One of the most ecstatic superhero events in quite some time

Rating: 8/10 (2 July 2012)

Peter Parker is the awkward, neurotic, socially inept teenager, interested in photography, and crushing on the prettiest girl in school, Mary Jane Watson. During his trip to a genetics laboratory, where the class learns all about genetically altered spiders, Peter is bit on the hand by one of the arachnids that escaped and slowly begins to possess powers beyond his wildest dreams. At first, he realizes he can see without the help of his glasses, next, he notices he can leap heights and flip to great lengths, and finally, he starts to acquire the ability to stick to walls and shoot webs out of his hands.
He becomes the notorious and infamous, Spider-Man, where he has proved to be a burden to some, but a hero to others in his hometown of New York City, where he lives with his Uncle Ben (Cliff Robertson) and Aunt May (Rosemary Harris). After his Uncle Ben is shot and killed during a robbery, Peter notices the city is nothing but scum and is determined to take down the cities' worst in the form of secrecy. Meanwhile, his close friend, Harry's (James Franco) father, Dr. Norman Osborn (Willem Dafoe) is the president of the Oscorp manufacturing corporation, where they make and supply weaponry to the United States Army. In the mix of it all, Osborn becomes, what newspaper editor J. Jonah Jameson (J.K. Simmons) dubs, the "Green Goblin" who pilots a glider, and serves as the villain to Spider-Man's hero.
What inevitably follows is a series of unplanned and very physical battle scenes taking place with the backdrop of New York City skylines to handle it all. There's also a subplot, involving Peter, played effortlessly well by Tobey Maguire, trying to impress Mary Jane, played by the talented and attractive Kirsten Dunst, by relentlessly saving her from calamity and trouble by sweeping in at the nick-of-time while she is either being held captive by the Goblin, intimidated by muggers or even falling to her death. The catch is Mary Jane doesn't know this is Peter, but on the side, she talks to him at various points in the film. They've lived next to each other for years, but Peter has always viewed her as the unachievable girl next door and Mary Jane has probably always found Peter to be the unfortunate geek next door. How she doesn't recognize his voice when "Spider-Man" saves her an astronomical three times is beyond me. She should probably stick to staying in doors.
No bother. Sam Raimi's Spider-Man is a fascinating and entertaining work of superhero fiction, collectively doing Marvel and all of its actors justice by blessing them with good material, a straight-shooting script, and action sequences that don't fail to impress. The kinetics and craft of it all are through the roof, and the twenty-five+ years the picture spent in development clearly was for the best. The film spends the first hour or so getting us acquainted with the man behind the mask, much like the original Marvel comics. We see Parker as a human, not an action figure, occupying a mask of uniqueness and power. The film shows the geek in the beginning, sympathetically, and then goes on to showcase him powerfully, where he is a placed in a role of certainty and bravery.
Marvel comics were notorious for paying attention to the character behind the mask and the character in the mask. One thing Spider-Man neglects to showcase in its script and its main character is the agony and pain of it all. The second Marvel feature in 2003, Ang Lee's unfairly bashed Hulk, did a much better job at showing how a superhero's powers were more of a belligerent curse than a stroke of luck in a world of bitterness. Stan Lee infused his comics with so much life and enigma for the characters, plot progression, and the color of it all that the challenge to adapt it to film is definitely there. Raimi handles it appropriately and maturely, not becoming sidetracked with monotonous melodrama or overly-cutesy action sequences.
The ones he does bring to the table are kinetic and stylish, showing off some of the most impressive photography and visual work of the year 2002, and brings two charismatic actors along for the ride. Spider-Man may not have the excruciating depth of Hulk, which created more cons than pros in the job of a superhero, along with establishing a sincere yet distant father and son relationship, but in its own right, it does so much in its two hours that you may need to stop for a breather.
Starring: Tobey Maguire, Willem Dafoe, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Cliff Robertson, Rosemary Harris, and J. K. Simmons. Directed by: Sam Raimi.