Spider-Man
I went to see Spider-Man last week and I really enjoyed it. I wasn’t expecting it to be absolutely amazing but I didn’t think it would be awful either. Thankfully, it exceeded my expectations. One of the best things about it for me was that it stayed very true to the comics (except for Spider-Man firing web out of his wrists – in the comics he makes the webbing himself, this is something that was left in from James Cameron’s original screenplay of a few years ago when he wanted Leonardo di Caprio to play Spider-Man!). When I first heard Tobey Maguire was to play Spider-Man, I was initially disappointed because I didn’t think he’d be able to play the role well. After watching it, I thought he was perfect for the role and he really surprised me. Apparently, he had to do 6 months intensive working out to build his body for the role but it paid off as he looked (and sounded) great. Kirsten Dunst was also a good choice to play Mary-Jane Watson, and Willem DeFoe rounded off a good cast as Norman Osborn/The Green Goblin. It was also nice to see former WWF superstar Macho Man Randy Savage in there, along with Sam Raimi’s old Evil Dead pal, Bruce Campbell, in cameo roles. Contracts have already been signed to make 2 sequels, and hopefully they’ll be able to surpass this film, which was really just a scene-setter, and a way to introduce the characters and the world of Spider-Man. Some of the CGI in this film has been criticised and I guess in parts there is a bit of the “George Lucas syndrome” – too much reliance on computer generated special effects. One scene in particular just looked completely fake and reminded me of a fight scene in Blade 2 where it was blatantly obvious that it wasn’t real actors. Overall though, I thoroughly enjoyed Spider-Man and can’t wait for the inevitable sequel.