3 Reasons = Raimi, Elfman, and Defoe

Rating: Null/10 (12 December 2002)

Making a film like this is like shooting yourself in the foot. On one side you have purists who've read every comic book, own every piece of merchandise, and waste their life's savings trying to buy an authentic piece of lint off the Spiderman suit. Wait, they prefer to call themselves the "true" fans. You know the ones who regardless of how they make the film--these people will not be happy. Even when the guy who made the thing is heavily involved and approves all creative decisions.
On the other side you have the people who know nothing about comic books, go into films like this and ask too many "why" questions and take it way too seriously. And if the film is 'made' for fans, these people are lost because they drown in all their questions. This is the person you want to slap and yell, "The name of the movie is Spiderman for crying out loud--does it sound like a walk down realist lane?!"
Then there's the whole spectrum inbetween. That's where I fall; I don't like comic books. I've read less than 50 in my whole life, and not one of those was a Spiderman comic book. Even without having read the original source, I still have a very solid idea of who Spidey is without knowing the whole backstory of every issue. And I liked this treatment of the Spiderman formula.
Transferring from one medium to another translates to changes for effectiveness and story telling reasons. There's no such thing as a 'true to the book' film entirely; some are more liberal than others, but changes are inevitable. Get over it or don't bother. I'm a fan of Sam Raimi, Danny Elfman, and Willem Defoe.
Sam Raimi delivers the right tone and a unique, colorful, visual style to the film. Appropriately placed since Spidey is more upbeat than most comic book heroes; like Burton did for Batman, Raimi delivers for Spiderman. Well shot, well narrated, and pretty good editing as well.
Danny Elfman was born to do films like this. No stranger to comic book film scores with Batman 1 & 2 and Darkman under his belt, Elfman's score has an evermoving reluctantly heroic score which bounces from one side of the spectrum to the other with its depths in darkness and bounciness in the more lighthearted moments.
Then there's Willem Defoe as the Green Goblin, probably one of my least favorite villains that I'm aware of, but Defoe gives the Goblin a menace that rivals what Jack Nicholson did with the role of the Joker in Batman. Defoe portrays insanity like very few can . . . maybe Kevin Spacey took pointers from him or vice versa? Who knows.
The typical Raimi trademarks are greatly appreciated too--it just gives the film an extra touch having the Ted, Bruce, and the Classic pop up in the film.