Spiderman Movies Part I

Now, in 1962, after his massive success with the Fantastic Four, Marvel comics writer Stan Lee was searching for new superhero ideas. He decided he'd come up with one on his own. he was thinking of some sort of insect-themed superhero. He couldn't think of anything that was more than just a one-shot character. He turned to arachnids, and came up witht he simple idea of a kid bitten by a spider that contained some weird disease that would give the kid the abilitied to crawl up walls, shoot webs (well, actually he had to build web devices), and get the agility and strength of a giant spider. He called the character "Spider-Man".  His editor though, hated the idea. he told Stan it would bomb, that it was a waste of time, as people hated spiders, and thought they were nasty, weird creatures. So Stan had to scrap the cool idea and start from scratch. But, the magazine Amazing Adult Fantasy, (Which was not a reference to sexual fantasies, but meant the magzine was for more mature readers, like 12 and up.) was being cancelled after just 14 issues, because the sci-fi/horror comics fad was fading. Stan was given the chance to do whatever he wanted for the final issue, #15. He decided the editor wouldn't care if he snuck his new idea in to the final issue of a failed comic book. He did just that, and the sales of Amazing Adult Fantasy (re-named Amazing Fantasy for the Spider-Man issue) sky-rocketed, and suddenly, Stan's editor suddenly found his idea revolutionary, and very interesting. In 1963, Spider-Man starred in his own comic book, The Amazing Spider-Man, the first issue featuring an appearance by teh Fantastic Four, and the intro to one of Spidey's best villains, The Chameleon. He became incredibly popular, with a nostalgia-inducing animated series in the 60's, several appearances on the educational kid's show The Electric Company, a spanning rogues' gallery, and a 90's animated series. But, the wall-crawler had yet to be adapted to film, because the special effects were not evolved enough to faithfully adapt Spidey to the silver screen. The idea had been tossed to numerous big action directors like James Cameron, who wrote a full script. But, in summer 2001, a trailer was released. It shows some thieves robbing a bank, they get in a chopper and disembark. They fly about, and get caught in a web between the twin towers. Suddenly, we see the reflection in Spidey's eye, and he swings around. Sam Raimi was announced as director, and popular young actor Tobey Maguire was cast as Peter Parker. Supporting actors were announced: J.K. Simmons and Rosemary Harris (who were in Raimi's 2000 supernatural thriller The Gift), Willem Dafoe, James Franco, Cliff Robertson, and Kirsten Dunst. In summer 2002, Raimi followed in the footsteps of Peter Jackson, who, like Raimi did cult horror films in the 80's and 90's (Brainded, Bad Taste), but broke through with major blockbusters (Jackson did Lord of the Rings), when Spider-Man became one of the highest grossing films of all time.

Spider-Man:
When mild-mannered geek Peter Parker is bitten by a genetically engineered spider during a field trip, he gains the abilities nad agility of a giant spider. (One of the things changed from the comics was that Peter gains the ability to shoot webs from his wrists, as opposed to building web-shooters, an idea taken from James Cameron's scrapped script. An idea I found cooler and better.) The general plot follows that Peter gets his owers, tries to impress his crush Mary Jane Watson, tries to get fame, but, becuase of his selfishness and negligence, his Uncle Ben is killed by a mugger he let go, and eventually learns that "with great power comes great responsibility". He then becomes a humorous, colorful vigilante named "Spider-Man", who must face the schizophrenic super-villain, the Green Goblin. He also gets freelance work taking pictures of himself in-costume, fighting crime, at the Daily Bugle newspaper. (The original idea was to have Spidey face Doctor Octopus, an idea saved for the sequel.) The action in the film is fantastic. Although Peter doesn't become Spidey until half-way through the movie, there is a short, but cool fight scene with Pete's bully, Flash Thompson. Also, Spidey has a cool fight scene with the brutal wrestler Bonesaw McGraw in an amatuer wrestling competition. (This scene is very cartoonish, as if you look closely, there's a female medic dressed like a 1940's nurse, and some of the moves and things in this wrestling competition are obviously illegal, like using a firepoker to beat your enemies.) Pete also has cool chase scenes swinging around the city, chasing after the mugger who killed his Uncle Ben. When he becomes Spider-Man, Peter swings around the city, fights the Green Goblin at an Oscorp-funded World Peace festival, encounters Goblin in a huge building fire, and encounters the Goblin at the Daily Bugle when delivering Spider-Man photos. The final battle on the bridge is short, and the higlight is when the Goblin drags Spidey to an abandoned military fort or something and kicks his ass, before causing Spidey to go into an ass-kicking rage, where he defeats the Goblin. The special effects are a bit dated, but were ground-breaking at the time. I remember seeing the final scene where Spidey swings about New York, poses on the American flag and swings at the screen. Sure, it seems a little cheesy now to have Spidey on the flag, but to my 4-year-old mind, that was an epic final shot. The casting is impeccable. Cliff Robertson and Rosemary Harris are convincing and lovable as Peter's doting, loving, caring Aunt May and Uncle Ben. You feel genuinely sad when Uncle Ben is found dying on the street by Peter and a crowd of cops and press. Tobey Maguire is convincing and fantastic as Peter Parker. From geeky, awkward nobody, to the funny, smart-ass Spider-Man. Kirsten Dunst is great as the beautiful, smart, and constantly screaming Mary Jane Watson. James Franco is great as the smart, funny, and loyal friend Harry Osborne. He is loved by his father , but also somewhat under-appreciated by him, which leaves conflicting emotions of proving himself worthy of the name Osborne. Willem Dafoe is perfectly cast as Norman Osborne, aka The Green Goblin. He is a good father, good businessman, and above all, creepy as hell. The friendly guy is a cover for his subconscious demons, which are brought out and manifested in an alternate personality known as "The Goblin". They need to get him back for the new Spidey series, or get someone very close to him to play Norman. The one cast member who absolutley can't be replaced is J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson, editor of the Daily Bugle. He is an over-the-top, obnoxious, hilarious comic book character brought to reality. He has the funniest lines and funniest moments in the series. Bruce Campbell (Raimi's childhood friend and star of his previous film series The Evil Dead.) makes a cameo as the announcer for the amatuer wrestling match. Stan Lee makes a cameo during the Goblin's attack on the Oscorp festival, grabbing a little girl before she's crushed by falling debris. Sam Raimi is a great choice for director, able to do funny and violent, showcased in the horror classic The Evil Dead and it's sequels, and being a huge fan of Spidey since childhood. He employs groundbreaking cinematography (like in Evil Dead), like in the web-slingling scenes, and in the scene when Peter thinks of costume ideas, it looks exactly like a comic-book, and is layed out like one, too. If you haven't seen Spider-Man, get a life and see it. You won't regret it, it will bring you nostalgic memories every time you see it. 5/5 stars. Notes: Some other things the film changes from the comics are: The spider that bites Peter in the comics is just "radioactive", while in the movie it explains this spider is in a series of mutated "super-spiders", which are pieced together from multiple DNA strands, giving them all the abilities of every major spider species, which explains why it gives Peter so many powers. Also, in the comics and cartoons, Norman is turned into the Goblin during a laboratory accident. In the movie, however, the Oscorp science division is building tech and creating super-serums for the miliary. Norman is pressured into human testing, told that his serum must have a successful human test date in the next two weeks, or the military will cut his funding. So he uses the serum on himself, even though it failed in one rodent test, causing schizophrenia and aggression. He is turned into a crazy, super-strong man with multiple personality disorder, and he kills the military general as the Goblin. When the board members of the company attempt to sell Oscorp to rival company Quest, he kills them as the Goblin. When he sees Spider-Man as a threat, he attempts to persuade him to do evil, when he refuses, the Goblin attacks him personally. This changes Norman's motives and his origina story slightly.

