Throwback Thursday Review: 'Spider-Man'

Sorry for the delayed review but I had a test I needed to prepare for that took precedence over this. Anyways, this week I'm beginning a new series of reviews over all the Spider-Man films, starting with the Sam Raimi directed Spider-Man Trilogy followed by The Amazing Spider-Man series, in the lead-up to Spider-Man: Homecoming this July. Next week I'll be beginning another series of reviews over the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise starting with Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. Both series of reviews are evenly distributed till the release of their subsequent new installments and you can find a breakdown of my entire planned schedule for this year's Throwback Thursday Reviews at my Third Year Anniversary Post. Reviews over new releases you can expect for the remainder of February include The Great Wall, A Cure for Wellness, and Get Out.

'Spider-Man' Review

Nominated For: Best Visual Effects and Best Sound. 

Spider-Man tells the origin story of Peter Parker, an everyday high school nerd who gains spider-like abilities after being bitten by a radioactive spider. At first he's a little reckless with his powers, but once tragedy strikes he takes the words of his altruistic Uncle Ben to heart that "with great power comes great responsibility" to become the amazing Spider-Man. When the nefarious Green Goblin begins to terrorize New York, Spider-Man must stand up against the Goblin's reign of tyranny if he's to protect those closest to him. 

Chances are you yawned while reading that brief synopsis because let's face it, just about everyone is familiar with Spider-Man's origin story. We're currently on our third incarnation of the web-head and have seen the origin story play out twice thus far. I remember watching this film and its subsequent installments over and over again growing up (Yes... even Spider-Man 3...) so I could have easily just slapped together a review of how I remembered Spider-Man but decided it'd be more interesting to revisit them objectively as I do with all these Throwback Thursday Reviews. 

Spider-Man was the first take on the friendly, neighborhood wall-crawler to be directed by Sam Raimi. Raimi is perhaps most well known for his work on both this trilogy and The Evil Dead franchise and it's surprising to look back and see how much he was able to carry over from low budget filmmaking roots to big budget superhero escapades. Raimi executed as much in-camera action as possible, inviting a feeling of visceral excitement to the stunt and camera work showcased in Spider-Man. 

Obviously, visual effects are required to allow Spider-Man to swing through the concrete jungle and I have to say that those hold up surprisingly well in comparison to what I was expecting. Raimi and screenwriter David Koepp do a wonderful job spinning their own web of original storytelling that maintains integrity to both the source material and the film itself. I've got to give them props for keeping the story personal instead of going for large scale spectacle. Raimi's Spider-Man is unabashedly fun, almost as though it leapt straight out of the '60s comic books. 

On occasion, Spider-Man ventures so far down that avenue it becomes an outright cartoon but its such an excellent translation of silly source material that it can be easily forgiven. One aspect that I feel to constantly be overlooked is the costuming in Spider-Man. Both Spider-Man and Green Goblin have fantastic costumes, sure you could say that there's absolutely no way a teenager would be able to make a suit like that (something somewhat rectified in later takes on the character) or that the Goblin looked like he walked on set in between shooting for a Power Rangers episode, but they're realistic renderings of Steve Ditko's art work. An area in which Spider-Man triumphs in comparison to later incarnations thus far is the Danny Elfman score (Fingers crossed Michael Giacchino is able to deliver in Spider-Man: Homecoming though). Elfman's score has a sense of adventure, otherworldliness, and simply is a deserving theme for such an iconic character. 

Speaking of iconic characters, just about every superhero has an alter-ego or some secret identity, meaning any actor portraying one needs to showcase both sides of that coin. Now this isn't necessarily beholden to ALL superheroes but certainly is true for these three; Batman (Bruce Wayne), Superman (Clark Kent), and Spider-Man (Peter Parker). Tobey Maguire's a fine actor and all but I've never quite latched onto him as Spider-Man, he really captures the heart and soul of the awkward nerdy Peter Parker but for me he never quite hit the mark as the witty web-slinger. 

For some odd reason, his dialogue delivery just sounds monotonous, he simply doesn't sound excited. Perhaps you can say his dialogue is muffled since he's delivering dialogue through a mask but I was able to clearly understand everything he was saying in the suit so that wasn't the issue. When he's throwing out quips it just doesn't feel in the moment or click the way other actors have recently demonstrated in the role, which is probably why everyone loved Maguire in the role at the time. He wasn't being compared to others yet, he was the first to get a crack at it. 

The supporting ensemble that surrounded Maguire had its highs and lows but were certainly a capable cast. Kirsten Dunst nails both the spunky go-getter girl and sensitive sides of Mary Jane Watson as you see she almost adapts her personality to who she hangs around, something I've seen to be surprisingly accurate about teenage girls. However, her character is written the archetypal damsel-in-distress and love interest so she doesn't really have much to work with in this first chapter. James Franco's fine as Peter's best friend Harry Osborn but almost feels like a cardboard cutout or shell of a person, something that's significantly improved in the subsequent franchise entries. 

Cliff Robertson and Rosemary Harris provide endearing, sweet elderly mentor figures for Peter as Uncle Ben and Aunt May while J.K. Simmons perfectly embodies the snarky cigar chewing Daily Bugle editor J. Jonah Jameson. Simmons channels the flippant frustration in a way that I doubt could ever be replicated and stands as one of the greatest comic book film casting choices of all time alongside Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark and Hugh Jackman as Wolverine to name a few. 

Last but not least, Willem Dafoe brings an unhinged fiend into the proceedings as Norman Osborn or the Green Goblin. Dafoe practically oozes menace and showcases fine acting abilities in scenes that evoke the Gollum/Sméagol dynamic from Lord of the Rings or even James McAvoy's work in Split to a lesser degree for a more recent comparison. Dafoe really sells the campy nature of Green Goblin in such a way that you can almost relate to what drove him down such a twisted path. 

In summary, Spider-Man remains a great superhero film thanks to some spectacular filmmaking and talented ensemble but it does have its problems. In retrospect, most of my issues with Spider-Man are relative nitpicks when juxtaposed to the grand scheme of things and some can easily be cast off in favor of watching the film with nostalgia goggles on but its hard to ignore these problems when they stick out like a sore thumb fifteen years later. The iconic moments may live on and stand the test of time but Spider-Man's weaknesses do not. 

Spider-Man may not quite hold up to the standards of modern comic-book based blockbusters we see today from Marvel Studios or Fox's Marvel division like The Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy, Deadpool, or Captain America: Civil War, but for its time Spider-Man was one of the best superhero flicks swinging around! 

Film Assessment: B