Spider-Man - 05/03/02

One of the first books I ever started reading was X-Men. I got into them in high school. I got into Spider-Man after Todd McFarlane started drawing them... lost faith in comic books when he and the seven others from Marvel moved out and started Image. I guess money was everything to them... though, I can understand why they left. Marvel has, pre-bankruptcy, had a policy of taking advantage of creators. Marvel gets the money, the creator, usually, gets screwed.

Prior to Marvel's demise, when McFarlane, Rob Liefield, Whilce Portacio, Jim Lee, Dale Mckeon, Scott Williams... and a few others... when they left Marvel and started their own creator owned series... it pretty much spelled doom for Marvel. Not so much D.C., but Marvel was screwed. So, they did what they thought was best... they flooded the market with new comic series, to try and compete with exceptional artists with a strong following. It didn't work, and Marvel went bankrupt.

But they still had the old stand-by's. Daredevil, The Hulk, X-Men, Thor, The Punisher and Spider-Man.

Now, when I heard that James Cameron was going to helm this project, I was worried. I think it's great that Cameron puts so much effort and energy into a film, along with (when necessary) his own money... but I didn't see him (and still don't) as a comic aficionado. I didn't think it would work with him.

I have been a fan of Sam Raimi's work since the very beginning... although I wouldn't really know it, in the beginning.

When I was in the sixth grade, I was invited to a birthday by my friend David Elias. At the time he was one of my best friends... we were always having a good time in grade school... along with pretty much everyone else. But I got invited to his birthday party, and that was a HUGE deal to me. I mean, David was a popular guy... and even though we were friends... I think I liked him more then he liked me... being invited to his birthday was a big thing. And I went, and I had a BALL.

So, I'm there, and his parents had rented us two horror movies... the first one, hell, I can't remember what that was, but the second one was Evil Dead. Now, sixth grade, I was about eleven years old. The movie had just come out... I hadn't heard about it, my dad was a movie buff, but not really... and we watched Evil Dead... a whole slew of sixth graders.

You remember what snigglets are? Snigglets were big then... they were words that described things, situations, people... words that didn't exist. And they were funny. Well, there was a word for a type of person that, during horror movies, holds the sheet up over their eyes. I was this snigglet alllllll over... and I was branded for about six months.

But that was my first taste... that was anyone's first taste... of Sam Raimi.

Evil Dead II was next. Darkman. Army of Darkness. The Quick and the Dead. A Simple Plan, For Love of the Game and The Gift.

It was Darkman, you see, that led me to have about as much faith as possible in Raimi, when he was given the $186 million dollars to create Spider-Man. I think maybe two other directors out there could have made a decent movie, but I don't think any of them were comic book crazies... or had the handle on heroes like Raimi did.

I certainly don't think Kevin Smith could have handled that much... and the only other director I would have given the shot to was Robert Rodriguez... who is in line to direct Madman, a comic created, written and illustrated by Mike Allred, who trusts Rodriguez implicitily.

So, I knew in my heart that Raimi was the right man for the job.

I'm not going to get into the respective roles of the actors in this film. They are all very well crafted actors, each with a success record that, I'm sure, will continue on an upwards slope. Tobey Maguire... I loved him in Wonder Boys... I've always loved his work... he was a perfect casting choice. Willem Dafoe... he's got more range as an actor then most in Hollywood. One of his more recent films (pre Spider-Man), Shadow of the Vampire... very memorable.

Kirsten Dunst. Her last few movies (besides Crazy/Beautiful) were all very well done. Bring it On, Drop Dead Gorgeous, The Virgin Suicides...

The supporting cast of James Franco and J.K. Simmons, along with Rosemary Harris, Cliff Robertson and Bruce Campbell... all incredible in their respective roles.

Lynn Kressel and Francine Mailser did an all around fantastic job, in regards to casting. It's important to note this, I think, because this movie is, like X-Men was, one of the pinnacle comic book films. It was important to get it right the first time... not like they did with Batman (goddamn black Harvey Dent?!?!?). You should really take a look at their credits, as casting directors. It's really incredible, the work they've done. You can check them out by clicking on their names... they link directly to IMDB.com.

