With great power (139 million) comes great responsibility (Raimi)

Rating: 7/10 (4 May 2002)

Spiderman
There is a scene in director Sam Raimi's Spiderman which pays homage to a film of his past, Evil Dead II. The scene I am describing is where Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) first tests out his powers, as he jumps from building to building in street clothes, inexperienced. When he gets the hang of his powers, he designs his costume meticulously. This scene is a spiritual homage to Evil Dead II's Ash, as he builds his chainsaw weapon and saws the barrel off of his shotgun.
And with this, Raimi and Maguire break free of constraints in the film. Maguire's Peter Parker is larger than the movie. He seemingly lives in his own world, where he freely interacts with what goes on around him. Young, in love, and going through a life-changing experience, Maguire fills Spiderman with wonder and excitement. And many critics thought he would not be able to do it.
A film adaptation of Spiderman was long thought an impossible, daring feat. Although Superman, Batman, and X-Men have come before this film, Peter Parker was always the most human of all comic-book characters. Bruce Wayne was a bloodthirsty vigilante. Clark Kent was a larger-than-life man with very little weaknesses. The X-Men were un-human characters who relied on each other for strength in battle. Parker has no alliance, only a sense of duty and responsibility. Raimi's Spiderman (which cost roughly 139 million to produce, plus marketing) is a film that shows the struggle of a young man, tackling many responsibilities with an actual concern for his family, friends, and even the strangers he protects.
After being bitten by a genetically altered spider during a class field trip, Parker begins changing. He goes to bed sick and wakes up healthy. He no longer needs his glasses. He has muscles. But what sets him physically apart from other healthy people are his strange abilities: he sprouts small hairs on his hands with allow him to climb walls and his wrists have mutated into web-spinning devices. His new powers not only allow him the chance to make some money for himself, whether through wrestling or taking photos of himself, but they also offer the chance to win Mary Jane over, which he will try to do several times throughout the movie.
When Uncle Ben (Cliff Robertson) dies, Peter must re-evaluate his life. Some of Ben's last words to Peter were `With great power comes great responsibility.' This becomes Peter's mantra. It defines what kind of a hero he will become and how he will treat those around him. Saddened by his uncle's death, Peter Parker does indeed become a hero. The people of New York grow to love him. Crooks, criminals, and enemies fear him.
While all of this happens to Peter Parker, filthy-rich businessman Norman Osborne (Willem Dafoe) is facing some harsh realities. If Oscorp, his company, loses a military contract from the government, the he will be finished. Determined not to let this happen, he experiments his company's new serum on himself. A horrible accident ensues, which leaves Osborne as the multi-personalitied Green Goblin. The Green Goblin is set on destroying the competition, and does just that.
Osborne's son Harry (James Franco) is Parker's best friend. And when the Green Goblin learns that Parker may be Spiderman, a game of cat-and-mouse ensues. The Goblin cheezily terrorizes New York. He destroys J. Jonah Jameson's (J.K. Simmons) offices, hospitalizes Parker's aunt May (), and takes Mary Jane hostage. But instead of coming off as a twisted villain with clear goals, Dafoe's Goblin soon degrades into a cheesy, poor man's Jack Nicholson as the Joker. The Green Goblin is neither scary, nor menacing. He's cheesy. As cheesy as the skeleton army in Raimi's Army of Darkness, even. Dafoe as the human Osborne is good, but as the mutant Green Goblin, he's bad. Quite possibly, the Green Goblin is what keeps Spider-man from being a great movie. While Tobey Maguire is very believable in his role, Willem Dafoe is not. Dafoe gets considerably less screen time, but his tongue-in-cheek insults and varied actions come off as second-rate and hold the movie back.
Still, the movie has its share of positive moments. The entire first half is great. Maguire flawlessly transforms into the wall-crawler. The supporting cast, particularly J.K. Simmons as media mogul J. Jonah Jameson and Dunst as Mary Jane are very good as well. The second half, while not degrading into a cheese-fest entirely, has some great moments. Spidey, as he swings through his urban jungle, is portrayed exhilaratingly. Good money was spent on decent special effects, most of which take place in the second half. Unfortunately, though, the film does not contain its magic throughout the entire movie. And in the end, Parker is the only character to learn a lesson and then live it: with great power comes great responsibility.

Grade: B