Spider-Man

Year: 2002 (Spider-Man), 2004 (Spider-Man 2), 2007 (Spider-Man 3)
Running time: 121 minutes (Spider-Man), 127 minutes (Spider-Man 2), 139 minutes (Spider-Man 3)

Certificate: 12A (Spider-Man, Spider-Man 3), PG (Spider-Man 2)

Language: English

Screenplay: David Koepp (Spider-Man), Alvin Sargent (Spider-Man 2), Sam Raimi, Ivan Raimi, Alvin Sargent (Spider-Man 3)

Director: Sam Raimi

Starring: Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, Willem Dafoe, James Franco, Rosemary Harris, Cliff Robertson, J.K. Simmons, Bruce Campbell, Alfred Molina, Topher Grace, Thomas Haden Church, Bryce Dallas Howard, James Cromwell

An iconic kiss.

Spider-Man could have been a huge failure back in 2002, before comic book superhero movies were everywhere with a guaranteed monster audience, regardless of actual quality. It's quite a difficult superhero concept to pull off successfully – not as dark and brooding as Batman, but not as heroic and colourful as Superman, the web-slinger lies somewhere in between seriousness and pure escapism. In the hands of a less competent director, or simply a director that wasn’t as much of a fan, this would probably have misfired badly. Thanks to Sam Raimi of Evil Dead fame, Spider-Man is on a par with X-Men in terms of quality comic book adaptations.

The secret is not just concentrating on the heroics and over the top action sequences, but under-pinning it with a well of everyday struggles for not only our hero, but for every character – even the bad guys are pretty damn well developed. The original Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe) is an effective villain, even though I'm not the biggest fan of the outfit, because Dafoe has such a gift for playing psychotically insane people.

A run-in with the Goblin.

The story of Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) and his transformation into Spider-Man via a run-in with a bite from a genetically-modified / radioactive spider is so well known that I feel this line is probably enough to cover it. Living with his Aunt May (Rosemary Harris) and Uncle Ben (Cliff Robertson), Peter is a gifted student spending his time being wholesome with his aunt and uncle, geeky at school with rich and not quite as smart best friend Harry Osborn (James Franco) and pining after his crush, girl next door Mary Jane 'MJ' Watson (Kirsten Dunst).

His newly-awakened spider powers give Peter the ability to fight crime, and when, in an act of petty revenge, he neglects to use his ability, tragedy ensues with the death of his uncle Ben. A more on-the-nose example of the oft-repeated phrase 'with great power comes great responsibility' is difficult to imagine. Harry's father Norman loses his mind rather when he loses his company, providing a catalyst to accelerate his transformation into the Green Goblin, and Raimi stages the action and story beats marvellously. Stakes are raised when Harry misunderstands the situation and comes to blame Spider-Man for the death of his father, and Peter comes to understand that to realise his dream of being in a relationship with MJ will potentially endanger her life.

Heroics ensue.

The sequel (still the best of all Spider-Man movies, if you ask me, although I have yet to see No Way Home) ups the ante splendidly and as well as the action being on a larger scale, Peter Parker’s personal problems are getting more troublesome – whereas in the first it was unrequited love for MJ and poor uncle Ben that were the cause of his anguish, this time it’s the weight of responsibility that comes from a position such as his, pulling on the thread exposed at the end of the first film, as well as increasing the weight of that uncle Ben-shaped millstone around his neck.

Properly named comic book villain Dr. Otto Octavius (Afred Molina) fails to perfect the development of a new energy source and the metal arms he was using to try to control it take over him and, in a bravura sequence showing that yes, Raimi is first and foremost a horror maestro, lay waste the surgical team trying to detach them, he is reborn Doc Ock, ready to rob, kill and destroy his way to recreating his failed experiment in an attempt to prove he was right all along.

Doc Ock prepares to do battle.

Despite the rather silly premise (it's a comic book movie, what did you expect?), it's played straight and Raimi's insistence on making Spider-Man's opponents fully fledged characters with sound motivations makes for affecting drama amongst the action shenanigans. There's a really could've been cheesy, but was actually disarmingly-sweet scene where Peter's identity is revealed to the people on a runaway train he's just saved and they all promise to keep his secret.

It all comes together to (almost) perfect the approach to the material that showed so much promise in the first film, although, as happens too often in movies like this, the remarkable Kirsten Dunst is relegated to mere love interest/support/convenient victim that requires saving to motivate the lead male character at the right time.

And then we have part three. Like X-Men: The Last Stand before it, the final part of the trilogy lets the side down. Mainly this is due to Raimi doing what he swore he’d never do – multiple villains – not just two, but three, either one of which would be more than a handful on their own. Raimi should’ve stuck to his guns and left out venom for a further sequel and cut 25 minutes from the running time, as this would’ve improved the film no end. This is not to say it’s a bad film overall – but the second part is definitely the superior film.

Like looking in a mirror, only not.

The villain overload combined with the approach of giving them full character arcs with proper development leaves us overwhelmed. First, we have Peter's best friend Harry going full Defoe and becoming the New Goblin, out for Spider-Man's blood. This has been building since the first film and works really well. Second we have poor Flint Marko (Thomas Haden Church), trying to provide for Penny (Perla Haney-Jardine), his sickly daughter's medical bills. In the rule of trilogies, we also have Peter finding out a truth about the very incident that sent him on this path in the first place; Marko is uncle Ben's real killer.

This in itself would have been enough to justify Peter's descent into darkness, but just to use a sledgehammer to make the point, the alien symbiote Venom also drops to earth and takes up residence in Peter's suit.

I mean it all kind of works - Harry has a redemption arc, eventually giving his life to save his old friend, and Peter has his own road to travel to forgiveness, when it becomes clear that his uncle's death was not murder, but an accident. Again, this would've been enough, but we also have Venom, who retreats to Eddie Brock (Topher Grace) once Peter overcomes him. Eddie has no such arc, and decides to embrace the darkness to exact vengeance on Peter, which costs him his life. Eddie is only like this because Peter ensured he was disproportionately punished for some wrong decisions he made while Peter was under the Venom influence, but I don't think Peter feels any remorse for Eddie's death, which can arguably be laid at Peter's feet, at least in part. And he should. It all fits the theme of one's choices and actions defining who you are, but it's a little overwhelming, and I think Venom and Eddie should have been reserved for a future film.

Peter makes some...questionable choices.

Tobey Maguire is perfect for the role in all three films, and he plays a man on the verge of being buried by his responsibilities at just the right pitch. One suspects that he had enormous fun making the third movie when his character finally gives up the good fight and goes to the dark side, which apparently, according to his make-up, means going emo. Darth Vader he is not.

A stonking trilogy, which unfortunately loses a little shine due a bloated third part.

Score:

Spider-Man: 8/10
Spider-Man 2: 9/10
Spider-Man 3: 6/10

My thoughts on this Spider-Trilogy broadly mirror those of Roger Ebert, with the exception of the first movie, which I liked a fair bit more. See his reviews of Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man 3.