Near-Perfect

Rating: 10/10 (22 May 2002)

This is a near-perfect film, in that it not only provides the origin of Spider-Man, balancing the comic origin with film-friendly changes, but it also immediately introduces the Green Goblin as well as other great characters. I don't know that I've seen many films that could introduce so many characters in 2 hours, and give them some kind of depth and backstory. The first 45 minutes or so of this movie are tremendous. We meet Mary Jane and get to see the whole story of Peter becoming Spider-Man, testing out his powers (some of the best parts of the movie!) and learning that he needs to use his new abilities wisely. Then we are thrust full-speed into Spider-Man's conflict with the Green Goblin (played very well by Willem Dafoe), which does not disappoint as well.
I was nervous at first about Tobey Maguire being Peter Parker/Spider-Man, but within the first 10 minutes he proves himself to be ideal for the part. I now could not see anyone else playing Spidey. He nails not only the nerdy pre-superpowers Peter Parker, but also the confident and determined post-superpowers Parker/Spider-Man. He handles the dualities of the character very well...shy but confident, clumsy yet intelligent, meek early on and brave as the story progresses. Meanwhile, Sam Raimi's direction is excellent. The CGI'ed scenes are wonderful and the fight scenes not only are exciting but tell the story well. These are what I think are the three keys to this movie's success.
The feel of the movie is perfect. It's not dark like Batman was, but we understand from the get-go that Peter understands that his newfound powers bring great responsibility. Raimi did an excellent job of making this movie feel like what a Spider-Man movie should. He also does the tough job of helping us understand Spidey's powers. Particularly the Spider-Sense. In the comics, we see squiggly lines above Spidey's head to show us he knows something will happen. In the movie, Raimi SHOWS us how Peter can sense things before they happen. Expertly done. The direction is just excellent.
The acting is between adequate and excellent all around. Even the small roles, such as J.K. Simmons as J.Jonah Jameson, are honest to the comic book characters and done very well without detracting from the realism of the story. After all, comic characters can get away with things film characters can't. The pacing of the story is perfect. I never felt that anything was rushed, nor that anything dragged. I saw this movie three times in the first week and a half, and it never bored me, and the pacing was the reason. And finally, Kirsten Dunst and James Franco were good in their roles as Mary Jane and Harry Osborn. Dunst didn't get a lot to work with script-wise, as her character wasn't given an enormous amount of depth, but she works with what she was given excellently and at least makes us understand why Peter loves her so much. Franco does a good job of showing Harry's struggle with his relationship with his father, and in a lot of ways, Harry is the character that develops the most throughout the film.
All in all, an excellent film in every way. It is so good that I can only think of two extremely minor things that I didn't like. One was after the kiss, where they show Mary Jane in slow motion for a second, looking up. That was tacky and cliche, and it should have gone to the next scene after showing the sky with the rain falling. The other was when we get a closeup of M.J. swinging with Spidey. Spidey doesn't move whatsoever as M.J. is looking around, and it looks pretty awkward and fake. That's a total of about 3 seconds of film. Pretty minor flaws! Really close to perfectly done. A wonderful film. And as a side note, I can't believe people actually have beef with the organic web-shooters. Who cares? The way they happened naturally accounted for some of the funnier parts of the movie, so I've got no problem with it. And since when did comic book heroes need logic explanations, anyway? 10/10.