SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS

SPIDER-MAN (2002)

Hey, everybody! And welcome to my Throwback Thursday review….  Kinda weird to be posting it on Sunday, I know. I am sorry that I missed it this Thursday, but I had some work to get done. Also, I am sorry about not having a teaser for Boy Wonder, but you guys will see one soon. With that said, let’s begin with our review. Before we get into it, though, I’m letting you guys know that I am basically doing what Chris Stuckmann is doing and reviewing all the previous Spider-Man films until Captain America: Civil War comes out and gives us a new Spider-Man played by Tom Holland (BTW, there’s a hint as to what my next New Film review will be).

Up to speed? OK, let’s begin with where it all started…with Sam Raimi’s first Spider-Man film. For a little background, this film was in development hell for almost twenty years. James Cameron himself was going to try and make a Spider-Man film and even managed to write a 45-page “scriptment” (which is a treatment with some dialogue and actual scenes added to it). However, because of a lot of complicated legal problems that I don’t wish to explain, that never came to fruition. In 1999, Sony bought the rights and hired David Koepp (Jurassic Park) to write the script, with Scott Rosenberg and Alvin Sargent (who returned for the sequel) doing uncredited rewrites (oddly enough, the one element that was present in all of these scripts was the ‘organic webshooters’…an idea that James Cameron himself came up with). After the script was completed, Sony lined up an eclectic list of filmmakers for this project, including Roland Emmerich, Chris Columbus, David Fincher, and Tony Scott, to name a few. Even M. Night Shyamalan was considered (thank the Lord that never happened, am I right?). Then in 2000, Sam Raimi – who had only been known as the director of the Evil Dead film series up to that point – was given the director’s position because of his passion for Spider-Man. And after a long shoot that had some setbacks (one of them being 9/11), Spider-Man was released in May of 2002 to a rousing reception. But after all these years, does it still hold up?

Story first (as if y’all don’t already know): Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) is a nerdy high school student living with his Aunt May (Rosemary Harris) and Uncle Ben (Cliff Robertson). He has very few friends, except for Harry Osborn (James Franco), and he lives next door to Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst), the girl he loves but is always too afraid to talk to. His whole life changes when he goes on a school field trip to a science lab and is bitten by a genetically altered spider. The next day, he starts to notice that his body is more toned, he doesn’t need his glasses anymore, and on top of that, he can stick to walls and emit webbing from his wrist with a certain flicking motion (the scene in which he figures out how to do this is hilarious). At first, he uses these powers to just benefit himself. But after his selfish attitude results in the death of a loved one, he decides to set out on a broader altruistic path and use his powers to help people…as Spider-Man! Meanwhile, Harry’s father, Norman (Willem Dafoe), is facing a huge problem: if he doesn’t test his performance-enhancing serum soon, he will lose his military funding to a rival company. Out of desperation, Norman tests the serum on himself and it works. There’s just one problem…it turns him FREAKING insane. He soon dons a costume and steals his company’s glider to become the Green Goblin. So, it’s up to Spider-Man to stop the Green Goblin from doing…something bad, I’m sure (actually, his motivations aren’t quite clear, which is kind of a problem with the movie).

As always, let’s start with the good stuff. The acting is good across the board. Tobey Maguire does great as the classic nerdy Peter Parker who just can’t seem to win in his life, especially when it comes to talking to girls. Over the years, Maguire’s performance has gotten a bit of a backlash for being “unfaithful” to the comics. And I am just here to say that I don’t get it. I thought Maguire did great at capturing the pathetic Peter Parker’s qualities. I could relate with this guy because I experienced some of what he experienced (mostly in the area of talking to girls). And I like that even though he becomes Spider-Man, Peter is still not exactly “cool”, which means that he still has those relatable qualities intact. And I’ll even make an argument for Maguire’s performance as Spider-Man. A lot of people say that he didn’t joke a lot, but I personally never had a problem with it. It’s not like he was a total stick in the mud; he knew how to have fun and crack jokes. He just did it when the situation wasn’t dire or life-threatening. So, thus far, Maguire is the definitive Spider-Man in my opinion (you’ve got some pretty big shoes to fill, Mr. Holland; make us proud!).

