Spider-Man (Marvel Comics Movie Review)

Plot
After being chomped by a genetically altered spider, shy high schooler Peter Parker is endowed with amazing superpowers. While he first uses them to win wrestling matches, he eventually needs them to battle a villain known as the Green Goblin. 

Jason's Thoughts
I have been putting off watching Spider-Man for years as I have had this movie marathon in mind for quite some time.  Finally, ten years after it was released, I have gotten around to watching this movie and I can clearly say that it was worth the wait.

Spider-Man is to Marvel Comics as Superman is to DC Comics.  The web slinger is a comic book icon and I'm surprised it took 40 years for Hollywood to come out with a movie based on the character.  Although it took Marvel a long time to finally give the green light on putting Spider-Man on the silver screen, I have to give them credit on waiting until the technology was available to start him off with a bang.

Pure and simple, Spider-Man is a fun and entertaining movie to watch, even considering the first hour of the movie is based on his origins.  The origins for any comic book movie can eat up a large chunk of time and can usually be skimped over, however, I think Spider-Man featured a good telling of the superhero's beginning and stayed fairly true to the source material.  Plus, any origin that has a supporting role with the late Macho Man Randy Savage in it scores high in my book.  

Once the transition into Spider-Man was complete, we were treated to some of the best camera and CGI work to be featured in comic book movies up until this point.  Seeing Spider-Man come to life and swing his way through New York City was a visual treat.  Overall, the camera effects were what really made this movie fun to watch.  It work really did the movie justice as it appeared as what one would imagine it would be like while reading the comic.  

In this film, Spider-Man's main villain is the Green Goblin, who we also got to see an abbreviated origin of.  Unlike the comic book, though, the movie version of the Goblin wore a high-tech metal suit that kept on reminding me of something you would see in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.  Yes, it looked that bad.  There are a few points that brought Spider-Man down from being a five-star movie in my mind, and the Green Goblin suit was one of them.

There were a few other aspects that strayed from the original source material, some major some not, that I also thought brought the movie down a bit.  Now I don't expect every movie based on a comic book to be 100 percent from the pages of the comic, but there are a few things that were changed in Spider-Man that bothered me.  For starters, I expect it to be common knowledge that Peter Parker was bitten by a radioactive spider, not a genetically engineered spider as shown in the movie.  This was one of the minor flaws.

There were two major flaws, however, that I really hated about this movie.  In the comics, Peter Parker invented his web shooters that are worn around his wrists.  The movie had him shooting webs directly from his wrists as part of the powers he got after being bitten by a spider.  Second, and the biggest flaw of the film, was that of Spider-Man's personality.

Tobey Maguire's portrayal of the nerdy and awkward Peter Parker was spot on in my mind.  However, what is great about Spider-Man is that it gives Parker the courage to be what he wants to be.  Inside of the Spider-Man costume, Parker is confident and cocky, as opposed to his usual reserved self.  This personalty was lost on the big screen and Spider-Man, who is known for his one-liners and sarcasm, was fairly quiet.

Even with its flaws, Spider-Man was a top notch comic book movie.  The casting was great for the most part - J.K. Simmons as J.J. Jameson was spot on - and it had a good mix of action and comedy without coming across as being campy.  Spider-Man was a worthy start to a franchise and a great introduction to the friendly neighborhood superhero.

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