Listen Bud, He's Got Radioactive Blood

If I'm going to watch one of the three Spider-man movies, it's usually going to be the second movie, as it's a perfect blend of character, action and plot. But with Columbia Pictures announcing that they're dumping Sam Raimi, who's shepherded all of the Spidey movies so far, in favor of a college set reboot, I'd thought I'd check out the first one again.

At the time I though this was THE best superhero adaptation I'd ever seen. As time wore on I felt it was a cliched rather plot that played the 'Universal Superhero Origin Playbook'...step by step. And for that I'm not sure whether that's a good or a bad thing. It being a David Koepp script, it's meticulously structured, condensing plot points and character development into seemingly simplistic scenes. But it's got a three act structure that's all too familiar; hero's background is established, he obtains superpowers and discovers how to apply them for good, then when the parallel story of the super villain comes to fruition...they fight to save the city/the world.

What I'd forgotten about the first movie was how much director Sam Raimi's signature is all over this movie. Raimi has two styles; the off-the-wall craziness of The Evil Dead and the restrained dramatist of A Simple Plan and I'd kind of remembered Spider-Man having a style that was more of the latter, than the former. But that's not so. The tone, while nearly always played seriously, has a heightened comic-book feel throughout. Be it Danny Elfman's Batman-ish score, the wild Spidey-eyed viewpoint as he swings through the city or the maniacal, Deadite inspired cackling of The Green Goblin, this is clearly Raimi's movie. Even more tellingly is the trademark way Raimi puts his lead actor/character through hell (making Peter Parker run for the bus/get bullied at school/pine for Mary Jane as his best mate dates her). This is reallly prominent in the wrestling sequence where poor Parker gets abused in and out of the ring...I love it where the poor guy even has to argue his name...originally The Human Spider! Raimi is the other kids on the bus. And he's the wrestling audience...laughing all the way at Parker's misfortune. Of course, with a character this beaten down, there's a great positive release for the audience when Peter gets to fight back using his new found powers.

I remembered Spider-Man as a pretty standard origin movie. But it isn't. It's better than that thanks to a director whose not afraid to let the disturbing voices in his head tell him what to do, every now and again. Even if that does mean picking on Toby MacGuire for entertainment value. At the time the reboot announcement was made, I felt it a big mistake to restart a franchise that was still at it's very peak of popularity (unlike the Joel Schulmacher butchered Batman franchise which required a Christopher Nolan resuscitation kit). Now they're replacing Raimi, it's highly unlikely we'll see a movie that comes close to Raimi's vision. But here's hoping...