Next thing I will tackle is writing. Now, for those of you who do not know the origin of Spider-Man, I'm going to tell you.

Parker is invited to a science project, to watch the process of some reactor type thingy. He's there, and as the experiment is going on... a spider descends from its web, gets struck by some kind of energy, falls and bites Peter.

In the film, there are FOURTEEN genetically enhanced spiders. FOURTEEN. Now, understand what this means... and I'm not sure if David Koepp (the screenwriter) is to blame. With FOURTEEN genetically enhanced spiders... what's to say that any person, any one person who might work at that laboratory, or someone on another tour... what's to stop them from getting bitten, thus turning them into a Spider-Man also? I thought this origin had too many holes... and I was disappointed they did not work in the original.

Koepp has been around for quite some time. His main claims to fame are the adaptations of Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park books (not the third film, Jurassic Park 3, though... that was not an adaptation.) He's also written some pretty blah films like The Paper, The Shadow... The Trigger Effect... so he goes back and forth. But, besides adapting the Harry Potter books (which went to Steve Klovis)... and the adaptations of the Lord of the Rings books... getting to adapt Spider-Man is probably one of the biggest scripts to write in Hollywood... money wise.

His most recent film, pre-Spider, was Panic Room... which wasn't bad, per-se.

The characters were fleshed out well. The villain was done well... though I'm not sure how close the origin he stayed... the action scenes were well done, and presented a lot of opportunity to show off CG effects and decent action. Some of the dialog... well, I have a problem with Koepp and dialog, but that's just me.

All in all, it was clichéd without being too clichéd. I thought he handled this character, this icon with millions of fans... I thought he was very true to the character, and was very pleased, over all.

I'm going to jump away from the movie for a second, and go on to the music. Oingo Boingo is my all time favorite band ever. I love all of their music... they don't have any bad songs. I have liked Danny Elfman's music every since Pee Wee. Midnight Run is my all time favorite score. His Batman work was brilliant, and I think he should have won an academy award for his work on The Nightmare Before Christmas... Darkman, Nightbreed... all of it. It's great work.

But now... now, Jesus, everything he does sounds like something he did. I know, this gets to be like this with lots of composers. Look at John William's, for god sake... but with William's, there's still a freshness. I thought all of the music in Spider-Man sounded like Batman, Darkman, Mission: Impossible... all rolled into one... and I was disappointed on that front.

One of the things that's important with a film that is relying heavily on CG... the cinematographer has to be familiar with it... they have to be accustomed to it... and know what to do in all of the different circumstances that come up. Hell, I don't know what most of those situations would be... but I'm sure there are a lot, and that it's a big concern to the director and to the money men/women.

Don Burgess has done some serious effects movies... the man, over the past eight years, has directed some of the bigger money makers to come out of Hollywood. Forrest Gump, Contact, What Lies Beneath and Cast Away... along with the upcoming Terminator 3.

It was obvious that Raimi trusted his DP... there were some really beautiful moments of non-CG... some great shots and movement... Raimi is a huge fan of steadi-cam work... I was pleased to know that someone as experienced as Burgess was helming the look of the movie.

I think another person who should be mentioned is James Acheson, who designed the costumes of Spider-Man and Green Goblin. I thought they were very well done, and very true to the characters... He's worked on some serious movies himself, prior to Spider-Man. Time Bandits, The Meaning of Life, Brazil, Highlander, The Last Emperor, Dangerous Liaisons, Frankenstein, The Man in the Iron Mask and, in 2003, he'll be showing off on Daredevil, which should prove to be another neat Marvel film.

I'm always excited to see talented people do their jobs very well. I mean, really well. They take their work to a higher level, on certain occasions... and sometimes the outcomes are shocking, to say the least. Raimi did a brilliant job, and my faith in his was completely on the money. The actors did great jobs, the designers, the artists, the DP... the writer. All of them came through.

A very well done film that should surprise a lot of people.