Spider-Man (2002)

Hey! I'm back with another (relatively brief) movie marathon to finish out this year!  With the just-released Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) film supposedly combining the Sam Raimi Spider-Man trilogy and the Amazing Spider-Man duology with the current Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) Spider-Man, I felt it was time to binge the old movies to refresh my memory of their story.  I will be binging ALL the modern films.  The Spider-Man trilogy, the Amazing Spider-Man duology, the Into the Spider-Verse animated film, and the current MCU Spider-Man Home trilogy.  Today, we're starting out with the film that made the superhero genre of films popular: Spider-Man (2002).

SYNOPSIS:
Peter Parker, a high school nerd from Queens, New York, is bit by a radioactive spider on a class field trip and develops amazing spider-like powers!  He can crawl walls, he can shoot webbing from his wrists, he has super-human strength and agility, and most importantly, he develops a "spider-sense" that warns him of incoming danger.  When Peter's uncle is murdered by a robber that he let get away, Peter is wracked with guilt.  He remembers the wise words his uncle left him with: "With great power comes great responsibility."  Peter takes it to heart and turns superhero, defending the citizens of New York from criminals.  But a powerful supervillain has also just arisen in New York... a science experiment gone wrong that creates the Green Goblin!  Spider-Man has to save New York from this dangerous menace!

REVIEW:
This film released at the beginning of the new century, so it was still trailing off the old '90s action films.  As such, the action is a bit cheesy and it has quite a few cringey dialogue moments.  Still, as a superhero film, I think it held up pretty well over the years.

This first Spider-Man film takes its origin story directly from the very first Spider-Man short story in the Marvel comic Amazing Fantasy #15.  Released in 1962, it tells of how a high schooler received spider powers, uses them for gain in boxing matches, then lets a robber escape, thinking it's not his problem, only to lose his uncle to the same man.  He chases down the crook and captures him for the police, but decides to take his uncle's lesson to heart and only use his powers responsibly.  The Green Goblin does not appear in the comics until The Amazing Spider-Man #14 (1964).  He was added to this film to give Spider-Man a supervillain to fight, as a simple story about learning responsibility was probably not appealing enough for the big screen.

I like Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst, but I personally felt they were terrible for the roles of Peter Parker/Spider-Man and Mary Jane Watson.  Tobey Maguire has always been very awkward in all his roles and I cringe every time he needs to have a conversation with someone.  His creepy, silent, wide-eyed stare makes me feel very uncomfortable and I hate seeing him trying to interact with people when he's not wearing his Spider-Man outfit.  This, unfortunately, did not improve with his later Spider-Man movies.  In this role as Peter Parker, it kind of works because Peter is supposed to be an awkward teenager, but being Spider-Man is supposed to improve his confidence and he's able to verbally spar with his enemies while fighting them.  Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man still sounds like an awkward teenager throughout the whole film, mask or not.

Kirsten Dunst always seems to have this tortured, broken look on her face, even when she's smiling.  She's mastered the art of the cold, dead eyes, absent of soul and warmth.  She's great in drama films, but in a family action/adventure film, she seems out of place.  Mary Jane Watson from the Spider-Man comics is a very popular, outgoing, energetic person.  The polar opposite of wimpy Peter Parker.  But film Mary Jane comes from a broken home, dates bullies, fails to go anywhere with her life, and is all-around a miserable person.  I feel like they were trying to make her relatable and realistic, but it just doesn't feel true to her original character.  Honestly, I don't think Mary Jane has ever been portrayed accurately on screen.

If there's anyone who nailed their character, it's J. K. Simmons, playing J. Jonah, Jameson, the head of the Daily Bugle newspaper.  He's loud-mouthed, fast-talking, talks over people, and makes demands of everyone.  He has an important business to run, and he does it well.  Stan Lee originally wanted to play the character, as he said J. Jonah Jameson basically mirrored his personality in his young Marvel days.  But he was proud of the way J. K. Simmons managed the role.  And Stan Lee got his first very small cameo - before it became an obvious nod in the Marvel films - rescuing a child from falling debris.

Another excellent casting was Willem Dafoe as Dr. Norman Osborn/Green Goblin.  He was absolutely brilliant!  He was super creepy in the role, but I think that just enhanced it even more.  It's too bad they used a goblin helmet for his suit. The original Green Goblin from the comics wore a rubber mask that made him look like an actual goblin, and Willem Dafoe could have used that to dial his character up to 11 (not that he doesn't try anyway).  If there's anyone I can't wait to see in the latest MCU Spider-Man film, it's the Green Goblin played by Willem Dafoe.  They teased his presence in the trailers, which has me super excited!

Danny Elfman did the score for this film, which became the running theme for this live-action trilogy.  As the film was starting though, I got serious Batman vibes.  The music was very similar to the soundtrack he scored for the Tim Burton Batman films in the late '80s/early '90s.  But it had its own unique flair to it that makes it recognizable as Spider-Man.  We did not hear the familiar Spider-Man theme from the classic 1967 Spider-Man cartoon TV series, but there is a scene with a street performer singing his own Spider-Man song that has some familiar lyrics.

Sam Raimi directed this original trilogy of films.  He's well known for his other trilogy, the Evil Dead films (Evil Dead (1981), Evil Dead 2 (1987), and Army of Darkness (1992)).  He is close friends with Bruce Campbell, the star of that trilogy, so he got Bruce a cameo in his Spider-Man trilogy.  In this first film, you see him as the announcer at the boxing match - the guy who messes up "The Human Spider's" name and instead names him "Spider-Man."

RECOMMENDATION:
This is a classic superhero origin story that created the modern day superhero genre. We have this film to thank for every superhero film we've seen in the past 2 decades.  It may be from another generation and it might be a bit cringey and campy, but despite it all, it stood the test of time pretty well.  Spider-Man has always been my favorite Marvel character, so seeing him on the big screen was a dream come true, and I'm glad he has continued to grace the screen in one form or another these past couple decades.  This is a must-watch for all superhero enthusiasts out there.