Peter Parker lives! Yes, all you Spider-fans, there is now a truly
web-tingling, eye-opening, sure-fired-stunning realization of the famous
superhero crime fighter available on the big screens that will keep you
dangling from your seats as you're swept along through the skies of the Big
Apple. The production design is perfection, the costumes are delicious
(especially when compared to the loose fitting tugs one can remember from
scrawny past attempts to recreate this superhero on TV in the sixties and
eighties), and the computer effects are flawless >>> so, the time has finally
come that Stan Lee's story gets its just deserts. And, of course, we must not
forget the cast, consisting of super-talents who not only have the ability to
interpret their fabulous two-dimensional comic-strip characters in a
screen-popping three-dimensional way, but possess the wit and wisdom to
exploit the potentials of this genre without trespassing the boundaries of the
ultimately acceptable. Yes, folks, Spiderman has arrived!
The gang's all here, hanging out in Queens and Manhattan (or sometimes
shooting, behind the scenes, on the sound stages of LA). Little orphan Peter
Parker (Tobey Maguire), who lives with his Uncle Ben (Cliff Robertson) and
Aunt May (Rosemary Harris), is a cute boy and clever student, but ineffectual
social mingler who winds up, more often than not, getting the proverbial sand
kicked in his face by many of his fellow schoolmates. Best buddy Harry Osborn
(James Franco) and romantic interest Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst), the girl
both boys adore, are Peter's only two solid and trustworthy sidekicks
throughout. The winds of change, however, are about to shift amazingly for
this amiable outsider! During a school excursion to Columbia University,
Peter is bitten by a genetically manipulated spider and, after suffering a
night of feverish sweats, awakens to find himself possessed of
super-spider-powers. (No hi-tech design web-shooters for this
post-millennium-boy-in-blue-and-red, but sticky wrists that shoot his personal
gummy substance onto lunch trays, skyscrapers, and villains alike.)
Despite his new super-strengths and spider-like agilities and abilities, Peter
remains an honest all-American boy with strong values instilled in him during
a youth spent under the careful and caring guidance of his adorable aunt and
uncle in a household that retains the decor and flavor of the fifties.
Growing up in a new age, however, he lives in a modern world where
entrepreneurs like the power-hungry Norman Osborn (Willem Dafoe) will stop at
nothing to achieve world domination. Osborn, whose corporation develops
weapons, finds his business tottering on the edge of bankruptcy and can only
escape total decimation by getting signatures on a long-awaited government
contract. With no time left for further development and no alternatives at
his disposal, he sacrifices himself to his dire objectives and winds up
splitting his already stretched personality. Existing as a man divided in his
private life between the natural love for his son, Harry, and his fatherly
affection for Harry's best friend, Peter (who possesses many qualities Norman
would prefer to see in his own son), Norman finds little time to suitably
tend to his fatherly affections. The greatest divide in Mr. Osborn's
personality, however, comes about after using himself as a guinea pig in the
Oscorp laboratory's latest experiments. Following chemical injection and gas
infusion, he evolves into the crazed super-villain Green Goblin and soon turns
the destructive strength of his terrifying weapons against the unwary citizens
in the metropolis. The forces of good and evil, embodied in the figures of
Spiderman and the Green Goblin, are bound to fight it out above the towers of
the city until the best man wins.
Peter, whose life has already been struck by terrible tragedy, will always
remember and live by the all important message shared with him by Uncle Ben:
"With great power comes great responsibility." This motto for our time echoes
throughout and serves as the basis for a spiritual journey as well as one
whopper of a good movie.
Spiderman, another one of Marvel Comics' Stan Lee's wonders (developed in
collaboration with Steve Ditko), first appeared in 1962 as a character in the
last issue of the failing "Amazing Fantasy" comic book. He became such an
immediate success that the comic reappeared one year later with the new title
of "The Amazing Spider Man." The rest is both history and legend.
It's obvious that director Sam Raimi is a longtime Spiderman fan from this
film, which is both faithful to the original and sufficiently modernized to
make it accessible for a contemporary audience. Tobey MacGuire is the perfect
Peter Parker (and Spiderman). Already having proven his talent with such
striking performances in "Wonder Boys" and "The Ice Storm", he can now add an
exciting action movie (with much more going on than effects) to his already
impressive cinematic list. Great work from DP Don Burgess, production
designer Neil Spisak, costume designer James Acheson, visual effects designer
John Dykstra and editors Bob Murawski and Arthur Coburn.
Anybody out there still suffering from arachnophobia? Maybe you should try
the latest kinky cure: kiss a man hanging upside down who wears a mask. In
any case, whether or not you try this cure-all, don't miss the film.
A MUST SEE.
© 1994-2006 The Green Hartnett
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