Critter's Cave

There have been many, many movies based on comic books over the years, from The Mask to From Hell to League of Extraordinary Gentlemen – the list goes on and on. However, I don’t think any of the directors of those movies “get it” like Sam Raimi does.

Sure, there have been good super hero movies out there like the first Superman and the first Batman, but the vast majority of comic-book based movies have been unmitigated crapfests (1991′s Captain America anyone?) or just pointless, lifeless attempts to make a buck off of the fanboys and girls out there. However, even those that have been really good (X-Men and X2, for instance) don’t have the same feeling that this movie does.
Sam is an avowed comic book fran from an early age, and his love of the 4-color format shows. Even in one of his early efforts, 1990′s Darkman with Liam Neeson, we can see how much delight he takes in making comic-book movies. With the Spider-Man franchise, he shows that he really understands the characters, understands why a comic like Spider-Man almost universally makes a deep connection with the readers, and is able to translate that to the screen. Sam Raimi “Gets It” like no other comic-book movie director before, but that doesn’t meant this isn’t a Sam Raimi movie. Not only has he thrown tons of stuff that will make the comic book fanboys squeal like little girls, he’s also thrown in lots of stuff that will make the Sam Raimi fanboys squeal as well (and yes, there are Sam Raimi fanboys out there…I’m a borderline one, at least).
The aforementioned action sequences are extremely well done. It is slightly noticable at first where the human Spidey ends and the CG Spidey begins, but that quickly goes away as a nearly flawless movie unreels itself. What really kicks the action into high gear have to be Doctor Octopus’ arms. Many times while reading the comics or watching the cartoon, I’ve wondered what his arms might look like in a live-action movie. They did it far better than I could have ever expected. Doc Ock’s arms are probably the single most most amazing piece of CG work in a live-action movie that I have ever seen. I don’t want to spoil it, but if you’ve seen the trailers you get a taste of how the cybernetic arms function. Belive me, they look even better in the movie.
I’ve waxed poetical about the technical aspects of the movie, but what about the story? In too many comic-book movies, the story only serves as a device to string the set pieces together and becomes secondary to the action sequences. This movie, however follows Marvel Comics tradition and places the story as more important than huge fights and blowing things up. Now that they don’t have go through all the origin story and explanation of who each main character is, the screenwriters were free to pull out all the stops and tell a true Spidey story. Every word rang true, and Mary Jane’s (Kirsten Dunst) final line sound like it was taken straight from an issue of Amazing Spider-Man.
I have seen people complain about Peter Parker’s (Tobey Maguire) constant angst throughout the movie – my only conclusion is that those people have never read a single issue of any Spider-Man comic book. Angst is an integral character trait of Peter. You take away the angst, you take away a vital part of the Peter Parker/Spider-Man character, and he becomes just another spandex-wearing eccentric that way. Spider-Man is appealing because he’s flawed, because he has the day-to-day troubles we all face – rent problems, girl problems, job problems, etc. You generally don’t see Superman washing his costume at the local laundromat late at night. Somehow Batman won’t be living in a seedy one-bedroom apartment unless he’s working undercover. But this is Parker’s life, and the script gets it perfect. He’s got this incredible power, but his life is not only not better than before, in many ways it is worse. This, along with a couple of other incidents, forces him into making a decision of whether or not to keep being Spider-Man or just live the life the way he thinks he wants to. His decision results in one of the single best live-action reproduction of a comic book cover that I have ever seen.
Although the set up for Spider-Man 3 might be more than a little obvious, it is still as heck going to fuel discussions as to what the third movie will be about. I might as well throw my two cents into the ring. I have the feeling that Sam is going to pull a bit of slight-of-hand on us, that what we currently think the third movie is going to be about will not be what it ultimately is about. However, no matter what happens, after this movie I trust Sam. After all, he “Gets It.”.