Amazing And Spectacular

Rating: 10/10 (10 May 2002)

It was a long time coming, but the long overdue Spiderman movie just may be a success. The plot is not what I expected, though, I pictured something a bit more darker and set closer to the real world as the first Batman movie. The film sets up Peter as the comic book did, as a social outcast constantly demeaned and embarrassed by his peers. Do we need to be reminded of how horrible high school was for all of us ? the origins could have been summed up in a few flashback sequences in a dream. As it is, the movie has a long set-up and once it gets started, it becomes a bit dizzying from the acrobatic sequences, but the viewer does get used to them. The computer imaging seamlessly works excellantly that soon it becomes hard to tell what is done real and what was done on computer. Tobey McGuire does a great job playing Peter, but his Spiderman is a little distant, not so much on the wise-cracking hero from the comics. Kirsten Dunst is titillating as MJ Watson (personally, I saw Kate Winslet in the role), but she does provide more substance and character than seen in the comics. Willem DaFoe out-Jokers Nicholson as the Green Goblin and out-Psychos Anthony Perkins as Norman Osborn. James Franco also gives a wonderful performance as does Cliff Robertson and Rosemary Harris (I thought Aunt May looked more like Cheers' Frances Sternhagen). Kudos to JK Simmons for actually looking like JJJ and giving the role a comic edge. The direction is excellant and the photography is superb. This movies deserves nothing less than a ten from anyone who has never seen the comic.