as the other heroes but that I believe that Spidey is specially suited to a graphic portrayal. Ask me why, and I'll have to say I don't know. I'm afraid I can't pin it down to any specific factor. It is totally possible that I was just having a bad day. Maybe, I'd just overloaded on films based on comics and Spidey happened to be the last straw. Who knows?
Anyway, one thing I can say for sure, it wasn't as bad as Daredevil...