As we are on the heels of the release
of 'The Amazing Spider-Man', it's rather odd how Columbia and Marvel
are intent on going along with this new reboot just half a decade
after the final film in director Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy was
released in 2007. It was only a decade ago in 2002 when Raimi's first
Spider-Man film hit theaters. It is a film that is now recognized
along with the original X-Men film and Blade as one of the landmark
films of the superhero genre. Admittedly, looking back on it now in
2012, the film is a bit dated and the dialogue is really cheesy which
makes it hard to take this film seriously. But there's no denying
that it is still a really good superhero movie with a superb lead, an
entertainingly over-the-top villain, and a overall solid origin
story.
Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) was just
an average high-school student until one day, while on a field trip,
he is bitten by a radioactive 'super-spider' and as a result, gains
spider-like abilities because of the bite. Taking advice from his
late Uncle Ben (Cliff Robertson) that 'with great power comes great
responsibility', Peter uses his new found powers to fight crime as
'Spider-Man'. As he tries to adapt to these new found powers and his
feelings towards his lifetime crush Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst),
Peter must also deal with the rising threat of the Green Goblin, who
is secretly Norman Osborn (Willem Dafoe), the father of Peter's
friend Harry (James Franco), who tests his company's new
performance-enhancing chemical on himself with dangerous side
effects.
Unlike other superhero films like
'X-Men' or 'Thor', Spider-Man is not an example of a film that is
only a set-up for sequels. Screenwriter David Koepp and Raimi do a
fine job handling the origins of the character without pulling
anything that would be too stupid. While I never read any of the
Spider-Man comics before seeing the film, it seems like they were
very faithful to the comics which is always a good thing when it
comes to these kinds of movies. The story itself doesn't really pull
any punches, but still works very well overall. However, Koepp's
screenplay isn't perfect, which is where the outdated nature of the
movie starts to kick in. The majority of the dialogue is incredibly
cheesy and really can't be taken seriously sometimes. Really, that's
the biggest problem with this film today is that not a lot of it can
be taken very seriously. Not only is the dialogue cheesy, but some of
the effects are kind of dated now and Green Goblin's costume is also
rather cheesy-looking too.
In terms of casting, Tobey Maguire is
perfectly cast as Peter Parker, displaying the right emotions for the
character at this point (emphasis on 'this point'), although it
would've been better if he was cracking more jokes, which is
something that Spider-Man is known for as a character. As the Green
Goblin, Willem Dafoe goes quite over-the-top many times and his
costume and the cheesy dialogue don't help much either. Even so, it
is very entertaining nonetheless because like with Maguire, he was
perfectly cast in the role. Kirsten Dunst does a pretty good job as
Mary Jane, and she does have good chemistry with Maguire. While he
isn't given much to do at this point in the story, James Franco does
a fine job as Harry Osborn. The rest of the supporting cast do a fine
job as well, from the strong performances by Robertson and Rosemary
Harris as Uncle Ben and Aunt May, respectively, to JK Simmons'
hilarious and scene-stealing performance as Jonah Jameson, the
publisher of the Daily Bugle who believes that Spider-Man is a
criminal.
Overall, the first Spider-Man film is
one that unfortunately hasn't aged very well compared to some of the
more recent comic book films. The reason for this is because looking
at it now, the dialogue is very cheesy and because of other random
problems, it's a hard film to take seriously, especially when looking
at what would come next for the webslinger. Even so, this is still a
really good comic book film backed up by the solid, though
traditional, story and the great cast led by Maguire as Spider-Man
and Dafoe as the Green Goblin. Where this film ranks amongst anybody
in terms of the greatest comic book movies of all time is debatable,
but there is no denying the impact that this film had in terms to
comic book movies in general.
Rating: 4/5
NEXT UP: Spider-Man 2
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