Spider-Man 2:
This movie was released in 2004, to critical praise, saying that it's a great comic book moie, it's better than the first, etc. I must disagree, I do agree that it's a great movie, but it's not better, but equal to the first, for it's own reasons. First of all, it's a lot darker than the first. Not saying that the first movie didn't have it's dark moments, but it was still bright and colorful, this film even darkens Spidey's costume colors, and has darker subject matter. The plot follows the introduction of a new, more dangerous villain, Doctor Octopus, who Spidey must face, while coping with relationship issues, and the loss of his powers, which might have been only temporary, and that maybe the spider venom has worked it's way out of his system. The original cast are great. Peter is getting to be a darker character, coping with not being able to see his beloved MJ, dealing with friendship issues with Harry (now head of Oscorp), and coping with the loss of his powers, and the possibility that he was the cause of of Uncle Ben'sdeath, and going back to his normal life. He's also fired from pizza delivering and the Bugle. MJ is successful on Broadway, and is engaged to J. Jonah Jameson's son, John, but feels empty. Harry's company is failing, he's depressed after his dad's loss, he's angry at Peter for being friends with Spidey (whom Harry believes killed his dad, the Green Goblin, in the last movie), and is an alcoholic. He invests his money in Alfred Molina's Otto Octavius, who fucks up a solar experiment involving robotic tentacles, nearly destroying the city, killing Otto's wife, and melding the claws to his body. The claws begin to control his mind, gaining artificial intelligence. Molina is a great choice for the intelligent Doc Ock, who is a depressed villain who wants to avenge his wife and his work by rebuilding his solar machine, which would destroy the city. He must rob banks for research cahs and beat up Spider-Man to accomplish this. Rosemary Harris is back as the lovable Aunt May, who is losing her house in Queens, because at the beginning of the first movie, Ben was laid off from his job as a plumber, so she has no money. This is shown in the scene with Peter on his birthday, trying to refuse money from May, who pleads him to take it, and not leave it there. He then discovers when she falls asleep that she is being evicted. This establishes this conflict which will be a subplot in the film. Bruce Campbell makes a cameo as an asshole doorman who won't let Peter into a theater MJ's play is in because he's about 10 minutes late. Stan Lee makes a cameo briefly in a scene where Doc Ock is climbing up a building and he blocks a woman from falling debris, again. Which brings me to the action and effects. The special effects in this film are amazing, now looking very realistic. The fight scenes are amazing. The fight at the bank when Pete's powers keep failing, the fight on the skyscraper, the clock-tower/train fight, these scenes are filled with awesome action and tension. The chase scene in the beginning when Peter's powers first start failing is very cool. The effetc son Doc Ock are incredible. I'm glad they saved him for the sequel, if they did him in the first movie, the tentacles would have looked cheap and silly. Spider-Man 2 is a great comic book movie, it's got dark subject matter but never abandons it's fun, comic book roots. Check it out! 5/5 stars.

Next time I'll be reviewing Spider-Man 3, The Amazing Spider-Man, Brave, and (possibly) Moonrise Kingdom, Magic Mike, or Savages.