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SPIDER-MAN: A CLASSIC SUPERHERO TALE
by: Edwin Bartolome
 “Spider-Man” is the Marvel movie equivalent of DC’s “Superman” movie.
Bright and cheery, the webslinger movie possesses the all-American flavor that’s
so present in the Man of Steel series. It’s got all the ingredients of
a typical superhero tale: the hero, the girl, the villain…and yes, the
flag-waving.
The titular hero is played by Tobey Maguire. Gifted with the boy-next-door
aura, Maguire is a good choice for the role of Daily Bugle photographer Peter
Parker. This movie portrays a youngish Peter Parker who’s still got one
foot in college and the other foot tapping into the doorsteps of one of NYC’s
top newspapers. He is portrayed in the comic book as a somewhat geeky person
who struggles to live a normal life through a nine-to-five job. This for me
is one of the most important reasons for Spider-Man’s enduring appeal.
He represents the “everyday guy”…the mailman walking across
the street…the bank clerk….the part-time waiter. He taps into everyone’s
aspirations to heroism and reinforces the belief that each one of us has a
shot at becoming heroes.
Willem Dafoe injects his portrayal of the Green Goblin with just the right
amount of villainy to project a fearsome and diabolical aura. Though he may
have captured the Goblin’s characteristically sinister qualities, I think
his physical appearance should have been more faithful to his comic book rendering.
The Goblin’s mask, for example, is one of the most infernal comic-to-screen
adaptations I can remember (it comes close to Magneto’s hokey headgear
in the original X-Men). The mask sort of looked like a disguise lifted straight
from a children’s party. With the magic of modern prosthetics and a little
CGI, the producers could have recreated the Goblin’s ominous face and
cloaked him with a much more threatening onscreen presence.
Kirsten Dunst’s Mary Jane Watson was a satisfactory effort. But I would
have appreciated the film better had they followed the comic book timeline
and first introduced us to Peter Parker’s earlier love, Gwen Stacy. This
tragic blonde beauty would have been perfect since the movie attempted to recreate
the classic Gwen Stacy death scene where she plunged from atop a high altitude
after she was pushed by the Green Goblin during one of his early run-ins with
Spider-Man. I think Spider-Man the movie could have packed a bigger emotional
wallop had the damsel-in-distress Gwen Stacy died, instead of the recreated
Mary Jane Watson being rescued by the webbed-one.
The supporting cast was exemplary. I loved seeing Uncle Ben and Aunt May on
the big screen, though I still can’t get Aunt May’s hokey “those
eyes!!!” scene out of my head. Still, she was a strong presence in the
film, and this was rightfully so especially since her character is one of the
most enduring ones in the comic book. J. Jonah Jameson was another ‘old-time
favorite’. He should have a bigger role in the sequel.
I think the use of CGI was fine although it contributed to Spidey’s
less-than-believable agility. Spider-Man swinging across New York looked like
it was drawn with a crayon or something. They really tried to make that closing
sequence as realistic as possible although many would still have noticed the
web slinger’s amazing non-human movements that gave away the CGI.
All in all, I enjoyed it a lot. It could have been a little bit darker, though,
like Batman and X-Men. I hope they make “The Amazing Spider-Man” as
enjoyable, if not more.
All characters are © and ™ of their respective
companies.
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