Enter The Web of Spider-Man

Rating: 7/10 (16 October 2010)

Now that enough time has lapsed since this movie was released and that the series of Sam Raimi/Tobey Maguire Spidey movies have reached an end, i feel OK to give a full, frank revue of the movie, without feeling like a stick in the mud against the universal praise the movie received on its release, and with enough nostalgia for the film as i remember it. For me the movie never quite captures the pure white heat enjoyment of the greatest Spider-Man stories from Marvel Comics. Raimi never quite gets to grips with the danger and excitement of Spideys world. Whilst the action sequences and special effects are truly awe inspiring, the world in which they are presented feels too much like a high budgeted Power Rangers remake. This is in no small part due to the glossy Production Design by Neil Spisak and the airy, breezy cinematography by Don Burgess. Both commendable by any event movie standards, but at the sake of a translation of a dangerous, fun, darker world that existed in Spider-Man comics since the 60's, 70's, 80's. Tobey Maguire gives a solid, earnest and emphatic performance as peter Parker/Spider-Man, and im sure for a whole generation Maguire will be the definitive Spider-Man actor. Spidey in this movie, and its two sequels is not the comedian with the heroic side readers of the comics are familiar with, and i think this is a potential problem. Maguire gives a sweet, innocent, driven performance as Peter Parker which clashes with his earnest portrayal as Spider-Man, unfortunately this means the character at times can come across as bland and boring. Willem Dafoe is a great choice to play Green Goblin and he does so with relish, unfortunately they completely messed up The Goblins costume, which in the battle scened with Spider-Man looks like two Action Figures in conflict. It would have been much more interesting to utilise Dafoes already Goblin like features and to have gone down a more Jekyll and Hyde road. Its the revisionist approach to the chronology of the characters that weighs the movie down. Kirsten Dunst is excellent as the girl next door Mary Jane, but it would have been better had they started with a Gwen Stacey as Spidey's first love interest, purely because the origins compared to the comics are somewhat jumbled. Danny Elfmans theme is completely uninspired, it recycles elements of his own Batman/The Flash/Darkman themes and is over lush and melodramatic, failing musically to capture the danger and excitement of Peter Parker/Spider-Mans world. For an origin story, Sam Raimi really sets up the character and story arc well. But its tantalising to think just how amazing this movie could have been, so its with excitement i look forward to 2012's Andrew Garfield starring/Marc Webb directed Spider-Man reboot, which promises to capture a real flavour of the best Spider-Man stories. Spider-Man (2002) however is a lot of fun and for an origin movie and one of the most important movies for Marvel Studios, it does its job nicely.