Spider-Man

If I were to list all the comic book characters that I wanted to see transferred to the big screen Spider-Man would not have been at the top of the list. Yet once the movie was released it became the standard bearer for comic book franchises. The combination of Sam Raimi and Tobey Maguire may not have been the flashiest names to put on the poster, but damn if they did not deliver. It would be nice to say that the first movie was flawless but alas it is not meant to be. Great is the best I can do for you.

The difficulties posed by the first movie for a comic book character is that the creators are faced with the problem of introduction. You know what that means? It’s origin time baby. Raimi does his best to be true to the power of the circumstances that turn Peter Parker into Spider-Man. It is all there; loving aunt and uncle, nerdy outcast, radioactive spider bite, creepy powers, fun at first, Uncle Ben dies, and finally great power comes great responsibility. My only nitpick is that all of this takes up the first half of the movie, so it takes that long before we have Peter Parker suited up as your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. Still it was necessary and done well so no real complaints here. Once all the pieces are in place everything kicks into high gear. The Green Goblin was the perfect choice as the first villain. The insanity of the character is on full display and, of course, Willem Dafoe is always a great casting choice. The suit? Not so much. This brings up another one of the difficulties of transferring comics to the big screen; some of the characters just can’t look like they do on the page when played by a human being. The glider and pumpkin bombs were cool though. Now the Spider-Man type action, although I wish there was more, did work onscreen. Web swinging, wall crawling, Goblin-gliding, etc. were all believable. The only missing piece of what makes Spider-Man who he is was Peter Parker’s motor mouth during battle. This has always been a key aspect. He is a kid in over his head that cracks jokes to hide his fears. Still not really complaining here, I’ll live … maybe. There were no real weak links in the casting chain. Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Rosemary Harris, and JK Simmons all need to be credited And since it bears repeating, Tobey Maguire has to carry the movie on his shoulders and he carries the weight well.

Now for the couple negative points that stop this from being a perfect comic book movie. I wish they hadn’t used the Gwen Stacy death set-up just to create Mary Jane in peril story point. Not that it was wasted because it is a great scene in the comics or on the big screen. But if the time comes to do the Gwen Stacy story in the movies and having her die is the main reason to have her character well now you have to find just as powerful a way to kill her with Pete feeling culpable. Spider-Man also does one of my least favorite things in comic book movies; they kill the villain in the end. This just hamstrings future stories. Yes Norman Osborn was killed at one point in the comics but it was a after years of stories building up his relationship with Peter. And were does it get you for the movie franchise? Is Spider-Man ready for the power of Mysterio? Find out in Spider-Man 5! And to really pick at nits, both Eddie Brock and Dr. Connors are mentioned in throwaway lines that no longer make sense now that they have shown up in the sequels. Yes I just became Comic Book Guy deal with it.

Seeing as I saw this movie before I ever read an issue of Ultimate Spider-Man, it was a pleasant surprise to find out that I do like Spider-Man! Believe me that was the most shocking revelation from this whole movie experience. That is the power of a great movie. And off we go to what may go down as the most lucrative movie franchise of them all.

8 out of 10