Spiderman

Review by Garnet Brooks

This is the first of the Spiderman films. The DVD version is a two disc set with several special features. The film's stars are Toby Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, Willem Dafoe, James Franco, Cliff Robertson and Rosemary Harris. The director is Sam Raimi. Raimi has directed or produced a number of Australian films including the Evil Dead films. There is a cameo performance by Stan Lee.

One of the difficult things about films which are based on comic books is that they either have dorky names or dorky costumes for their characters. The filmmakers here are able to come up with a plausible explanation of why Peter Parker has both. The idea is that he starts out his crime fighting career posing as a wrestler hence the name and costume.

Peter Parker is a nerdy high school senior when the film begins. He has been in love with his next door neighbor since they were in first grade but he has never told her his feelings. Mary Jane (MJ) just isn't paying attention. She has her own problems. From the yelling one infers that her father is emotionally abusive. Peter's family is a stable one. He lives with his aunt and uncle who are both kind and nurturing.

On a school trip Peter gets bitten by a genetically altered spider. In this film version it seems to have mutant spliced DNA instead of being radioactive. It is as garishly colored as Spiderman's spandex costume. The spider seems to have gotten loose from a cage and is the progeny of the bad guy of the film whose name is Norman Osborne. Once bitten Peter is briefly sick but wakes up with perfect vision and abs. He finds he exudes a few sticky tendrils in the lunch room one day. His new gift does not draw the right kind of attention though. A fellow student is angry and is all set to beat Peter up. To everyone's surprise Peter wipes the floor with the guy. It does not get him admiration though he just makes people nervous.

Peter has a good friend. Norman Osborne's son Harry is attending the school having gotten kicked out of all the private schools his father could find. Mr. Osborne likes Peter if it can be said he likes anyone. Peter, Harry, MJ, Peter's aunt and Norman Osborne sit down to dinner together at one point but the moment is spoiled by Osborne telling Harry that his girlfriend is a tramp and the best thing to do is to dump her.

The Osborne company is involved in some top secret defense department work. They seem to be testing both a performance enhancing drug and a small navigateable craft that flies with a pilot just standing on it. No surprise here that Norman Osborne decides to test both drug and craft and winds up a supervillian named the Green Goblin. He has a slick metallic suit complete with a helmet which has a permanent grimacing, fang-bearing appearance.

By the time Peter becomes a superhero things in his family are not going well. His uncle is out of work. Just after Peter gets his powers he decided to fight in a wrestling match. He tells his uncle he is going to the library. The concerned and protective man insists on picking him up at the library. This gets his uncle killed. Peter is a kind of innocent. That innocence is tarnished when his uncle dies at the hands of a robber, one that Peter let get away because he wanted to spite the man who stiffed him about the wrestling match.

The plot and conflicts work well. The biggest conflict in the film concerns the tension inside Peter between his sense of duty and his difficulties coping with life. He can never get everything done and is a mediocre student and fails to keep a job. He does not want to be a superhero. The second biggest conflict is about MJ. He loves her and she comes to have feeling for him also but he instinctively feels that having a relationship with her would put her in danger and maybe get her killed. After all, his uncle has just been murdered.

Toby Maguire is an odd choice for Spiderman. Instead of an alienated and slightly dark character we see wide-eyed innocence and apple pie wholesomeness. Somehow it works though. In his audio commentary director Sam Raimi says he chose to make the film about what a tough time Peter has coping with everyday life. This gives the film a realism and sense of groundedness. The film has good action scenes. The special effects which show Spiderman flitting from skyscraper to skyscraper are really well done. The DVD set has good extras especially the commentaries. This is not highbrow stuff but it is really good.