Hey, I'm TheAmazingSpidey - thanks for clicking on this blog entry. Okay - so basically, I'll be reviewing almost every CBM of all time... yep... call me ambitious. Nope - I'm not reviewing the CBM's in order - so I just picked a random comic book film to kick off my series of reviews - a blockbuster film which, for many, influenced the superhero film sub-genre... to date - Sam Raimi's 2002 Spider-Man. So - this review will contain spoilers. Feel free to disagree with my opinion, respectfully, but any insulting comments will be ignored and/or flagged. Enjoy - thanks for beginning to read and please leave a comment below...
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Review Contains Spoilers
I basically grew up with this film, this film, along with the rest of the trilogy, is my childhood. Tobey Maguire's Peter Parker was always my hero, heck, I had a crush on Kirsten Dunst when I was younger (at least she was hot in this film) but as the years have passed... the film's flaws have become more apparent and I'd begun to revisit the film less and less - to the point where I wouldn't watch the film at all. I rewatched SM (2002) yesterday... does it hold up today? Well - it's a mixed bag really - the characterisation and narrative are both underwhelming - and un-surprisingly, the action too. This movie doesn't do anything to me anymore - because it hasn't aged well, I guess...
So - a bulk of this film is Amazing Fantasy 15 but bigger and longer, and arguably, better - it's a retelling of the classical origin story, following the classic roots, although it's thicker - Peter Parker, an outcast in Queens, is bitten by a radioactive spider, unique abilities begin to develop, he acts like a jerk and grows a spine, enters a wrestling ring, let's a criminal get away, which costs his Uncle's life, and then he learns that with Great Power comes great responsibility and becomes Spider-Man - the classical beats, sure.
I'll put it out there - the film is incredibly well at capturing the essence of it's source material - I've read every single Lee/Ditko 60s classic Spidey comic book and this is basically AF15 come to life, and it works damn well... basically panels ripped out and put onto the big screen - Spidey constantly striking poses straight from comic books.
Stuff are altered here - Harry Osborn's bee here from the start, PP/SM falls in love with MJ before Gwen Stacy (heck, Stacy isn't in here) etc. etc. and it doesn't necessarily bother me at all - everything worked here for the most part. I'm having mixed thoughts on Tobey Maguire's Peter in this film - he isn't the perfect Peter Parker and nor is he close to the source material, I guess it kinda bothers me - but it's a change done well and it's cool.
I've got gripes with the origin though... stuff that truly bother me. For one - I would've liked to spend more time with Peter Parker before he's bitten by the radioactive Spider - as it would allow for us to connect with the character through his transformation. I also don't like the organic webbing - it's PP/SM... he's intelligent - I wasn't aware of Peter's intelligence and it bugs. It's respect to the source material to include the iconic web shooters... that's completely gone here and Peter Parker is dumbed down. He's basically a photographer and makes some scientific references here and there. Not entirely sure why the web shooters weren't included - it works well with the story here but I don't like it nonetheless.
The film focuses on Peter Parker's journey - shaping into a straight-out-of-a-comic-book here, so we spend a great deal with PP before he becomes Spidey (not much time before he's bitten though...) and I don't mind that at all - I actually think it's great, but halfway through the film - after Peter becomes Spidey, that's when the film... drops down in quality - it basically becomes big scene follows big scene with little flow to connect these scenes together - they could've gotten away with this and could've made the follow less rushed in the second half... but they wanted to cram too much of Goblin in there and that was basically in there.
Overall, also, I think this movie portrayed a better Spider-Man than Peter Parker - seriously, the Spidey of this film moved, talked, acted and dropped crappy one liners... resembling the Spider-Man of the 60s comic book pages. Peter was okay, I guess - he's fine, a far cry for the comic book adaptation but they nailed several aspects...
I found it honestly dumb whenever Peter bumped into MJ... that's TWO too many times!
Some scenes in the film drag on way too long - mostly conversations... the conversations between Peter and MJ could be fast paced for the rest of the narrative to take over and progress... but some of the conversations and poorly written and a bit of a bore... kinda made me want to zone out a bit every now and then. The dialogue in the film is cliché but I was able to forgive that - that's simply a part of the comic book style and Spider-Man is the king of cheese!!
