Spider-Man (Maguire-Raimi Trilogy)
SPIDER-MAN (12)
D: Sam Raimi
Columbia Tristar/Marvel (Laura Ziskin & Ian
Bryce)
US 2002
121 mins
Action/Adventure/Science Fiction
W: David Koepp [bassd on the comic book series by Stan Lee
& Steve Ditko]
DP: Don Burgess
Ed: Bob Murawski & Arthur Coburn
Mus: Danny Elfman
PD: Neil Spisak
Cos: James Acheson
Tobey Maguire (Peter Parker / Spider-Man), Willem Dafoe
(Norman Osborn / Green Goblin), Kirsten Dunst (Mary Jane Watson), James Franco (Harry Osborn), Cliff Robertson (Ben Parker), Rosemary Harris (May Parker), J. K. Simmons (J. Jonah
Jameson)
The superhero sub-genre was still overcoming the damage
done by Joel Schumacher's Batman films when Sam Raimi took the reins on a trilogy of Spider-Man films. The director proved to be a good pick, as the films went on to become huge box office
successes.
The story itself is a rather formulaic, but also
completely critic-proof, origin story which stays true to the source material. A high school nerd is bitten by a genetically-modified spider and becomes a superhero, swinging from building to
building on a quest to defeat crime, before the climactic showdown with a mad scientist's alter-ego, The Green Goblin.
The performances are all fine, even Willem Dafoe, who
occasionally overdoes it as the bad guy. Like the majority of comic book movies, the main star is the visual effects which do all they can to make you believe that a man can shoot webs and
leap buildings in a single bound. There's also a neat chemistry between Spider-Man and his girl, which serves as a sweet subplot in this film, but unfortunately becomes far too overexposed
later on in the trilogy.
7/10
SPIDER-MAN 2 (12)
D: Sam Raimi
Columbia Tristar/Marvel (Laura Ziskin & Avi
Arad)
US 2004
127 mins
Action/Adventure/Science Fiction
W: Alvin Sargent, Alfred Gough, Michael Chabon & Miles
Millar [bassd on the comic book series by Stan Lee & Steve Ditko]
DP: Bill Pope
Ed: Bob Murawski
Mus: Danny Elfman
Tobey Maguire (Peter Parker / Spider-Man), Kirsten Dunst
(Mary Jane Watson), James Franco (Harry Osborn), Alfred Molina (Dr. Octavius / Dr. Octopus), Rosemary Harris (Aunt May Parker), J. K. Simmons (J. Jonah Jameson)
In some ways this is a superior sequel to its predecessor,
the action scenes are bigger, the villain is badder, the visual effects are finer, it's even 6 minutes longer. On the flip side, bigger, badder and longer doesn't always mean
better.
The story spends far too long on the on-off relationship
between Peter & Mary Jane, so much so that the entire middle act goes by almost without a single action scene. The action set pieces when they do come are incredibly rewarding but there's
too much filler of a depressed superhero, shying away from the life of fighting crime and trying to hold down a job, which works okay for the opening act, but once the mad scientist is
introduced, there's no reason to revisit this plotline.
Still, it's enjoyable enough as a comic book movie and the
minor faults are critic-proof enough to paper over the cracks.
6/10
SPIDER-MAN 3 (12)
D: Sam Raimi
Columbia Tristar/Marvel (Laura Ziskin, Avi Arad &
Grant Curtis)
US 2007
138 mins
Action/Adventure/Science Fiction
W: Sam Raimi, Ivan Raimi & Alvin Sargent [bassd on the
comic book series by Stan Lee & Steve Ditko]
DP: Bill Pope
Ed: Bob Murawski
Mus: Christopher Young
Tobey Maguire (Peter Parker / Spider-Man), Kirsten Dunst
(Mary Jane Watson), James Franco (Harry Osborn / New Goblin), Thomas Haden Church (Flint Marko / Sandman), Topher Grace (Eddie Brock / Venom), Bryce Dallas Howard (Gwen Stacy), Rosemary
Harris (Aunt May Parker)
The weakest by far of Sam Raimi's trilogy, mostly because
of forcing way too much plot and characterisation into the running time, yet it lacks the drama, thrills and, more importantly, credibility, to make all this necessary. It's fair enough that
credibility doesn't exactly go hand-in-hand with comic-book movies, but there needs to be some explanation of certain things for the benefit of those who aren't as familiar with the original
source material. An example of this would be the introduction of black, parasitic alien gunk which attached itself to Spider-Man's suit and imbeds a darker, more narcisstic side to Peter
Parker, only to become a villain known as Venom once it is removed.
The film has three villains in total, with the reinclusion
of Green Goblin from the first film, this time with Spidey's chum Harry Osborn donning the suit and going batshit crazy. The primary villain is the Sandman, an escaped convict who gains his
superhuman abilities after unwittingly wandering into a science experiment involving, well, sand.
Once again, far too much time is spent on the dreary,
sexless relationship of Peter and Mary Jane to the point where you might find yourself reaching out for a sickbag.
Despite setting up a finale for Spider-Man to take on
three villains, it all ends with a bit of an anti-climax and a rather cheap victory for the superhero. Even so, the villains really weren't interesting enough from the offset and weren't
given any favours by the general poorness of the acting, particularly James Franco, who just can't do creepy, and Topher Grace, completely miscast as a rival photographer who goes on to
become venom (there's no spoiler there. It's that obvious).
Critic-proof it may be, but it's hard to deny that it's
also a huge disappointment.
5/10
