AICN COMICS: GrayHaven Reviews Sam Raimi's SPIDER-MAN!!

Hey, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab.

There’s all sorts of AICN COMICS stuff today. For those of you who don’t like the GrayHaven reviews, we’re handing the keys to the asylum over to the lunatics with a new column that’s entirely run by you guys... the Talk Backers. Also, we’ve got a first-ever movie review from Andrew over at GrayHaven Magazine.com, and fittingly enough, it’s the brand spanking new bigscreen incarnation of Marvel’s own SPIDER-MAN.

Here’s Andrew with his take on things...

Andrew from GrayHaven Magazine.com here. Usually, I’m here to tell you about the latest comic you should be reading or featuring some sort of commentary on the comic industry. This is a special occasion, though. I’m doing my first film review for AICN and appropriately enough, it’s for Spider-Man.

First, a quick bit of background about me and the web-head. I’ve been a Spider-Man fan for as long as I’ve been reading comic books and that’s over 20 years now. I don’t recall which Spidey comic was my first, probably picked up at the local 7-11 or grocery store at the time, but I do remember the issue that had me hooked: Amazing Spider-Man 229. It featured Spider-Man, Madam Web and an X-Man villain called the Juggernaut…and it ended with a ‘to be continued’. Roger Stern and John Romita Jr were the creators on the book and I reread the issue constantly before the concluding installment came out. Every month I would search the local shops that carried comics for the next installments of Spider-Man, wondering how this title fit in with another book called Peter Parker and still another called Marvel Tales. As I began to dive head first into the world of comics, I’d sample other characters, but Spider-Man was the one that held my interest the most. This was the time when the Hobgoblin was introduced and Spider-Man was dating a woman called the Black Cat. It was all so new to me, and the words and pictures in those comics left their mark. As written by Stern and Lee and Thomas and Conway before him and DeFalco, Jenkins and Bendis since, the essence of Spider-Man is a character that we can relate to. Forget his spectacular powers and rogues gallery, the heart of Spider-Man is Peter Parker. And Peter Parker can be any one of us. He’s not perfect. He doesn’t always have all the answers or get what he deserves. But he never stops trying.

There are numerous reasons why I love the character so much. On the geek side of things, he has a very cool looking costume and amazing powers. On the human side, Spider-Man is a character that uses his wits as often as his fists. His horrible jokes and sarcasm throws the villain into a frenzy, which Spider-Man uses against his foes. The man behind the mask, Peter Parker, could be any of us (well, if we were bitten by a radioactive spider). Peter’s life is far from perfect, yet he prevails. He tries to earn money, pay bills, keep a social life and be there for his family while protecting the city at the same time. His sense of responsibility is the core of the character. With great power must come great responsibility.

My wife and I were fortunate enough to attend the Spider-Man premier in LA on Monday evening. It was one of those surreal moments that you need to step back from a little bit before you can fathom what really happened. My favorite character on the big screen after all these years and false starts and rumors…and we were able to share the experience with the cast. I don’t think I’ve ever looked more forward to a movie, but I was cautiously optimistic. I’ve had high hopes before, only to be let down. And it wouldn’t matter if it was just a good comic movie or a fun popcorn flick. No, this was Spider-Man. My dream for this film was for it to be perfect. Something that a Spider-Man geek like myself could enjoy while at the same time appealing to someone like my wife, who isn’t obsessive about these things and just wanted to see a good movie.

Spider-Man is the best comic book movie ever made. Don’t get me started on Batman or X-Men, which were very entertaining films but certainly nowhere near the caliber of Spider-Man. Superman came close but Otis and turning back time cause it to lose points. The Crow and The Rocketeer are the only two other films to come so close to matching the imagination and the power of their source material and would end up being 2 and 3 on my list, respectively.

The casting is perfect. I was nervous about Kirsten Dunst as MJ, but she gave the character heart and soul, along with the spirited and bubbly personality that early MJ was known for.

I wondered whether James Franco and Willem Dafoe could come off believable as father and son but the relationship was as believable as Peter’s with his aunt and uncle, perhaps even more since there was more time devoted to it on screen. And what can I say about Willem Dafoe? Other people have mentioned his outstanding performance as Norman Osborn and I have to agree with a statement made that he is the best comic book villain to ever come to life. Dafoe infuses Osborn with a manic insanity that recalls some of the best moments of his comic book history. He’s terrifying. He’s so incredible in the role that he’s able to emote even while wearing body armor and a mask that doesn’t allow for facial movements. It’s in the eyes. In his mannerisms. And in his voice. The haunting voice of the Goblin resonates long after the film is over.

JK Simmons owns J Jonah Jameson. He steals each scene he’s in and I can’t wait to see him get more screen time in a follow up.

Hell, I’ll admit that I even had some doubts about Tobey. But Tobey Maguire is Peter Parker and he is Spider-Man. He handles the humble nerdiness of Peter perfectly and his transformation into the fun loving, friendly neighborhood Spider-Man is spot. Maguire plays the part of Peter Parker as if he was channeling the imaginations of all the best Spider-Man creators. We either were or knew someone in school who was this Peter Parker. We recognize his shyness at trying to talk to the girl he loves, his jealousy over the rich friend or his ignorant behavior that comes back to haunt him. Maguire also had the similarly challenging task of emoting while having his face covered by a mask. Like Dafoe, he did the job well.