The primary antagonist of the film is Green Goblin/Norman Osborn - operating a one villain formula. To explain my thoughts on The Goblin's portrayal in the film... the Green Goblin of this film is Green Goblin ripped straight from the comic book. Willem Dafoe is the perfect guy to play Norman Osborn/Green Goblin - he depicted both persona's, both sides of the character, perfectly. The Power Rangers costume is ridiculous - sure, the comic book GG costume wouldn't work on Big Screen... and this isn't as ridiculous and it's mostly to compliment the comic book style - but they seriously couldn't come up with anything better?
Although the character was depicted perfectly... I don't like the Norman Osborn of this film as a character. He's cool and all, it's fun to see him on screen and Dafoe does great as NO/GG, but overall, he isn't well crafted and it's fleshed out well, and their attempt at making him sympathetic doesn't work here... I cant sympathise with a guy who's committing merciless atrocities with no remorse whilst being moustache twirling - seriously... Sam Raimi also tried to stuff too much encounters between Spidey and Goblin in this one film and it didn't work well.
Complimenting the character - I liked how he wasn't a bad father or a bad guy - as Norman Osborn - although he was incapable of being a good father to Harry and the infamous father/son dynamic was done well here - nothing else to say about that...
I don't hate the Mary Jane Watson of this film - she's fine I guess - tolerable at best. She's hot in this film - but they overplayed the "Mary Jane in some kind of danger cliché" - Mary Jane is the sort of lady who, in the comics, if kidnapped, could break herself out and kick the criminal's a** with little to no help. Heck - in the comics, she was kidnapped by Chameleon disguised as PP/SM - and she discovered that - kicked his a** and beat him up - Mary Jane in this film is helpless, seriously... I guess not every single person in this entire world is independent - but the Mary Jane Watson of the comic books is and the MJ of this film was kinda annoying.
The two leads - Maguire and Dunst - don't hold much chemistry - so they're basically put together - also, in the comic books, MJ is loyal - she wouldn't cheat on Harry with Spidey... at least not from what I've read. If I'm wrong - feel free to correct me in the comments section below :P
Although, damn... the kiss between PP/SM and MJ is damn great - seriously, no joke...
Harry Osborn, and James Franco, is seriously great here - the character is written greatly - he isn't a drug addicted guy like he was in the 70s comic books, but it's good change here. James Franco isn't a good actor here... isn't a bad one either, I guess... this is back in the, eh, the days, before James Franco adopted a great acting range he was inexperienced - but his heart is in the right place. His arc is built up and concluded through the span of 3 films and that's seriously a great choice. The bro-chemistry between Pete and Harry is awesome!
Aunt May and Uncle Ben of this film are Aunt May and Uncle Ben straight from the comic books - Rosemary Harris and Cliff Robertson are great in their respective roles - although I would've liked Uncle Ben to be developed more before he's killed and I would've also liked the playful dynamic between Aunt May and PP/SM to be here but it wasn't.
JK Simmons is great here - perfect casting and the writing for the character is great - he too has basically stepped out of the comic books.
Verdict
Well... whilst it's nowhere near as good as masterpieces placed in Marvel's The Avengers, it isn't mediocre either, it's my childhood films, it's got it's flaws - although, thing is, I genuinely liked it. Yeah, the antagonist is flat and segments of the film are rushed - but the atmosphere of the film is seriously great, it's basically Amazing Fantasy 15 put onto the big screen - and the casting choices are great for that matter are great.
I don't like the characterisation of the film - the characters are well done when they're on screen - but overall, they aren't build on, they aren't well rounded characters, and comic book tone for not, they aren't overly interested or gripping - I guess is either because A) Raimi doesn't develop characters at all or B) It's Spidey's first outing so it's basically simply PP's journey into heroism.
The action sequences haven't aged well and are underwhelming - although the score is undeniably great here, and, yeah... I like the film - I guess there's a nostalgia boast here. So, my final rating for the film is...
6/10
Thanks for reading - don't forget to comment below and to follow my user account for the upcoming reviews, that'd be appreciated and encouraging... hope you enjoyed and I look forward to writing my next reviews and sharing them with you guys. Feel free to share your opinions and thoughts on the films, respectfully agree/disagree, debate and don't be afraid to suggest CBM's you'd like me to review.
Thanks.
- TAS
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