$114 million in three short days. CGI imagery that veers from the awe-inspiring to the frankly awful. A bad guy who wouldn’t look out of place in a Power Rangers flick. Fan boys all across the world pointing out even the slightest of mistakes. Kirsten Dunst’s nipples… it seems that, this summer, it’s been impossible to escape from the phenomenon that is Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man. Indeed, not even those who have had their craniums firmly wedged up their own sphincters will have failed to escape the ongoing debate of whether this really is the re-birth of the quality summer blockbuster.

What’s great about Spider-Man is its capacity to hold onto seemingly obsolete values - characters you can root for, a genuine plot - while still delivering maximum bang for the buck. A perfect melding of director and subject matter, this pleasurable take on the worldwide web-slinger attempts to pull off the nifty trick of satisfying the fanboy geeks, the Raimi freaks, and the movie thrill-seeker in one sublime swoop. And you know what? It almost succeeds. Almost.

It’s taken a long time for the adventures of Peter Parker to make it to the big screen, with everyone from James Cameron to David Fincher tipped for the director role, Kate Hudson and Alicia Witt were red-hot for Mary Jane, and (heaven forbid) Freddie Prinze Jnr was worryingly a shoe-in to don the Spidey outfit. Thankfully, sense prevailed and Raimi, Dunst, Tobey Maguire and Willen Dafoe were all given the nod, aided and abetted by a script from A-list writer David Koepp.

In a leisurely opening reminiscent of Superman, Raimi sketches Peter Parker’s credentials with telling character beats, allowing us a decent introduction to the geeky high schooler with a heart-breakingly severe crush on skirt-next-door MJ (Dunst). Then a bite from a genetically engineered arachnid transforms Parker into a bemuscled marvel, with the ability to climb walls, leap between buildings, sense danger from a mile off, jump really, really far and fire sticky stuff from his wrist.

After his selfish exploiting of these newfound powers leads to murder, Parker realises that his destiny lies in helping the helpless. Good thing too: Across town, scientist and businessman Norman Osborn (Dafoe), has developed an alternate personality of his own – that of the super-strong, psychotic Green Goblin - after exposing himself to an experimental nerve gas. As you do. And so, once the spider skills have been acquired, - Maguire brings an endearing goofiness to his first attempts at web-slinging - the script strikes a streamlined simplicity: it’s Spidey vs. Green Goblin. No masterplans to freeze the city, no threats of human salvation, just plenty of good old-fashioned fights.

And what fights. Raimi uses every crash-bang-wallop trick in the book, staging his action many miles above ground level and caring not for who or what he has to blow up in the process, exhibiting more out and out brutality, most especially during the final Spidey/Goblin showdown, than a family film has any right to be.

Which is not to say that Spider-Man is just about mindless action. Unlike most superhero-based movies, Koepp’s script gives us a decent introduction to the man behind the mask: here Maguire is a beautifully rendered high-school loser, a kid struggling to come to terms with his new life, the kind of fleshed out character that demands to be played by a young thesp with real credentials. Maguire is that man, perfectly balancing the sort of ironic witticisms we’ve come to expect from our Lycra clad heroes, with teen angst that never falls into Dawson’s Creek territory.

But if Maguire is heaven sent, then Dunst is practically an angel, a popular but confused teen striving for definition in her life. Physically, she’s not as naturally beautiful as, say, Jennifer Lopez, nor does she possess the slender physique of Sarah Michelle Gellar.

Yet with her irresistibly cheeky grin, piercing green eyes and an unpretentiously cute face, she manages to be eminently sexier than both. She is a caring, vulnerable anygirl who everyone and anyone can fall for. Her relationship with Maguire is sweet and endearing, adding an emotional element missing from so many blockbusters these days. Believe me, after two hours in her presence, many young adolescents will take to the comfort of their own bedrooms and fire sticky goo of their own with just a flick of the wrist. Special mention must also go to J.K. Simmons, who steals every scene he’s in as the vein-popping, cigar-chomping editor of the Daily Bugle.

And for all of Spider-Man’s reputation as the gaudy, sunny side of superherodom, Raimi still manages to shoehorn some darkness into the mix, particularly a genuinely unnerving moment when Dafoe, taunted by the Goblin’s haunting cackles, goes in search of the source, only to be confronted by himself in the mirror.

It’s with the introduction of the aforementioned green baddie, however, where Spider-Man begins to shed its own unique feel and the rot sets in. We have a scene where the supervillain's terrorising debut is unleashed at a parade that includes a plethora of giant cartoon balloons floating overhead, helped along by a decidedly low-par, all-too-familiar score by Danny Elfman, that is very reminiscent of Tim Burton’s Batman.

Heck, the scene in which Spidey initially saves the life of MJ, causing her to fall head over heels in lust with him, is a little more than a re-write of the Reeves/Kidder meeting in Richard Donner’s Superman. In fact, by the time the umpteenth Superman ‘homage’ rears its head, when Maguire pulls his shirt open to reveal the superhero logo on his chest, it begins to come across as a rip-off of every decent comic book movie from the last twenty-five years. Look close enough, and you’ll see scenes and ideas pilfered from a whole range of superhero flicks, including Raimi’s very own Darkman.

What’s more, it’s a sin that for the vast majority of the film, Dafoe’s menacingly scowl and talented mannerisms are concealed behind a pathetically ineffective techno-monstrosity. There’s also a serious, and convenient, lack of logic apparent. Yeah, we get reasoning’s behind why Osborn tried the formula and why he’s got a grudge against his company, but the bulk of the plot involves the emerald-coloured one trying to get Spidey to become his partner in crime, and then becoming hell-bent on revenge when he is met by a refusal. Sorry, run that by me again because it doesn’t make a lick of sense.

And the special FX. Oh the FX. Okay, so you can forgive a film for having one or two teething problems during initial scenes, but the early moments of our titular hero are comprised of shoddy matte work and/or alarmingly dodgy CGI. Frankly, the first glimpses of Spidey web swinging his way through New York's concrete canyons look excremental. He moves artificially, like a character in an older-generation video game as he spins through, leaps over and scales up and down a stylised urban landscape.

And while these major problems are ironed out later on, you can’t help but wonder how, in this age of supercomputers and superfluous attention to detail, such laziness made it onto the big screen. Did Spielberg use sock puppets for the first 20 minutes of Jurassic Park? No, because first impressions count, and for all the incredible shots of Spidey swinging round flagpoles or landing on balconies that Raimi uses, it’s too late: the illusion has been shattered before it had even begun.

By the time the credits roll, your tolerance for such indifference is the one and only barometer of your enjoyment of this film. Some Spider-Man fans will find many things to whine about (go to www.movie-mistakes.com for proof), despite Koepp’s script sticking - pun intended - to the comic book as much as artistic licence will allow.

Raimi’s twisty, fast-and-furious direction is excellent throughout, and the performances, from both the young and the old cast members, are generally admirable. There isn’t a heck of a lot wrong with it, but when it does sag it sinks to depressingly apathetic levels. It’s a fun filled, action-packed and, when all’s said and done, enjoyable example of how most blockbuster’s should be. If they can amputate the flaws for the 2004 sequel, maybe then we’ll be treated to a superhero film that fully justifies its own hype.


Recommended:
Yes

Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 9 - 12