Power & Responsibility?. Review on Spider-Man Movie

I still remember the days when I used to rush home from School to watch The Friendly Neighbour Spiderman on TV. At that time, we didn't have a TV of our own and had to go to a friends house to watch it. This cartoon series was probably one of the very few attractions on TV (Doordarshan) then, and Spiderman has certainly come a long way since then.

About the Movie, the characters

The movie is based on the very popular Marvel Comics super-hero, Spiderman. He was different from many other heroes like Superman cos he was a human being (Unlike Superman who was an alien) who become a freak of nature, when a Radioactive spider (A Genetically modified one in the movie) bites him. The 'bite' turns out to be a blessing in disguise for Peter Parker, the boy next door kind of guy.

Peter has all the 'qualities' of a normal guy, he is bright, he is intelligent and he is shy and meek. He is the constant target of the School bullies. His 'meekness' may be attributed to his parents death in an accident. He now stays with his uncle and aunt.

After the bite, Peter gets a six pack and he can climb walls (Wish it would happen in reality, I will voluntarily get bitten by any animal to get a Six pack) and gets ESP (Extra Sensory Perception) or what ever it is, and he is thrilled.

His love is Mary Jane and but he is too shy to confront her with his feelings about her, its typical of all Peter Parker kind of guys. But after loosing his uncle in a very unfortunate circumstance, he decides to fight crime like other great heroes cos he finds his uncle last statement to him very profound 'With great power comes greater responsibility'. He is transformed to the 'Friendly neighbourhood Spiderman'.

In due course he moves to the City and joins the Daily Bugle newspaper as a freelance photographer. His first assignment was to get good pictures of Spiderman. He learns to spin webs and climb walls and these are his skills apart from his super human strength. His first 'kill' was Green Goblin who is a 'alter ego' manisfestation of his close friends Harry's father, Norman Osbourne.

The Cast is quite ok, Tobey Maguire gels quite well in the Spiderman role, he has got some charm. The full and beautiful Kirsten Dunst is 'fits in' playing Mary Jane. Willen Dafoe is awsome as the Green Goblin.

What I feel

What made Spiderman special was he was almost human. In the original comics series, the spider's web was using some chemicals that Peter invented and was not 'natural' or effect of mutation. In the old days Radioactivity was 'the thing' and all obscure things were associated with Radio activity and now its Genetics, so can't blame the change in story but was not warranted.

From what I have seen in the TV series and the comics and the Marvel comics site, I think that the sequel would be even better then this one, with him getting closer to MJ and all, and new enemies. Green Goblin was bit of a disappointment.

Overall, Spiderman doens't dissappoint much, but feel that the graphics particulary the spider swings could have been made more realistic, its bit 'elastic' and doesn't seem 'very' natural unlike the cartoon series. The movie is well presented and quite complete in its story telling, and Sam Riami has done a decent job directing this one.

It can be enjoyed with everyone in the family and kids too are sure to enjoy it. There are good messages for Kids(power and responsibility etc), and there's much -ve 'acts' in the movie which could be a bad influence for the kids. Overall, a very good movie for kids.:-)

One thing though, it was not as great as the hype surrounding it. It was good but not 'groundbreaking'.

Peace

Ranjith