"Petered Out"
Spider Man
review by Devon Coleman
Spider-Man is Hollywood's latest outing in the realm of comic book movies. It's also the comic book movie that no one thought they'd ever see, due to a long legal battle over who owned the film rights. In fact, a fellow seated behind us took a brief sabbatical from his popcorn hurling to point out that he'd waited "twenty years to see this".
But please, cry
no tears for him, because those years were not wasted and as he so eloquently
put it "that's
all right. Shit happens". I'm happy to say that it was worth the wait.
In an odd moment of good judgement, Sam Raimi was chosen to direct and direct
he does. There
are many, many signature Raimi moves in this movie. The P.O.V. shots, the sped
up fight scenes, Ted Raimi, etc.
Something that
I quite enjoyed about the movie was that the origin of Spider-Man was done in
a timely manner. Personally, I'd prefer that there not be an origin of the characters
at all in these movies, but since most people don't read comics, that probably
isn't going to happen.
Willem Dafoe was
a very good Green Goblin, which may have something to do with the fact that
he's a bit of a goblin without the mask. Tobey Maguire turned out to be a perfect
choice for young Peter Parker. His saucer-eyed charm was not lost on this moviegoer.
Kirsten Dunst was a competent Mary Jane, but the Oscar buzz seems to be around
Dunst's nipples this year.
As is often the case, there were a few negative aspects to the film. The most
glaring of all being a noticable lack of J. Jonah Jameson scenes. J.K. Simmons,
who portrayed him, stole every scene he was in and left me wanting more. The
CGI in it wasn't the greatest. It was still a bit "shiny" for my tastes.
I'm not sure if CGI just isn't there yet or if it wasn't used to its fullest
potential in this case.
In the end, any negatives are cosmetic. Spider-Man is a good, fun movie that lets you forget about the crushing disappointment that is life for a couple hours and, really, isn't that all anyone can ask?
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