Slashdot Mirror
Review: Spiderman
First off lets talk about the cast. Toby Maguire was great in The Cider House Rules. He's just a solid actor. But I was seriously wary of him in the role of the webbed one. He seemed like a flimsy choice. He needed to pull off the one liners, but still convince us of his love for Mary Jane. But he pulls it off admirably. From the goofy glasses wearing scenes in the beginning to his badass battle scenes towards the end, its a solid showing. The best scenes in the whole movie are the ones where we see Peter Parker coming to grips with his new spider powers.
Now I'm gonna skip in a bit with a statement about staying true to comic books. Yes- some of the details have been changed from the books. Like most noticably, the nature of Spiderman's webbing. But whatever- this is story telling and it works for me.
Kirsten Dunst does a good job in what could have been a bland role in the hands of an actress who was just a pretty face. Mary Jane is convincing, and since she is in many ways the thing that grounds spiderman, its a tough burden. And the other biggie is of course the head of Oscorp, Mr. Norman Osborn, Willem Defoe. he does allright, but most of his maniacal scenes are covered by a mask that leaves him little room for any actual facial expressions.
So the plot: Boy loves girl. Boy gets bit by radioactive spider and develops super powers. Boys friend's dad inhales nano gas that makes him super powerful, and super crazy. Boy explores powers and eventually must save city from the attack of the newly crazed buddy's dad, all while dealing with the loss of his family. It's spiderman in a nutshell, and it's just damn solid.
The special effects are smooth. From the ads I was a little concerned since spiderman looked a little fake leaping around. But within the context of the movie it usually worked for me. They looked unnatural, but frankly seeing spiderman leap off inflatable balloon floats and swinging around flagpoles suspended by spiderwebs is already pretty unnatural so I let the suspension of disbelief win out on this one.
Danny Elfman hasn't sounded this good since Batman. I loved the score. It doesn't really feel original, but it sure fits like a glove.
In short, its a great movie. I won't comic-book-guy the details that were missed in the transition from paper to film, but I think they did a great job of making an entertaining movie, and staying extremely true to what I think Spiderman is all about. And goddamn it, the raw sense of excitement as he discovers his abilities is enough to make every guy wish he had those powers- swinging from building to building and howling like a mad freak. God I loved it. Congratulations to everyone involved- you win.
All that, and I even scored tickets to the 12:01 showing of star wars on opening day ;)
The Lone Gunmen are DEAD? Man, why did you have to give that away?!? Crap, I won't have to watch my TIVOed X-Files now...!
How about as Mary Jane? :)
:)
I grew up with Spiderman. He is the reason I learned to read, because a) the Electric Company featured him every day, b) my Mom wouldn't read comics to me, and c) my dad was always too busy to read them to me.
Spidey also seemed to cross racial lines, IME. We all thought he was cool, no matter if we were asian, black, hispanic, or white. Spidey just rocked.
AFAIK, he's also one of the few superheros to come close to killing Wolverine. How to actually kill Wolverine was the topic of many a cafeteria discussion when I was in college.
AMCGLTD.COM. Where cats, science fictio
Your "different generation" argument would hold more weight if your sig didn't quote a Pink Floyd lyric
My other sig is extremely clever...
It's spiderman in a nutshell, and it's just damn solid.
I haven't seen this flick yet, but it sounds like it lives up to the book.
Oh, wait...
daed si luap
Foxtrot beat you to it.
"People that quote themselves in their signatures bother me" - athakur999
I liked Jon Stewart's (of The Daily Show) description a couple of years ago when the movie was up to be greenlighted by the major studios... something along the lines of:
:)
"Just remember, spidey; when you're up in front of all those Hollywood mogul-types, it's not "Spider-Man," it's (pronounced): Spidermn, Eli Spidermn."
Nobody tells better "jew jokes" than Mr. Stewart.
SlashSigTheorem: Humorous, Political, Critical, Constructive- If you have a
Click here or here.
"I may not have morals, but I have standards."
Nah, he was right the first time - all movies are best viewed with a little Mary Jane.
Eloi are stupid, throw morlocks at them!
As long as we're nitpicking...
I'm gonna be pretty ticked if the theme song doesn't go something like...
Spider-man, Spider-man
Does whatever a spider can
Spins a web, any size
Catches thieves, just like flies
Look out! Here comes the Spider-man!
Is he strong? Listen, Bud!
He's got radioactive blood.
Can he swing from a thread?
Take a look overhead.
Hey there, there goes the Spider-man!
In the chill of night,
At the scene of the crime
Like a streak of light
He arrives just in time
Spider-man, Spider-man
Friendly neighborhood Spider-man
Wealth and fame, he's ignored
Action is his reward
To him, life is a great big bang-up
Wherever there's a hang-up
You'll find the Spider-man!
Do you mean Super-Man?
I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate.
My 4 year old really wants to see this movie, and I'm wondering why a movie with a potential audience going way down in age, would they aim for a teenage rating? I wonder if I should heed that "Parents Strongly Cautioned"? I'll probably take him, but it'll probably scar him for life :)
Or at least give him a few good nightmares.
Stan Lee has an editorial in today's New York Times (free reg required blah blah blah), wherein he talks about Spidey's long-lasting appeal. Short on depth but fulla Stan Lee goodness, it's worth a read.
But didn't you want to know how Spider-Man effects the globalist wired society and unseatd the digrati by smashing the digital divide?
As x approaches total apathy I couldn't care less.
Hmm...I'll take Kirsten Dunst. You can swing from building to building howling like a mad freak all you want.
No, Thursday's out. How about never - is never good for you?
Excuse me, but I couldn't help notice your use of non-geek language. The geek-conscious version of your statement should be:
/. community. Thank you.
May You ROT-13 IN DMCA HELL!!!
These small changes will help prevent misunderstanding within the
This has been a public service announcement.
I just want to take over the world...Why does that automatically make me EVIL?
So, we should just rush out and put money in the pockets of the MPAA?
Find a theater showing Spider-man and an Indie flick at about the same time. Buy a ticket for the Indie and sit down in the Spider-man theater "by mistake." Just don't do it when Spider-man is sold out.
For bonus points, buy another ticket for the Indie flick and see that too.
Some people have a way with words, and some people, um, thingy.
I was bitten by a radioactive punchcard. Now I have the superhuman ability to write code for IBM704s.
This sounds great. I think I'll rush out to see this right away!
Uhh,... the MPAA boycott has been cancelled, right?
Ideology is for ideots.
If you want to hear those lyrics, stick around through the credits.
/%?%$!!"/$$??!/ How come people rate this crap as insightfull, or anything!!! Stop f**king around always complaining about companies do this, and companies do that, they don't want me to pirate their stuff, I can't illegally get the stuff they own for free. Get a life. They have the right because they OWN the product. If you can't get that across you narrow minded stealing anti-everything little brain, then you're going to find like to be VERY LONG and very boring, because you DON'T HAVE THE RIGHT TO STEAL! You said it yourself : unauthorized DVD playback software. It's UNAUTHORIZED. You don't have the right to do it because it infringes copyrights. Whether or not cpopyrights and IP is a good thing is another debate. For the time being, go see the movie, because it's funny, a hell of a good ride and stop whining.