My Spidey senses are all a’ tingling. This movie is going to be one of THE hits for the summer. Of course, I don’t have to have superpowers to figure that out.
I was excited about seeing this movie. I was expecting big effects, entertainment and excitement and Spider-Man delivered. It’s no academy award winner but who would want a lot of themes and messages from a superhero movie anyway.
Spider-Man, aka Peter Parker (Toby Maguire), is the everyman hero, which is why so many of us relate to him. He’s not from another planet like Superman, and he doesn’t have the money to by his gimmicks, like Batman. He is a regular guy, not even that strong, muscular or handsome.
The interesting twist in the movie is that Peter is not transformed by a radioactive spider but by a genetically modified one. The fears of days gone my has been updated to a more modern controversy. It is still as believable and gives it a more current edge.
The best part of this movie is the parallel transformation of Peter Parker and his evil counterpart Norman Osborn. Both are transformed by technology in the blink of an eye and both face the same question. How do I use these new powers?
In their first display of power each man realizes the potential of the new gifts. Osborn uses them to kill and Peter uses them to bring a bully to his knees. Both men could go down the same road; it would be easy to use the superpowers to his advantage and become rich and powerful.
But for Peter, his Uncle Ben saves the day when his words of wisdom hit home. He says, ’’With great power, comes great responsibility.’’ When Uncle Ben is killed shortly afterwards by a thief that Peter could have stopped, Peter realizes that his uncle was right. Spider-Man’s new powers need to be balanced with a sense of duty. Peter decides to be the city’s new crime watchdog, and he starts bringing down criminals and helping the defenseless.
In the meantime, Osborn is going through some struggles of his own. He is fighting a split personality and the evil side is slowly winning out - no one could do that part better than Willem Defoe. He becomes the Green Goblin and starts trying to kill the board of his Corporation. The company has been sold right out from under him and there is no longer a place for Osborn.
He quickly realizes that the only person with the ability to stop his ride to the top is Spider-Man, and he comes up with a plan to lure the superhero over to the dark side. The battle that ensues is as much a moral battle as a physical battle, and Spider-Man is tempted. The people of New York, while grateful, are skeptical about the unknown super hero. Peter’s boss, newspaper mogul, Mr. Jamieson, flames the fire with articles questioning Spider-Man’s intentions.
The reason this battle works is because both men are tempted by the other side. Hidden underneath the menacing Green Goblin is a man who wants to do right. And Peter is frustrated by the distrust of the people he is trying to help and protect. While you never feel that either one is going to switch sides, you do see them pause and think about it.
So it’s not the most earth shattering ’moral of the story’ and they do tend to beat it into your head by repeating Uncle Ben’s ghostly voice saying ’’With great power, comes great responsibility’’ at least twice. But I wouldn’t like an action movie that tries to take itself to seriously anyway. I just hope that there is more of Mr. Jamieson in the next movie; I’ve never seen such a perfect casting job before. I would pay to go to a sequel and I hear it is already in production - I am sure that I won’t be the only one in line.