Spider-Man (2002): Remembering A Classic
It’s now been 19 whole years since Sam Raimi’s superhero epic Spider-Man swung onto theaters and blew the minds of nerds everywhere.
As an avid fan of the character, I thought it best to post an article talking about this eternal classic, because, well, it’s the internet, and we’re stuck in our houses thanks to a global pandemic. Why the hell not?
Before we continue, let it be known that all of this is, in fact, my own OPINION, and is in no way shape or form to be taken too seriously or as fact. That said, let’s dive into it.
Growing up, I knew of Spider-Man (the character, not the film, in this case) from the ever “amazing” 90’s cartoon, featuring the voice of Christopher Daniel Barnes in the lead role. So, naturally, when news of a live action iteration was flying around, my ears were ringin’. I was about 6 at the time and I made sure I was up on the news till its release. I saw newspaper articles of the suit reveal, plot details, and even loved the trailers and coverages on the film on various tv commercials and news sections. I was ready for this thing to drop, and it was the most anticipated movie my 6 year old little nerdy self really wanted to see.
The hype for this movie could not have been more, and then, the moment of truth. This thing hit, and it turned out to be way better than anyone expected. Now, it’s important to know that this was a time before the MCU, and all this superhero love we see among people today. Directors and studios were still trying to figure out how to get these fantastical characters and their powers right on the big screen.
And so it was also a time where the trend to make it serious and grounded was in full force, as well. Blade and X-Men, both of which released before Spider-Man were evident of this fact. So, what is considered the norm with each new MCU installment today, was a pretty ballsy move on director Sam Raimi’s part, as he went in a completely different direction.
Using the early 60’s comic books as a template for his vision of the world and character, he was careful to sprinkle in just enough of the then new Ultimate Spider-Man comic books so that it had it’s fair share of relatability and drama, both of which that series was pretty famous for.
With the level of camp in this film, the amount of stuff he wanted from the comic books, this movie by all accounts should definitely not work. Yet it does, beyond my expectations.
Now, at the time, much of the success and rave reviews came from the fact that he took the technology available at the time and made a movie that worked from start to finish, and that was more than enough to exceed expectations. But 19 years on, I wondered if it still would…
Now, a good lesson I’ve learned when judging comic book movies over time, is that a character should be judged by what he does not what he says. A myriad of Spider-Man fans are quick on the draw regarding a few arguments made to tear down this adaptation of the webhead.
“Maguire plays the character too stiff!”, says one superfan.
“He doesn’t quip at all, and he’s just awkward!” says the other. “He don’t even got webshooters, bro!”, another chimes in.
Now, I’ve mentioned before, I’m a fan of the character. I delved into the comic books to see if they were onto something, and while they most definitely have a point, I’d say none of that matters when you compare the essence of the movie to that of the comic books, i.e, the source material.
Spider-Man (2002) is undoubtedly a coming of age story. We see a young boy struck by tragedy as an almost direct result of his irresponsibility, thereby birthing the quote “With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility”, and that was the moral lesson of Spider-Man’s very first story in the comic books. The movie absolutely illustrates that point, throughout its runtime and is laser focused on it, ending the film with the same line, bring it it all to a head.
Briskly paced, and packed to the brim with larger-than-life action set pieces, this movie manages to strike the perfect balance between character development, and popcorn superhero moments. It’s exactly the formula of an old Spider-Man comic. Writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko always delivered an issue each month that had enough time dedicated to dorky Peter Parker’s woes (he’s behind on rent, he’s gotta be the man of the house, and he can’t find a date to save his life), and his extraordinary adventures as the masked webslinging wonder we all know and love.
This movie follows that premise verbatim, as we set both the hero and villain up side-by-side within the 1st 40 minutes of the film. What this movie does better than any other adaptation since, is set up a good conflict, a back and forth, if you will, between Spider-Man and the Green Goblin.
Spider-Man springs on the scene after his uncle Ben is murdered as an indirect result of an earlier action. He saves a ton of people, and then has to deal with a raving lunatic with some wicked weaponry. Green Goblin being a maniac on the loose, and Spider-Man being a paragon of all things good in this world are both the core of these characters. Organic webbing and the lack of too much quips from our beloved hero don’t matter much when their actions undoubtedly dictate that they’re in fact accurate.
Besides, there are tones of visual references from the comic books that Raimi has sprinkled into this film for good measure, two of which are quite clearly the bridge sequence, and the death of the Goblin, both ripped from the pages of the comic books.
Observing these things as I grew older made me realize that adaptations and accuracy can come in various different forms, and the best ones are often subtle nods that, while aren’t the point of the movie, are so seamlessly injected into the film, that it feels authentic.
That brings me to my closing statement about this whole thing. For me and my money’s worth, I don’t necessarily want a movie to be comic accurate, so much as I want it to be comic authentic. If the heart and soul of the source is ever present within the adaptation, then it has already won in my eyes.