Don't tell Harry, but Spider-Man was AMAZING!

Rating: 9/10 (3 July 2002)

Believe it or not, I was actually looking forward to Spider-Man. A lot. I'll admit, I'm certainly not a comic book person, but the cartoon was brilliant. Since all this hype about Spider-Man began, I had to go out and buy a huge hardback book documenting just about every major storyline that was ever featured in the comic books.
Before I went to the film, I knew it'd be good. How could it not be? Surely just having Spider-Man in it would be enough. There's something about him that makes him the coolest super hero (by far). Maybe it's because he's young, different, interesting. Look at Super Man. Boring job, boring life. And how he has the cheek to think a pair of glasses is somehow a 'brilliant' disguise, I'll never know. At least Spider-Man has the decency to cover up a bit.
Going in already expecting it to be fantastic could be a problem. I was a little concerned that I'd think it was good when it really wasn't. Although I don't think that was a problem, in the end. A lot of hype, yes - but not over-rated (unlike 'Bored' of the Rings).
So, for anyone who's been living in a cave all their life, here's a brief outline of the story. Peter Parker is in his senior year of high school, and is a bit of a science whiz. He has a deep crush on his next-door neighbour, Mary-Jane Watson, and his best friend is Harry Osborn, whose father owns Oscorp Industries. He lives with his Uncle Ben and Aunt May, who are a couple in their late sixties (although it's not mentioned in the film, Peter Parker's parents were apparently killed when he was very young). Peter is often ridiculed at school and people regard him as a bit of a nerd. One day, on a science trip, Peter is bitten by a genetically modified spider. The next day he finds the spider has given him 'Spider Powers' including the ability to scale walls, shoot webs and detect danger with his 'spider sense'. While this is going on, Norman Osborn, owner of Oscorp Industries, is conducting a test on himself to show his chemicals work successfully. However, exposing himself to these chemicals turns him into the evil Green Goblin...
The storyline itself is very different and new. Although the storyline has existed for years, what Raimi, Lee et al did with it created a pretty decent film. The camera work was fantastic, which ranged from over-head action shots to intense emotional close-ups. The special effects were flawless. Particularly when the Green Goblin gatecrashed the Oscorp Unity Fair, the scenes of Spider-Man and the Green Goblin battling were incredibly realistic. You could tell a lot of the conventions had been drawn from recent films, such as The Matrix. However, this film itself has set a lot of conventions. Sam Raimi was an excellent choice for the director of this film. He managed to take small, insignificant actions, and turn them into the most memorable scenes in the film. The blood drip from Spider-Man's fight wound is just so inventive and the camera work and special effects make that scene so suspenseful and intense. 'Spider-Man' creates a wide range of emotions - sometimes you'll be staring open-mouthed and engrossed at the action, and other times your heart will be breaking at the grief.
Before I went to see this film, I was warned about Tobey Maguire's role of Spider-Man. After seeing it, I can't understand what everyone was complaining about - I honestly can't think of anyone better to play Spider-Man. They needed someone fairly unknown to play Spider-Man, so that they could develop his character from a clean slate. He had the perfect 'nerdy' look at the start (I was a little worried it'd be a typical case of the actor who only needs to remove his glasses in order to be considered attractive...), and definitely stood out next to all the other male characters in the film. Very suited to the role. He even managed to pull off those classic Spider-Man wisecracks. Look out for the "Nice costume - did your husband buy it for you?" when he's wrestling with Bonesaw McGraw. Unfortunately, these wisecracks become a lot more sparse as the film becomes more serious.
As for Kirsten Dunst, I think she did well, but I was a little unhappy about Mary-Jane's character (see below). Her performance did seem genuine and believable, and luckily, the red hair dye didn't look too fake...
Star role was Willem Dafoe as the Green Goblin. He suited the role perfectly, and was easily flitted between the good guy and the bad guy. I also liked J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson, but it would've been nice to see a little more of him in this role.
For any die-hard comic book fans, the question might be how true did the film stay to the old comic books? Okay, so I'm not a die hard fan, and probably have no place to comment, although I did read the hard back book from cover to cover, and have familiarised myself with the storylines a little. Obviously it would be impossible to stick to the exact storylines that evolved in the comic books. This didn't create too much of a problem, except that there wasn't much room for Spider-Man to develop. In the comic books, there were a few editions of him discovering his powers, fighting a few petty criminals, etc, before he moved onto fighting the big ones. There's no way the film could digress for half of it, before finally introducing the Green Goblin. It was a little cheesy and unconvincing that both Peter Parker and Norman Osborn happened to transform at the same time, as well. However, I think it was generally handled well.
Everyone should know that Spider-Man does not actually have the ability to shoot webs, but in the film he does. I can't really say why this is, but I get the feeling that his character is slightly different to the Spider-Man in the comic books. Once Peter Parker left high school, he never seemed to mention science much anymore. I think perhaps they were trying to give him a 'cooler' image, and breakaway from this 'nerd' persona. If Peter Parker had had the knowledge to actually create this webbing fluid, it might have given him a less of a 'cool' and 'macho' image.
I also have to say that I wasn't too impressed with Mary-Jane in this film. In the cartoon and comic book, she was far more forward and confident. In the film she seemed a little more insecure and subdued, despite being popular. Kirsten Dunst did say "Tiger" on one or two occasions, but it didn't really look right coming from her character. I was more expecting her to say lines like "Let's face it Tiger, you just hit the jackpot!", giving her a cheeky, almost arguably arrogant character. She was quite different in the film.
There were a few other points too, like the way in which Spider-Man and the Green Goblin were created - these processes seemed to be changed slightly to make it more modern, and realistic. Well all know too that Uncle Ben was killed by a burglar - the film modernises this to a car-jacking. And, if I'm right, wasn't it Mary-Jane's Aunt Anna, who lived next door to Peter's Aunt May? Yet, in the film, it was Mary-Jane herself who lived next door to Peter. And it was Aunt May and Aunt Anna who set them up on a blind date, rather than Peter secretly carrying a torch for Mary-Jane.
Nevertheless, I feel that creating a film which matched the comic books exactly was quite a tall order. Some parts of the film suffered, because it was hard to cover all the important aspects of Peter's life in two hours. However, I cannot imagine this task being approached any better way. It might've been better if it was a little longer, as, at times, it felt a little rushed. I must say though - a truly fantastic film, full of surprises and excitement. Don't wait for it to come out on DVD - it was an amazing experience watching it on the big screen, and you'll be thoroughly thrilled from start to finish.
The ending was absolutely amazing. I won't give anything away, but it was left very much wide open, and was very unexpected - in more ways than you might think! It's fairly obvious they'd always planned to make a 'Spider-Man 2' as well, so I can only hope the sequel is just as good.
One thing's for sure: it was waaaaaaay better than Batman...