Dang! Only one Spidey pic so far? Let's fix that!
Posted on 05/02/2002 9:57:45 PM PDT by BlackJack
To get the big news out fast, Spider-Man is up, up and away as the firecracker to beat this summer. Working from a script by David Koepp, director Sam Raimi gives this unapologetic fluff a mind, a heart and a keen sense of fun -- all the ingredients missing from, say, The Scorpion King.
And the actors seem to be having almost as good a time as we are. The unlikely superhero that Stan Lee created at Marvel Comics in 1962 makes a perfect fit for Tobey Maguire. OK, so maybe a stuntman squeezed into Spidey drag for the dangerous feats that aren't CG (computer generated).
Maguire's substantial accomplishment isn't acrobatic; he builds a real character out of the sketch that is Peter Parker, an orphan from Queens, New York.
Peter has a high school geek's sense of the universe: He's getting screwed out of the good stuff, especially teen angel nextdoor Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst, taking adorable to a sexy new dimension). Superman's roots on another planet and Batman's wealth always kept those crusaders at a distance.
Peter is the average joe incarnate. Even after that mutant spider bites him and he starts going bugfuck climbing walls, Peter still can't make the move that would get him into Mary Jane's pants.
He feels resentful when his rich friend Harry (a brooding James Franco) horns in on her, but says nothing. Peter is a product of the solid values instilled by his uncle (Cliff Robertson) and aunt (Rosemary Harris). Mary Jane's father is abusive.
And Harry's dad, the scientist-mogul Norman Osborn (Willem Dafoe), ignores him while staging shouting matches with his villainous alter ego, the Green Goblin. Dafoe is a wild, warped wonder, taking the Goblin to dark places the Joker never investigated.
Comic-book freaks will bitch about liberties taken. You'll hear that some of the CGI isn't so hot (it isn't) and that the Goblin's mask looks like party plastic (it does). Know what? It doesn't matter. Raimi mixes his flair for the sensational (The Evil Dead) and the subtle (A Simple Plan) into one knockout package.
Peter testing his new powers with small skips and jumps until he is leaping across rooftops is Raimi's style in a nutshell: slow build, huge payoff. The cold technology of the FX, like the Times Square battle between Spidey and the Goblin, can freeze off feeling. Raimi counters by showing a New York crowd booing the Goblin with a moving, post-9/11 fervor:
"YOU MESS WITH ONE OF US, YOU MESS WITH ALL OF US."
It's the little things that float this $139 million balloon. That includes the upside-down kiss when Mary Jane slowly pulls down Spidey's mask for a smacker and nearly strips his face naked before he leaps away. Maguire and Dunst keep Spider-Man on a high with their sweet-sexy yearning, spinning a web of dazzle and delicacy that might just restore the good name of movie escapism.
Quite a lot, I'd guess.
Dan
Can he swing from a thread?
Take a look overhead!
Listen, bud!
He's got radio-active blood!
Here comes the Spider-man!
In the chill of night,
at the scene of a crime,
like a streak of light,
he arrives just in time!
Spider-mad, Spider-man!
Friendly neighborhood Spider-man!
At the end, he's ignored,
Action is his reward!
To him, life is a great big bang-up,
wherever there's a hang up,
You'll find the Spider-man!
The theme from the 1964 cartoon.
Great stuff.
Walt
I have the same complaint with many "newer" movies. Personally, I don't understand the big deal about a remake of a remake or a remake of a remake of remake of a comic book. When people ask me, "Have you seen Spiderman", I say, "Yeh, 20 years ago".
Now if they could use her body and dub the rest...I'd agree with you. Right now, Lucy Lawless would be perfect.
Didn't she play the voluptuous, raven haired, blue eyed, breastfully talented romantic interest in "The Rocketeer"? If this is the same woman, then yes, by all means, she should play the part of Wonder Woman.
Linda Carter is a tough act to follow.
That would be her...[drool]
I did a search and found out he also played James Dean in a TV bio. Won a Golden Globe for TNT's made for TV movie. I thought he looked familiar.
It's not too hard to imagine a fight between Spider-Man and Harry Osborne where Harry says, "You're tearing me apart!"
Walt
Can you believe they're going to make us wait until May, 2004 for the sequel? Well, one way to look at it is they have 2 years to do a better job on the CGI effects.
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