OxfordPress.com

Grade: B+

Verdict: What a comic-book movie should be.

Details: Starring Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst and Willem Dafoe. Directed by Sam Raimi. Rated PG-13 for comic-book violence and one potentially traumatic death. Two hours.

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Review: Since the sequel is already in the works, a review of “Spider-Man” almost seems superfluous. But it definitely isn't. Because, when a comic-book movie gets it right, as this one does, people should know, especially those who think of going to a big over-hyped summer blockbuster about as often as they think about going to the South Pole.

This is a film, of course, in which a guy slings webs, scales walls and fights a villain who looks like a cross between the Joker and the grille of a Dodge Ram. But much like Peter Jackson and the initial “Lord of the Rings” movie, director Sam Raimi gets Spider-Man; he's been smitten with Spidey since he was a kid. (For his 12th birthday,we're told, his mom painted a Spider-Man mural on his bedroom wall.)

To Raimi, making Spider-Man isn't interchangeable with making “The Scorpion King” or “Men In Black II” or any other big-budgeted summer movie. That fan's pure devotion coupled with Raimi's considerable directorial flair (remember the “Evil Dead” movies or “A Simple Plan”?) makes the movie far better than you might expect.

For anyone who hasn't been reading Marvel Comics since the early '60s (when Stan Lee created the character), Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) is a teen geek who lives in Queens with his Uncle Ben and Aunt May (Cliff Robertson and Rosemary Harris). Peter's the kind of guy who gets kicked around by the other kids for no particular reason, the kind of guy with a hopeless crush on the girl next door, Mary Jane (Kirsten Dunst, with flame-red hair).

On a school field trip, Peter is bitten by a genetically mutated spider. The next morning, he no longer needs his glasses; his abs look like they were carved out of The Rock. He soon discovers he has other powers, too: He can crawl up walls and spin webs that make leaping over tall buildings in a single bound uneccessary. He simply swings though Manhattan's concrete canyons. (Special effects evaluation: very, very good but not always thrilling.)

When tragedy strikes his family, Peter stops fooling around with his new powers and starts fighting crime. Meanwhile, Norman Osborn (Willem Dafoe), the tycoon dad of Peter's best friend Harry (James Franco who played James Dean on TV), is experiencing a super-power make-over, too. In a Jekyll -and- Hyde scenario, the good Osborn turns into the bad Green Goblin, who cruises around on a glider wreaking havoc and trying to destroy Spider-Man.

Okay, it's not Tolstoy. It's not even Tolkien. But it is a picture jam-packed with swinging action scenes, spiffy spider jokes and an unforced earnestness that never becoes corny or tongue-in-cheek. “Spider-Man” doesn't go for the retro-camp of “Dick Tracy” or the brooding hipness of “Batman.” True, the Spidey/Green Goblin battles are generic and somewhat repetitive, which can make the movie feel long. But the picture has an an energy and a self-confidence that give it a terrific movie-movie feel.

Even the acting is better than it usually is in this kind of flick. Dafoe brings some of his downtown theater training to his role, especially in the scenes where the innocent Osborn is talking with his evil alter identity. (at one point, he chats with The Green Goblin's mask which hangs from a wing-back chair.) Dunst, whose work in the current “The Cat's Meow” proves she doesn't have anything to prove to anyone, puts some spunk and integrity in her admittedly limited role.

Still, it all comes down to Maguire who is flat-out terrific. A lot of fuss surrounded his casting: what's the sensitive kid from “The Ice Storm” and “The Cider House Rules” doing as a beloved comic-book hero? But Raimi said that he didn't need to look for Spider-Man; he needed to find Peter Parker. Maguire, with his slightly crooked grin, his mild yet laser-sharp gaze and his crackly, choked-up voice turns out to be the perfect choice. He knows we root for poor, shy Peter as much as we do for Spidey in all his wall-crawling splendor. Maguire brings a pensiveness to the part as well a goofy likability and an unabashed intelligence. When things get totally outlandish, he's our touchstone.

The best advice Uncle Ben gives to his nephew is “With great power comes great responsibility.” Sam Raimi knows exactly what that means.

— Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, (none)