Spider-Man

Spider-Man

2002 - USA - 121 min. - Feature, Color

AMG Rating

Director Sam Raimi

Genre/Type Comic-Strip Superhero Film, Action, Fantasy

Flags Questionable for Children, Violence

MPAA Rating PG13

Keywords aunt, crimefighter, crush, friendship, high-school,

newspaper, photojournalist, spider, Superhero, teenagers,

secret-identity

Themes Heroic Mission / Quest, Double Life, Faltering Friendships,

Experiments Gone Awry, Unrequited Love

Tones Rousing, Bright, Humorous, Melancholy, Ironic, Bittersweet

Set In New York, NY

From Comic by Lee, Stan

Produced by Columbia Pictures / Marvel Enterprises

Release May 3, 2002 (USA)

Released by Columbia Pictures / Sony Pictures Entertainment

After incorporating elements of comic book style and design into

many of his films, director Sam Raimi helms this straight-ahead,

big-budget comic book adaptation, which also marks acclaimed young

actor Tobey Maguire's first dip into live-action blockbuster

filmmaking. Spider-Man follows the template of the original Stan

Lee/Steve Ditko source material, with hero Peter Parker an orphaned,

intellectual teen loner living in Queens with his aunt (Rosemary

Harris) and uncle (Cliff Robertson), and dreaming of the girl next

door, Mary Jane (Kirsten Dunst). On a field trip to a Columbia

University lab, Peter is bitten by a genetically altered spider and

overnight he gains superhuman strength, agility, and perception. At

first, Peter uses his powers for material gain, winning a wrestling

match with a purportedly lucrative prize. But when Peter

apathetically fails to stop a burglar from robbing the wrestling

arena, a tragedy follows that compels him to devote his powers to

fighting crime - as the superhero Spider-Man. When he's not busy

fighting crime in a spider suit, Peter moves into an apartment with

his best friend, Harry (James Franco), and begins work as a

photographer at the Daily Bugle. Meanwhile, his do-gooder alter ego

finds a nemesis in the form of the Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe), a

super-powered, megalomaniacal villain who happens to be the alter

ego of the Harry's father, weapons-manufacturing mogul Norman

Osborn. Spider-Man was written by the prolific blockbuster scribe

David Koepp (Jurassic Park, Panic Room). - Michael Hastings

Following through on the promise of director Bryan Singer's

engagingly earnest but scattershot X-Men, Sam Raimi's big-budget,

high-stakes screen version of Spider-Man represents a welcome return

to some of the qualities found in the best Hollywood entertainments:

satisfying character development, a palpable sense of wonder and

amazement, and genuine, unironic good humor. After years of numbing,

frenetic action pictures - from the later efforts in the Batman

series to The Mummy Returns and its ilk - the care and attention

paid to Spider-Man's source material seems almost old-fashioned, in

the best possible way. Raimi and ace screenwriter David Koepp retain

the best elements of comic-book grammar and syntax - in the dialogue

as well as the pulpy, colorful montage sequences - as they take

minor but justified liberties with the comic's physical details.

What's more, the once-controversial casting of talented young actor

Tobey Maguire pays off in a big way: his pensive, quizzical nature

is a perfect fit for the character. Rarely has there been a more

believable everyman (or everygeek, as it were) in a superhero lead,

and Maguire's fun with the role is infectious. If minor gripes can

be made about the design and execution of the film - there's an

inconsistency in the look of some of the action scenes, for one -

they're quickly forgotten; this is one blockbuster where talk and

interpersonal action go hand-in-hand with the thrills. More than

just a victory of maximum-saturation marketing, Spider-Man's

record-breaking success at the box office can only be interpreted as

a sign of audiences responding to a blockbuster that for once

follows through on its promise, with characters actually worth

caring about. - Michael Hastings

Tobey Maguire - Peter Parker/Spider-Man

Willem Dafoe - Norman Osborn/Green Goblin

Kirsten Dunst - Mary Jane Watson

James Franco - Harry Osborn

Cliff Robertson - Uncle Ben

Rosemary Harris - Aunt May

J. K. Simmons - J. Jonah Jameson

Joe Manganiello - Flash Thompson

Gerry Becker - Maximilian Fargas

Bill Nunn - Robbie Robertson

Jack Betts - Henry Balkan

Stanley Anderson - General Slocum

Ron Perkins - Dr. Mendel Stromm

Randy Savage - Bone Saw McGraw

Bruce Campbell - Announcer

Elizabeth Banks - Betty Brandt

Ted Raimi - Hoffman

Michael Papajohn - Burglar

Best Sound (nom) 2002 Academy

Best Visual Effects (nom) 2002 Academy

Best Song (nom) Chad Kroeger 2002 Broadcast Film Critics

Association

The Green Hornet (1940, Ford I. Beebe, Ray Taylor)

The Mask (1994, Chuck Russell)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III (1993, Stuart T. Gillard)

Daredevil (2003, Mark Steven Johnson)

Superman: The Movie (1978, Richard Donner)

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003, Steve Norrington)

X2 (2003, Bryan Singer)

The Hulk (2003, Ang Lee)

Bootleg Cap: The Movie

is related to: The Amazing Spider-Man (1977, E.W. Swackhamer)

Darkman (1990, Sam Raimi)

Plutonium Baby (1987, Ray Hirschman)

Earth vs. the Spider (2001)