Spider-Man

Like every Spidey fan, I've been waiting for this movie for a long time. Strange, then, that I saw it on the Monday of its first week instead of seeing it on Friday (or Wednesday, the day of the sneak) with all the other die-hard fans. Life is busy, I suppose. Anyway, after getting through commercials and about seven trailers, I was ready for some web-slinging fun.

The movie moves at a decent pace, covering almost all of the aspects of Spiderman's origin in its two hour run time. For those of you who don't know the story, Peter Parker (played by Tobey Maguire) is a geeky high school senior who is a science whiz and photographer of the school newspaper. One day during a field trip to a genetics laboratory, an escaped, radioactive, genetically altered spider bites Parker on the hand, passing to him the useful traits of a spider. Parker slowly discovers his abilities which include super strength (a spider's strength/size ratio converted proportionately to a human), enhanced agility and reflexes, the ability to cling to surfaces like a spider, the ability to spin webs, and a "spider sense" that alerts him to upcoming danger (one of the spider's traits is impossibly quick reflexes that made it seem as if the spider possessed precognition). One of the blatant errors in this film is that Spiderman can shoot webs out of his skin. In actuality, Parker does not inherit this ability but has to devise a mechanical contraption that fits around his wrist and under his uniform in order to shoot webs. The "webbing" is his own creative mixture of chemicals that bond to most surfaces. Thus it is possible for him to run out of web, whereas in this movie it is not. Also, for some reason, Parker gets perfect 20/20 vision and superior fighting skills, not necessarily qualities of a spider. However, this is not the movie's fault since that's the way it is in the comic books too.

After a tragic event, Parker learns a valuable lesson: "With great power comes great responsibility" And so, Parker resolves to use his powers for the common good instead of for his self-interests. He does this by becoming the Marvel superhero Spiderman and performing all sorts of heroic deeds. When a villain motivated by his darkest desires and armed with super strength, cunning, and high-tech gadgetry threaten the lives of people who Parker cares deeply for, his Aunt May (played by Rosemary Harris) and his childhood neighbor and love Mary Jane Watson (played by Kirsten Dunst), Spiderman must step up to stop him. Hmm...that was quite a long sentence there.

Tobey Maguire does a surprisingly good job at playing Peter Parker. There were doubts that he could fit the role, but it turns out Maguire makes a good nerdy-socially-inept-teenager-that-develops-much-confidence. Spiderman's web-slinging and fighting scenes are great. The viewer really gets a sense of how thrilling it would be to be traveling in an urbanized, sped-up, and acrophobia-inducing Tarzan-style. The scenes of Spiderman moving around the city with his webs along with the fighting scenes do a great job at showcasing Spiderman's agility. What I found lacking in the Spiderman character was his trademark wit and creative use of webbing. I think Spiderman insults the Green Goblin (the super-villain, played by Willem Dafoe) once or twice in the movie, but more is needed; it'll help people see what kind of person Peter Parker has become: confident and witty. Sometimes in the comics, you'll see Spidey save the day by thinking up some innovative way to use his web, such as making a net to catch a falling victim or having webs under his armpits act as a hangglider. Though not required in the storyline, I thought something like that would have been nice.

Another notable thing is J.K. Simmons great job at portraying the cigar-smoking J.J. Jameson, head of the Daily Bugle, where Parker gets a job. Simmons shows everything you need to know about this Spiderman-hating character.

Because the movie covers the origin of Spiderman, there is no need to have prior knowledge about Spiderman to enjoy this movie. Fans looking for a new adventure will just have to settle for this, because moviemakers want to make sure they appeal to a wider audience, which includes people not familiar with Spiderman. It's not a flaw; X-Men basically did the same thing. The movie ends purposefully with some loose ends, which will keep the audience curiously waiting for a sequel. Mary Jane has starts to suspect something with Parker and Parker's close friend Harry Osborne (played by James Franco) comes to develop a hatred for Spiderman. It would be foolish not to capitalize on the success of Spiderman, which made a record-breaking $114 million during its opening weekend, so work on the sequel has already gotten the thumbs-up.

Spider-man is a great action movie to kick off the summer with. After all of the summer blockbusters have had their turn, it is likely that Spider-man will stand amongst the best of them.

Rated PG-13 for some violence. There's also a sexy scene featuring cute Kirsten Dunst in a rain-soaked T-shirt. Yowsa.

Rating: ****1/2