Do you agree with us? If not, holler back in the 'Feed- back' portion of the new Michi- gan Daily website. www.michigandaily.com ARTS a Monday i O May 6, 2002 SOMETHING TO MARVEL AT Raimi's 'S der-Man crowned 'ng o the superhero film ill 4 By Luke Smith Daily Arts Editor Somewhere in New Jersey, Brodie Bruce just found heaven on earth. The adaptation of Stan Lee and Steve Ditko's Spider-Man finally awards the 40 year- old comic book web-crawler a film fit for a hero. Director Sam Raimi (most notably "Evil Dead" trilogy, "A Simple ID Plan" and "Darkman") undertook the task of ISPIDER bringing the legend to A life. The film follows the Atuali story of Peter Parker's transformation into Spi- der-Man from the earliest level - serving as both a reminder of how Spider-Man came to be and a per- fect introduction to the character for a new generation. As the film opens, it would appear there is no hero in sight. The unassum- ing Peter Parker is nefariously not-cool, and his inherent social bumbling is por- trayed perfectly by Tobey Maguire. Not until Parker is bit by a genetically altered spider (here - comic fans scream defi- antly because it didn't happen that way in the books) does any sort of super- heroic tranformation begin. After being bitten, viewers see Peter Parker strug- R , oz gling to understand the changes his body undergoes. A series of learning experiences provide the film with comic relief, but more importantly make Peter Parker's transformation into a superhero a believable one. Two-time Academy Award nominee Willem Dafoe plays Norman Osborn, founder of Oscorp, a sci- ence and technology firm designing a genetic A** A enhancement serum that has perked the millitary's ,,,M.AN interest. Osborn takes matters into his own iase ad hands when it appears time is running out for any Oscorp's serum and ingests the serum himself. The result of Osborn's experiment is the Green Goblin - Norman Osborn's dop- pelganger. Willem Dafoe plays the haunting Green Goblin with meticulous 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 Goblin, or Norman Osborn. Dafoe's portrayal of his schizophrenically dichotomous char- acter pushes Tobey Maguire's Spider- Man/Peter Parker for the film's finest performance. 4 a Did Sony's spider sense predict a $100 million opening? No. Kirsten Dunst turns in a modest per- film's action scenes (while CGI-generat- formance as Mary Jane, Parker's long- ed) often look like they were lifted time love interest, and in the comic directly off of the comic's pages. Daily book, eventual wife. Dunst plays MJ - Bugle editor-in-chief J. Jonah Jameson almost as over the top as Dafoe's (J.K. Simmons) is given his trademark Osborn/Goblin. This however, is not flat-top and no nonsense attitude to problematic. Super-hero movies need to boot. Spider-Man's battered, torn cos- be over the top and Dunst (perhaps tume at the end of the film is torn under Raimi's direction) recognized almost completely from the pages of the this. Dunst and Maguire exhibit excel- Green Goblin/Spider-Man fight. lent on-screen chemistry, and Mary Jane There are elements of the film that does an excellent job of keeping the do not follow the comic book. Much of dorky Peter Parker at an arm's length. the Mary Jane/Peter Parker storyline is Their back and forth banter borders borrowed from a different character in momentarily on cheese, but is no worse the comic, Gwen Stacy. This key part of than Vicki Vale and Bruce Wayne's flirt- the storyline was crucial in the develop- ing in "Batman." ment of Spider-Man in the comic book "Spider-Man" fabulously executes a series;, it has been changed to Mary transition from comic book to film, Jane for cinematic ease. Die-hard web- largely through the visuals of the film. heads may also find themselves cring- Spidey's costume looks incredible. The ing at Spider-Man's web shooters being Getting the diploma is the easy part. "When you're in your twenties...you know that standing in your way betoeen college and thr places you're suppored to go:resues or , eersrejection letters, oul searching, r6sms, being dirspoor. and more rejection letters. Quarterlife Crisis is all about the 'midlife crisis' for what might be the hardest decade of your life." -the Washington Post Quarterlife Crisis Quarterlife Crisis by Alexandra Robbins & Abby Wilner ISBN: 1-58542-106-5 Published by Tarcher/Putnam U.S. $14.95/Canada $21.99 Available at your favorite bookstore or through amazon.com a part of his biological make-up rather than the small devices used in the comic book. These discrepencies aside, the film flows wonderfully from comic book to wide-screen setting the bar for comic book adaptations and super-hero films to come. NEWS AND NOTES Raimi's "Spider-Man" banks record setting box office - This weekend "Spider-Man" set records for opening day, one day and week- end gross. It opened with $39,3 mil- lion, followed by a take of $43.7 million on Saturday, both records. The film's estimated weekend gross is $114 million, about $24 million more than "Harry Potter and the Sor- cerer's Stone." 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