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Spider-Man
****
Cinema Releases - June 14, 2002
Rated on a 4-star scale. Certificate 12. USA.
121 minutes. Directed by Sam Raimi. Written by David Koepp; from the comic
book by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. Starring Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst,
Willem Dafoe, James Franco, Cliff Robertson, Rosemary Harris, J.K.
Simmons.
"This is my gift. It is my
curse."
Spider-Man is the most interesting superhero because
he consciously chooses to sacrifice himself for the good of others. It's
not something he has to do; it's just the right thing to do. Batman was
self-absorbed and driven by cynicism and revenge, Superman was born with
the ability to perform otherworldly tricks and never waver in his optimism,
the X-Men need to fight bad guys just to stave off the temptation to turn
evil themselves. Spidey gives up power, comfort and a good reputation, simply
to go and help people.
Few of us are as magnanimous as Peter Parker,
but the fact that we identify with his personality lets us understand the
difficulty of his heroism. Before he gets bitten by a genetically altered
super-spider and inherits insect powers, before he sees his uncle murdered
and decides that he cannot stand by while citizens are being hurt by crime,
he's essentially one of us. He pines for the girl next door, he is subject
to embarrassment at school, his best defences against hardship are a tired
little smile and a few quiet wisecracks. When, at the end of Sam Raimi's
"Spider-Man", he gives up his dream girl for her own protection
and dedicates himself to a life of service, I found myself moved to the point
of choking up. None of the emotional speeches felt obligatory.
The achievement of "Spider-Man" is that it manages
to involve us emotionally while delivering on the surface as a straightforward
superhero action movie. We get the shamelessly dodgy science the screenplay
requires to turn Peter from a regular kid into a spider-suited warrior who
can shoot webs out of his wrists, jump across buildings, stick to walls and
pack a helluva punch. We get gadgets and leaps and showdowns, and scenes
in the lab of an evil corporation, where scientists unveil the contraptions
that will end up helping the villain. All the good stuff is
here.
Some critics have complained of feeling too much
distance from Spidey in the scenes where he is swinging through New York
City, spinning his web around skyscrapers and kicking criminal butt. I felt
involved in and exhilarated by the action sequences, because the early scenes
give us a feel of what it's like to be in Peter Parker's skin. Tobey Maguire,
in the lead role, plays Peter with quiet vulnerability and deflective wit;
we empathise with him. When he discovers his new physical abilities, yes,
he's afraid, but he also exploits the opportunity to play around on rooftops,
beat up the school bully and practice web-spinning in his bedroom by firing
at his lampshade and trying out phrases like, "Go, web, go!" Shoot, dude,
it's what I would do.
Raimi, the director, creates a witty atmosphere
that hits our gut while allowing us to be excited by lines such as, "Look
up there, it's Spider-Man!" and "40,000 years of evolution, and we've barely
begun to scratch the surface!" The cinematography brings Stan Lee's comic
book to life by putting an emphasis on bright blues and reds, and making
things look just the slightest bit magnified. Old-fashioned characters are
played with glee: Look at the supporting performance by J.K. Simmons, as
a copy editor who sits at his desk chomping cigars, saying he trusts his
barber and barking orders to page boys who dash around with braces on their
shirts and tones from old newspaper movies on their tongues. Kirsten Dunst
plays Mary Jane Watson, the girl of Peter Parker's fantasies; she sports
dyed red hair, a girlish face and a caring, soothing voice, and comes across
as the kind of dream girl that writers of '50s sitcoms always aimed for and
never quite created.
Spidey and Mary Jane have an upside-down kiss
in the rain, in a shot so strangely erotic that it will enter public
consciousness and join the list of movie images that stay in the memory forever.
There are several moments like that in the film, such as the scene where
Spidey has to dodge six Chinese star knives in one flip, and the bit when
Willem Dafoe, playing tycoon Norman Osborne, converses with his alter ego
in the mirror and realises that he's talking to the malevolent Green Goblin.
(It is a tribute to Dafoe's performance that the Goblin is scary even when
wearing a costume that looks like a Power Ranger suit.)
"Spider-Man" is a great superhero movie -- the
best since "Superman", I think. A review threatens to turn into a session
of gushing because the film is that type of experience; watching it, I kept
wanting to applaud. Now I'm off to go dance around my room, so I can imitate
Spidey's moves and recite his coolest lines. Tee-hee.
COPYRIGHT©
2002 Ian Waldron-Mantgani
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