A Webslinging Adventure: Good, Mediocre? You Decide...

Rating: 7/10 (8 November 2002)

Ok, I know you all have probably rushed out to the 100mil dollar 3 day opening Spiderman, so, here are my thoughts.
First, I'd like to say I did enjoy it as a comicbook film, it was fun, even if cliched, and well casted. Tobey McGuire is just perfect as Peter Parker, there's an innocence to him, an unassuming quality that he brings to the role, much like his roles in Wonder Boys and Cider House Rules, both movies of which I love.
Then there's Kirsten Dunst, as the attractive red-headed Mary Jane. I thought she did an adequite job of the part, providing the 'heroine in distress' number for Spiderman to rescue, and an 'unreachable' number for Peter to gawk at and fawn over.
Oh, and then there's William Dafoe, good ol' Dafoe... I can't say I have any reservations about him in much else except the cool what if making of story, Shadow of the Vampire. But here, in Spideyworld, I felt he plays the part well.
Ok, now, what I liked about the film was it did manage a pure comicbook fantasy and for that, it remains an entertaining piece of the new marvel crop of their comicbook revolution that began with Blade and X-Men, but, there's also some problems with the direction they chose. Namely, I've seen this story before, not just in the comicbooks, no, but in the last animated series of Spiderman of the 90s. This means very little was actually new, just a retelling, or a remake, if you will. It's not just that, but how closely it comes to it, it just feels like I've already been here before, with a few variances. I mean, it can be, in a sense, good or bad. The Green Goblin's story is much the same as it was in the animated series as well, though more spread out over the season. This is a live action version, which I enjoyed, but I would have personally rather had something more original and maybe dealt with the origin in a short flashback sequence.
Now, my other minor problems came with the design for the Goblin's mask, which is fine when he's flying around, but up close, was hard at first to get used to. Course, once I did, then everything was fine. On the other side of the coin, however, the Spidey suit was excellent in every regard; perfect, for lack of a better word. It doesn't look ridiculously like a man in tights, it actually looks like a cool suit of a comicbook hero and the way it blends in with the CGI varient was pretty nice.
Everything is well laid out for the most part, but another issue I'd like to mention is Green Goblin's lack of direction in the 2nd half. After he got what he wanted, his motivations didn't seem as thought out. I think another minor plotline inbred within the story that could have lasted the whole of the movie and giving him more of a purpose at the end besides just making Parker miserable, would have helped the movie as a whole feel more complete.
Now, to wrap up... I can't wait to see the sequel, now that the ground work has been laid out, let's see something really cool in the next one. Lots of potential here. I liked the film, and I will definitely pick it up on DVD eventually and enjoy it at home, but I still feel X-Men is a better marvel superhero comicbook flick, in my opinion.