I couldn’t have imagined the story any other way. I’m sure there will be those who complain that the origin is too long since Tobey doesn’t appear in costume until midway through the film, but this is a character with one of the most interesting origins in comics. His life as Spider-Man doesn’t begin when he’s bitten by the spider and gains these incredible powers. Spider-Man is born of the mistakes that come with the abuse of that power. When Peter first realizes what amazing abilities he has, he doesn’t have a desire to help people. He wants to beat up the bullies, impress the girl and make some money. These foolish decisions end up costing him what he holds most dear and drives home the point that his uncle makes earlier, ‘with great power comes great responsibility’.

I was really impressed with the pacing of the film. Norman’s transformation into the Goblin runs parallel to Peter’s learning of his new abilities. No one knows what to make of this Spider-Man (except for Jameson, who blasts him) and even the Goblin hopes that the two can become allies. When Spider-Man rejects his offer, it sets the villain on an even deadlier course of action making for some great action scenes. No other comic villain on screen ever seemed to pose as much of a threat as the Goblin does here. He doesn’t just want to wipe out his enemies and take over the city. He has a murderous vendetta against Spider-Man and everyone he loves and won’t stop until their all dead. The dinner scene with the Osborns, Parkers and MJ is excellent. It’s the scene where everything comes together. Peter’s secret is in jeopardy. Harry and his father have a heart to heart about women and MJ and Harry have it out. It also allows Norman to finally put two and two together concerning his arch nemesis.

The film balances the action and the quieter moments of character development magically. And boy that action is something. The big battle at the World Unity Festival is wall-to-wall adrenalin (and Macy Gray, whom people were also worried about has little more than an ‘extra’ role) and subsequent Spider-Man scenes just get better and better until the edge of your seat finale. One of the greatest achievements of the film is that you care so much about Peter and Harry and Norman and MJ that you aren’t waiting around for the action scenes. Tobey’s performance as Peter just carries everything. He’s incredibly funny as the nerdy guy who says ‘chess’ instead of ‘cheese’ while having a photo taken or gets himself confused as he offers to take MJ to ‘lunch some evening’. And in one of my favorite moments, when MJ realizes that Peter seems taller to her, he replies, ‘I hunch’. Peter’s stumbling and curiosity is as fun to watch as the scenes of Spider-Man screaming for joy as he swings through the city, webbing up bad guys and leaving the famous ‘Compliments of your friendly, neighborhood Spider-Man’ notes for the cops.

From the opening moments to the final credits, Spider-Man is a film that succeeds not only in bringing my favorite character to life, but in telling one of the most character-driven and entertaining action films to come out in a long time. While some things may have been changed, like the organic webs and what not, Spider-Man still is the purest film to be based on a comic book and no other has matched the spirit of the original material as well as Spider-Man does. Most importantly, it doesn’t simple honor the character at the expense of the millions of people who don’t read the comic. Sam Raimi and company have created a Spider-Man here that can be enjoyed by comic fans and non comic fans alike.

Now, onto a few of the more controversial topics of the film:

Organic web-shooters. I don’t see how they could have given Peter metallic web-shooters and not made that point seem contrived. In fact, Peter’s newfound organic abilities make for one of the many laugh out loud scenes in the film. Having the organic webs doesn’t take away from Peter’s intelligence in the film. There are some other great moments for the character to show off his intellect.

The Goblin costume. If the Internet were around in the 70s, I’m sure people would have been blasting the look of Darth Vader. The beauty of the net is that it gives people a chance to see images out of context and then complain about them without ever having seen the film. Having the Goblin in spandex, like his comic book counterpart would have been pushing the limits of believability and it wouldn’t be within Norman’s character to do something as outlandish as putting together a costume in the way that Peter does. But stealing an armor prototype designed for the government (which is what the costume is here) makes perfect sense. And considering that the Goblin flies on the glider at God knows how fast, having a helmet in that aerodynamic shape is also realistic.

The soundtrack. Is it as memorable as the Superman or Batman theme? No. But it isn’t bad. I suppose it would have been nice to have something that stuck in the back of your head like those other ones, but Elfman does a decent enough job.

The CGI complaints I read seem damn silly now. For one thing, it was done much better than the CGI in Blade II. There were only a few instances where you could really tell it was CGI, but I was so absorbed by the story that it didn’t matter. From Peter’s first moments of wall crawling to his learning how to use his webs and spider-sense you’re completely enthralled by what’s happening on screen. It really is like watching a great comic book story come to life.

Spider-Man was the movie that I thought could never be and my wildest expectations were exceeded. Seeing it with my wife, in LA, with the cast of this movie was the icing on the cake for this once in a lifetime event. And I won’t even get into the sensational after party! Spider-Man is going to please a lot of people. It may surprise a lot of people. But it will not disappoint anyone.

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