Everyone else does a great job too; Willem Dafoe, Rosemary Harris, Cliff Robertson, and James Franco all bring their A-game in interpreting these characters that we all know and love. But, by far, my favorite performance is J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson, the editor-in-chief of the Daily Bugle. It’s like the guy just literally leapt off the comic page and onto the big screen, it’s that good. Not only does Simmons look the part, he acts just like the Jameson from the comics, who was kind of a lovable jerk. He has some of the film’s best lines (“Slander is spoken. In print, it’s libel.”). All the technical aspects are pretty dang good, too. Danny Eflman’s score is rousing and memorable, the effects are convincing (even if they do look a little fake sometimes; it was 2002), and the action scenes are very fun and creative.

The final thing about this film that works in its favor is the tone. While the film is overall lighthearted fun, it also gets pretty dark at moments. For example, the final fight scene between Green Goblin and Spider-Man gets pretty raw and brutal. Goblin is just beating the snot out of Peter, who just keeps taking it. It’s actually pretty refreshing to see this kind of brutality, considering that a final battle in today’s superhero films usually means copious amounts of CGI and light beams shooting from someplace. Even the ending of the film is not all that upbeat or happy. Without giving too much away, Peter makes a choice that results in him not getting what he wanted. This adds up to a bittersweet ending where Peter realizes that being Spider-Man is not about getting what you want, but doing the right thing. And I think that is just spot on to the spirit of Spider-Man as a whole.

Now, is this movie perfect? No, absolutely not. There are two problems that became very clear to me when I watched this movie for this review. The first one is Mary Jane. Let me be perfectly clear, though; this is not Kirsten Dunst’s fault. She does the best with what she’s got. It’s more of a problem with the writing. Mary Jane does not seem to have any character outside of serving the perfunctory role of damsel in distress. It’s actually kind of disappointing, because the Mary Jane in the comics was a fun party girl who loved a good time and served as a Yin to Peter’s Yang. This Mary Jane is just a typical romantic foil who lets the protagonist see her true side while putting on a show for everyone else. But again, it’s not Dunst’s fault.

The other problem is the Green Goblin. Not Norman Osborn, mind you, but the Green Goblin. Dafoe’s Norman Osborn is actually a great character because, at the end of the day, he’s not all that bad of a guy. He’s just a little compromised because of his commitment to his life goals. And something that Bob Chipman pointed out about Osborn in his review that I never thought of: Green Goblin is not a case of letting a man who was always bad finally show his true colors. The Green Goblin persona is Norman’s good and bad qualities amplified. And those are great ideas…but the Goblin just doesn’t really work. The main problem being that his motivations weren’t made very clear. At first, he wanted to kill the rival company, then he wanted to kill the Board of Directors at Oscorp for selling out to the rival company. Then, for some reason, he wanted Spider-Man to join him because of “what [they] could accomplish together”. But what exactly does he want to accomplish? Again, like with Mary Jane, it’s more of a writing problem than an acting problem. And you guys are probably wanting me to bash on the suit, but I actually thought it was cool, so I don’t have that much of a problem with it. However, I’d be lying if I said that it didn’t look a little silly at times, especially the helmet.

Any other problems, like the movie being a little cheesy, I can just attribute to the time period. It was 2002 and people were, for the most part, a lot less cynical than they are now. But aside from that, I can’t really think of any other problems with this movie. Spider-Man is a fun time that can be enjoyed by kids, but also doesn’t shy away from the deep psychological themes that older teenagers and adults can enjoy. I actually have no qualms about dubbing this film a masterpiece in its own right because of its upbeat sense of fun and adventure, along with Raimi’s commitment to the spirit of Spider-Man. It comes with a glowing recommendation from me!

And that is all for today, folks! Keep your eyes peeled for a Boy Wonder teaser and my next Throwback review!