With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility (Spider-Man / Spider-Man 2 (DVD))

Member Name: I Like Blue

Product:	Spider-Man / Spider-Man 2 (DVD)
Date:	13/06/02 (1045 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great effects

Disadvantages: It ends, The '12' Category

It wasn't just the hormones raging in the teenage body of Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) no, other changes were occurring after receiving a bite from an escaped genetically modified 'super' spider whilst on a school trip to Columbia University.

Parker is the stereotypical school geek who is not the most popular kid and is often the object of physical and verbal abuse from the school 'jocks' and bullies. Apart from his love of science, photography and the Aunt (Rosemary Harris) and Uncle (Cliff Robertson) he lives with, Parker has another love, that for the girl who lives next door, fellow student Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst). Parker has loved Mary Jane (or MJ as she likes to be called) since he was knee high to a grasshopper but sadly the feeling isn't reciprocated, although they are friendly in a fellow student and neighbour kind of way.

Our hero is also a bit of a loner with no real friends to speak of except Harry Osborn (James Franco) the troubled son of an even more troubled Norman Osborn (Willem Defoe), the owner/founder of 'Oscorp', a company that specialises in revolutionary military equipment. Despite their love for each other Osborn Senior and Osborn Junior are quite dysfunctional and they both really do need some kind of counselling.

Back to our hero, Parker, and soon the effects of the 'super' spider bite are starting to show and he notices a few changes in his physique and one or two of them he is particularly proud of! As the effects take more of a hold on Parker so he goes on a little voyage of self-discovery finding out he can now do things he could never do before and now life just got a little more interesting.

While these changes are occurring in Parker's body things appear to be changing for the worse for Osborn senior as the military are threatening to pull the plug and funding for his latest project that could effectively ruin him. However after an
unfortunate accident in one of the company's laboratories Osborn's luck changes and from the brink of collapse he makes Oscorp extremely profitable again.

Meanwhile Parker has been trying out some of his new skills and apart from discovering he now has new 'glands' in his wrists, which when held in a certain position and aimed shoot out a string like substance that is very adhesive and very strong. Our hero also he has the ability to crawl up the sides of buildings and even better leap from rooftop to rooftop.

Not quite realising the enormity of what is happening to him Parker decides to use his new 'powers' to try and win the heart of MJ. Will his plan work? However fate plays a cruel hand and the result of which leads Parker to use his power in the age old fight of good versus evil, and in his case a little bit of revenge.

Realising he has the powers of a 'super' spider Parker sets about making himself a proper disguise and perfecting some of his 'spidey' techniques.

Meanwhile things have taken a turn for the worse again for Osborn and despite how he has turned things round at Oscorp the board of directors aren't happy and have decided to sell Osborn's company from under him to his fiercest rivals. Obviously not at all happy with this Osborn vows that it will not happen and the story unfolds.

As many of you know I don't write film reviews as a rule and have only written 2 reviews in this genre and they were about animations. So this is a definite first for me, although I nearly wrote a review about 'The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring' but I chickened out at the last minute. You see although I quite enjoy reading film/movie reviews I doubt my ability to write one myself, however the temptation was too strong with this movie, so does that add that little extra to the recommendation for you to go and see it? I hope so.

I don't
know exactly how long the film runs for but I think it is somewhere around the 2-hour mark but it doesn't feel like 2 hours because the story runs so smoothly from start to finish. For me anyway there were no gaps where I was waiting for the action to start again if you know what I mean, there seems to be just the right mix of action and dialogue.

All the roles were acted very proficiently and whilst it might not what some people would consider Oscar winning stuff each role was very real and believable. Although on a couple of occasions Maguire looked like he was under the influence of some kind of narcotic, or was it just the size of his eyes? One of the best moments is when we first see Mr Jonah Jameson (JK Simmons), the Editor of the Daily Bugle, and if you have seen the Spider-man cartoons you will know what I mean.

The special effects are very good too with the quite unique perspective of 'swinging' through the streets of New York as seen through the eyes of Spider-man in some of the action sequences. However 2 of my favourite 'spidey' effects in this film are how Maguire actually makes himself to look like a spider when crawling up walls. The other effect is, and again if you have seen the cartoons or read the comics, the seemingly trademark posture of Spider-man suspending himself upside-down in the crouch position. This is used to good effect in this film on a number of occasions including once in a scene with Dunst.

Some of the other quite excellent effects are saved for the Green Goblin and I will say no more here I will let you see for yourself how good they are, but if you want to take my word for it they are good! Generally the CGI effects in the film were good too but there were a couple of occasions where it was a little dodgy but it didn't detract from the film at all. I will advise you of this though, if you go to see this movie try and sit as centrally to the screen as you can and quite far
back too as I believe this enhances the experience of the special effects.

The film is rated '12' but only because of the advertised scenes of 'fantasy violence' and they aren't that strong in my opinion and apart from that I'd say this is a film for all ages. Although there is that bit where Dunst's shirt gets wet.

Spider-man is out on general release from 14th June 2002 and if you didn't see it during last weekend's special preview dates (8th and 9th June 2002) then I strongly recommend you go and see this film. In fact even if you did see it over that weekend then I'd suggest you go and see it again because I know I'm going to!

The title of my review comes from a line in the film that is said to Peter Parker by his Uncle, Ben Parker (Uncle Ben if you like, sorry). You think it is in a 'growing-up advice' kind of way or in Parker's case also a superhero kind of way but wait until the end of the film and in a completely unnecessary and OTT corny moment the line comes up again but this time it is used in a different kind of none too subtle message.

Finally isn't the movie business great? This film hasn't been properly released in the UK yet but already the sequel is in the pipeline and is scheduled for release in May 2004! Apparently Maguire and Dunst are already signed up for the next film.

Oh I do have one question though, in the comic/cartoon we all know the 'super' spider that bit Parker died but in the film I wonder what happened to that spider because after it bites Parker we then see it crawl away under a piece of furniture.

Beware, it could be somewhere near you!

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