With great budgets, comes a not-so-great movie

Rating: Null/10 (4 July 2002)

What's the deal with the lashings of praise heaped on 'Spider-man', including a current ranking of #138? Certainly I can't quite fathom it, although 'Spider-man' is fairly entertaining. The plot? Does it matter? Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) gets bitten by a spider, develops spider powers, decides to help people, must fight the Green Goblin who is actually his best friend's schizoid father. Oh and there's a conflicted love interest to pursue in the form of Mary Jane (Kirsten Dunst) - well there would have to be wouldn't there? (Yes, it's an element of the comic I know.)
Tobey Maguire was - and with the sequels still is - a great choice for the role. He has enough geeky charm to pull off the awkward Parker, and enough conviction of character, to pull off Parker's dual Spiderman identity. He effortless captures the screen with the awkward tics he has mannered, the shy furtive glances, and the strength lying underneath. Dafoe is a good actor, but he never really feels menacing here as Spiderman's nemesis - and this is quite a flaw. Indeed when Dafoe is acting as the Green Goblin I remained pretty much detached from the scene - a cast of miscasting I feel (although others have equally praised the performance). Dunst does what Dunst does best - love interest, and she's quite capable at it. The other actors are all fine, although they needn't bother writing up any acceptance speeches for next year.
The problem with the movie is that it's flawed. The first half of the movie is definitely good. It deals with Parker gaining his powers, and discovering how to work with them. There's a lot of cute humour, and good character development and the SFX are non-intrusive. The characters all interact well - including Peter's relationship with his Aunt and Uncle. I had good hopes for the movie at this point. Unfortunately once Parker assumes the Spiderman identity to a proper degree and begins fighting crime, the movie starts to descend to a more banal action flick. Spiderman sense bad thing - Spiderman stop bad thing. Yes, it's what he does in the comics but seeing Spiderman flinging himself about for an hour in a series of action set pieces grows wearisome. This isn't helped by the fact that the SFX employed at times are downright dreadful - while the web swinging is generally impressive, the effects of the Green Goblin can appear irritatingly cartoonish, forcing the viewer out of the picture. There's also some incredible clichés in it about saving girls and making choices. This continues right up to the end with some cringe-inducing dialog about choices and responsibilities - it made my skin wince in pain. Admittedly this may be in keeping with what you expect from a comic book, but I expect a little bit more from action on screen, especially with a surfeit of brainless action flicks.
Sam Raimi, the director of the piece, does at least like his material. He gets good performances from his cast and the action - while predictable - is well filmed, with dizzying vertigo shots of Spiderman swinging through New York. There's a nice comic book feel to the proceedings - everything is painted and designed that bit much more intensely than life (there's no drabness here) and it gives a good homage to the comic book ideals. Nonetheless it can't quite make me love this movie. It's enjoyable sure and if it had kept to the spirit of the first half of the movie I'd give it a firm recommendation. As it is I can say to watch it, just don't expect too much from it other than a fun flick. Somewhat disappointing, given the hype. 6.3/10.