28 -The Michigan Daily - Orientation Edition 2002
ARTS
SOMETHING TO MARVEL AT
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Raim i's'S jider-Man'
crowned 'no h
superhero film
I
By Luke Smith tion to the character for a
Daily Arts Editor new generation.
As the film opens, it
Somewhere in New Jer- would appear there is no
sey, Brodie Bruce just found hero in sight. The unassum-
heaven on earth. The adap- ing Peter Parker is nefari-
tation of Stan Lee and Steve ously not-cool, and his
Ditko's Spider-Man finally inherent social bumbling is
awards the 40-year-old portrayed perfectly by
comic book web- T o b e y
crawler a film fit for a Maguire.
hero. Not until
Director Sam Raimi *k** Parker is
(most notably "Evil bit by a
Dead" trilogy, "A SPIDER-MAN genetical-
Simple Plan" and ly altered
"Darkman") under- Directed by Sam s p i d e r
took the task of bring- Raimi (here -
ing the legend to life. Sony c o m i c
The film follows the f a n s
story of Peter Parker's trans- scream defiantly because it
formation into Spider-Man didn't happen that way in
from the earliest level - the books) does any sort of
serving as both a reminder superheroic tranformation
of how Spider-Man came to begin. After being bitten,
be and a perfect introduc- viewers see Peter Parker
struggling
to under-
stand the
changes
his body',
undergoes.
A series of
learning
exe r i
ences pro-
vide the
film witht
c o m i c
relief, but
m o r e
important-
ly make
Peter Park-
er's trans-
form ati oDid Sony's spider sense predict a $100 million opening? No.
into a
superhero a believable one. ence and technology firm tim
Two-time Academy Award designing a genetic coi
nominee Willem Dafoe enhancement serum that has Du
plays Norman Osborn, perked the millitary's inter- ov
founder of Oscorp, a sci- est. Osborn takes matters Os
into his own hands when it
appears time is running out
for Oscorp's serum and
ingests the serum himself.
The result of Osborn's
experiment is the Green
Goblin - Norman Osborn's
doppelganger. Willem
Dafoe plays the haunting
Green Goblin with meticu-
lous insanity, and in one of
the film's best scenes, ends
up conversing with the
Green Goblin through a
mirror. Viewers watch
Dafoe's facial expressions
change and hear his voice
shift depending on if he is
portraying the Green Gob-
lin, or Norman Osborn.
Dafoe's portrayal of his
schizophrenically dichoto-
mous character pushes
Tobey Maguire's Spider-
Man/Peter Parker for the
film's finest performance.
Kirsten Dunst turns in a
modest performance as
Mary Jane, Parker's long-
THE ONLY 9
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is r
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con
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act
get
the
of
Bu
Jot
mo
ne love interest, and in the
mic book, eventual wife.
anst plays MJ almost as
er the top as Dafoe's
born/Goblin. This howev-
is not problematic.
per-hero movies need to
over the top and Dunst
erhaps under Raimi's
ection) recognized this.
nst and Maguire exhibit
cellent on-screen chem-
ry, and Mary Jane does an
cellent job of keeping the
rky Peter Parker at an
m's length. Their back and
rth banter borders
mentarily on cheese, but
no worse than Vicki Vale
d Bruce Wayne's flirting
"Batman."
'Spider-Man" fabulously
ecutes a transition from
mic book to film, largely
ough the visuals of the
m. Spidey's costume
ks incredible. The film's
ion scenes (while CGI-
nerated) often look like
y were lifted directly off
the comic's pages. Daily
gle editor-in-chief J.
nah Jameson (J.K. Sim-
ns) is given his trade-
Courtesy sofSony
mark flat-top and no non-
sense attitude to boot. Spi-
der-Man's battered, torn
costume at the end of the
film is torn almost com-
pletely from the pages of
the Green Goblin/Spider-
Man fight.
There are elements of the
film that do not follow the
comic book. Much of the
Mary Jane/Peter Parker sto-
ryline is borrowed from a
different character in the
comic, Gwen Stacy. This
key part of the storyline was
crucial in the development
of Spider-Man in the comic
book series; it has been
changed to Mary Jane for
cinematic ease. Die-hard
webheads may also find
themselves cringing at Spi-
der-Man's web shooters
being a part of his biologi-
cal make-up rather than the
small devices used in the
comic book. These dis-
crepencies aside, the film
flows wonderfully from
comic book to wide-screen
setting the bar for comic
book adaptations and super-
hero films to come.
i' A tuv W EL
z ss N
Washington at Pearl
VPSILAIViTl 487-11O
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