A Web-Crawling Wonder

Spider-Man

Cast: Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, Willem Defoe, James Franco

Director: Sam Rami

Movie Help Web Popcorn Kernels:

Pulling a comic to the big screen is tough work, but Sam Raimi does a good job here with Spider-Man. I think casting Tobey Maguire as the lead was his biggest success. The actor brings just the right amount of geekiness to Peter Parker, giving him an air of just an ordinary guy who suddenly has superhuman powers.

The plot... well, even non-comic fans probably know the scoop. We have Peter Parker (Maguire), a young photographer-scientist (budding), who is the butt of many jokes because of his bad luck and general nerdness. He is hopelessly in love with Mary Jane Watson (Dunst), who lives next door but has always seen him as a friend and nothing else. But one day at a museum some type of strange spider falls down from the ceiling and bites Peter on the hand. After that, he finds that he has certain spider qualities, like spitting webs from his hands, a new buffness to his body, and a type of danger sense that allows him to get out of the way of, well, danger.

At first he decides to use his powers in the ring, to make money. But a tragedy forces him to rethink the gift given to him, and he sets out to fight evil and generally make the city a better place. Woven among the action scenes are his struggles with real life, his double identity, and conflicting feelings for MJ.

Everything is pulled together through the villain of the movie, the Green Goblin. Spiderman and this fellow meet on numerous occasions, both in their super costumes and in real life. The Green Goblin's son, a good friend of Peter's, at the end and in sudden twist of fate, has a reason to hate Spiderman. And, finally, Peter has to push MJ away when she was suddenly seeing him for the first time.

It's a good effort, with the CGI effects my only beef. It is obvious when the humans leave and the computer images take over. But time and R&D should cure these problems, and I'm confident that the second (and third, and...) movies will be even better and stronger. Yes, see this one, even if you aren't a comic fan. You'll thoroughly enjoy it.

Spider-Man In The News

-- S. Moyer

 

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