Spider-Man (2002)

Well, after years and years of various rumors and false starts, they finally got around to making the “Spider-Man” movie. The same thing could probably be said for my finally getting around to reviewing it, but I had a fairly good reason for my delay. You see, I grew up on the “Spider-Man” comics of the 1980’s and was really a big fan of the web-crawler and Marvel Comics in general. In those days I couldn’t wait to pedal my bike to the grocery store every month to pick up the newest issue of “Amazing Spider-Man”, “Spectacular Spider-Man” and the other two Spider titles Marvel had running at the time but somehow have since evaded memory. I even watched that Saturday morning cartoon on NBC, “Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends”, where with one swipe of a wall ornament Peter Parker could instantly transform his den into a high tech crime lab, with Aunt May being none the wiser. In a nutshell, the film basically tells the origin of the wall-crawler and introduces us to the cast of characters that surround Peter Parker’s life. Eventually Spider-Man tangles with the one and only Green Goblin while big boobed Kirsten Dunst, playing Peter’s love interest Mary Jane, screams for her hero in the distance. I do applaud director Sam Raimi for keeping everything extremely faithful to the comic books; the slight changes that were made shouldn’t bother even the most hard core Spider-freaks. Also be glad that this movie was made in 2002 and not 1992, because this is one movie where I applaud the use of CGI. In terms of realism nothing in this film could have been pulled off without CGI, and it truly works very well here. Spider-Man literally comes alive on the screen, and for old fans who remember the 70’s T.V. show...special effects have come a long way baby. The film itself is a fun watch; particularly the battles between the Goblin and old Webhead, and for all of the guys out there I have six words for ya: Kirsten Dunst in a wet shirt. Wow. Fans of the comics should be able to see the plot of the second film coming a mile away,we'll see if Raimi stays true to the comics. Good fun and one of the best comic book to film adaptations ever made.