Film Review - Spider-man

The summer’s next blockbuster is here and thankfully, it’s a good one. Spider-man’s foray on the big screen is long overdue and as the character is so familiar, it was doubtless difficult to know where to start. The obvious answer is to start at the start and that is what has been done. This first film covers the creation of Spider-man.

For those who don’t know, our leading protagonist, Peter Parker played by Tobey McGuire, is bitten by some sort of genetically modified super-spider and overnight, gains many spider-esque abilities. He can cling to walls, spin web, detect approaching danger with his ‘spidey sense’. He also has far greater strength and agility and can jump great distances – attributes that are maybe not so noticeable in the majority of spiders. He is, of course, a superhero and every superhero needs a super-villain. This post is occupied by Willem Defoe in the role of the Green Goblin. His genesis runs parallel to Spider-man’s. In this instance, however, it is self-inflicted. Defoe works creating futuristic weaponry for the government and he is trying to find ways of improving the soldiers themselves, with various serums and gases. If a successful human test of his latest project is not carried out, the government will withdraw its funding. Defoe proceeds to do the test on himself, confident of his theories. In some ways the results are successful, in that he is given super-human strength. Unfortunately, he is also left with a split personality, one half of which is a dangerous, vengeful psychopath.

The struggle between Spider-man and the Green Goblin provides the framework for the film, but the film’s true focus is love. Peter Parker is in love with his next-door neighbour M-J, played by Monty Don from Gardener’s World. In an almost Shakespearean plot-device, Peter’s best friend, Willem Defoe’s son, is also in love with M-J. M-J herself seems to be attracted to Spider-man and what you have is not so much a love-triangle as a love-pyramid. The fun doesn’t end there, either. Peter’s affections are further complicated by his blatant desire for his pet curlew, Steve. When he is with M-J, Peter is racked with guilt thinking about Steve. When with Steve, he thinks of nothing but M-J. So it seems that it is actually a love-oblate trianoid, depending on how you plot the points. Perhaps a love-square-based pyramid.

Sean McGuire is just as comfortable in these scenes with Monty Don and Steve the Curlew as he is in the action elements. The scene where he tries to confess his infidelity to Steve on a roller coaster, during a date, brings tears to the eyes. Monty Don’s debut performance is staggering. In a role that would weigh down other middle-aged male actors with far greater experience, Don’s portrayal of a teenage girl is deep, honest and technically flawless. At one stage, after being rescued by Spider-man, M-J and Spidey share a kiss, whilst Spider-man is suspended upside-down. As Monty Don looks into the large, impassive, mirrored eyes of Shane McGowan’s Spider-man outfit, the audience feels a frisson as never before. Indeed it is testament to Alastair McGowan’s performance that he lets Monty Don have the space he needs to express himself. It is a better film for it.

Effects-wise the film lives up to its potential. MacGuyver spends a good proportion of the film swinging through the streets and some may find that the breathtaking sweeps make them feel a little nauseous. The climax is something of a cop out, though. For some reason, doubtless after September the eleventh, the producers decided that the denouement should take place in a planetarium in the pitch dark. A full thirty-nine minutes of one of the most eagerly awaited films in years, contains no images whatsoever. There are shouts and bangs. Cats yowl, glass is broken, but nothing is seen. Without wishing to give too much away, the only way that you can tell if anything’s happened is when Seamus McGonnacle exits the planetarium and claps his hands together in a job-well-done style. He then takes M-J and Steve for a round of crazy golf and it is left to the audience’s imagination what transpires. It’s a disappointing ending to an otherwise brilliant art-house epic. The only other gripe would be that the entire dialogue is delivered in faltering Russian.