Doing Whatever a Spider Can

This is the fourth of five entries about my Boston vacation. To start at the beginning, go here.

Amazing, isn't it? The original Spider-Man cartoon series ("Spider-Man, Spider Man...") dates from the 1960s (you can tell from the animation - weak), but that corny theme song ("...doing whatever a spider can...") is still with us, all these years later.

Still, ol' Spidey has generally been treated with respect (the Nicholas ??? TV-movies from the 70s were acceptable, within the limits of the effects technology of the time, and the 1980s cartoons were not bad, for kiddie fare), and Webhead had much less to overcome than Batman did in his first feature film. Batman, after all, had to live down Adam West, Burt Ward, and "Pow! Zap!" And he did live it down, even if his film series started with Michael Keaton (huh?) in the title role, Jack Nicholson and his near-complete non-resemblance to the Joker, Tim Burton going his usual all-style/no-substance directing route, and a horrible music score courtesy of the astoundingly overrated Danny Elfman. (Indeed, the Darknight Detective has generally fared best in his 1990s cartoon series.)

Spider-Man (2002), which my Dad and I saw today, has the wall-crawler faring better than bat-ears did. For one thing, it gives him Tobey Maguire in the title role, and while Maguire's narrative skills leave something to be desired, his performance as Peter Parker the outcast geek is spot on, and he successfully carries off the transformation to tragic but noble Spider-Man quite well.

Spidey has a more sensitive director than Bats did, in Sam Raimi. I'm unfamiliar with Raimi's other films (which from their promotional material have never struck me as my kind of stuff), but he displays a grasp of the essence of Spidey's character, what makes him successful, and he's able to resist tinkering with the important points. He doesn't get cutesy (as Burton did by having the Joker be the assassin of Bruce Wayne's parents), but pulls of Spider-Man's origin from the spider bite through the discovery of his abilities to the tragic decision which turns Peter into an adult and a hero. Sure, he swaps Gwen Stacy for Mary Jane Watson, but that hardly matters, and the Green Goblin story arc bears a surprising similarity to the comic book originals.

(How much of these decisions are due to the writers and how much due to Raimi? Beats me, but directors claim so much of the credit in Hollywood that it seems pointless to differentiate between them without evidence of who did what.)

Best of all, the script keeps the wall-crawler's wit and charm intact. He cracks wise, and leaves cards for the police that the bad guys wrapped up in the webbing are courtesy "Your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man". Superman may be a world-saving hero whom everyone looks up to, but Spider-Man is that smiling guy down the street who does you a good turn just 'cause he was in the neighborhood, and this film doesn't forget that.

Regrettably, Spidey - like Bats before him - is saddled with a dreadful Danny Elfman score; dreary, moody and ponderous, it's hard to imagine a less-suitable composer for this film. Fortunately, tuning it out is not so hard, so it's not a crippling blow to the film. But you'd think that a film like this could have gotten a big boost from the score. Ah, well.

There's fairly little to say about Kirsten Dunst as MJ, largely because she's not given a lot to do in the script. (The original relationship between Peter and Gwen Stacy was complex and evolved over the course of three years of comic books, so that's no big surprise. The comic book Mary Jane was a very different creature than the one presented here, already an adult professional when Peter met her, so the comparison with Gwen seems more apt.) On the other hand, Willem Dafoe as Norman Osbourne (a.k.a. The Green Goblin) gets to evolve from responsible but beleaguered corporate honcho and father to Peter's best friend Harry to the psychopathic flying killer. Before he snaps entirely, he gets some of the best lines in the film ("Sorry I'm late. Work was murder. I brought a fruitcake!").

J. K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson gets many of the other best lines, as the Daily Bugle's fast-talking tightwad publisher. Despite his brief screen time, he's one of the best things about the film. Too bad the same can't be said for Bill Nunn as editor Robbie Robertson, who's the Bugle's soul and father figure but. Nunn looks nothing like Robbie (in the comics, Robbie looks tall and fit; Nunn looks short and plump), and seems devoid of character.

The film's story arc is never dull: Peter, of course, is bitten by a mutated spider and gains strength, agility, a danger sense, the ability to walk on walls, and to shoot webbing from his wrists. (In the comics, he invents devices to perform this last trick, but the movie's conceit is no less plausible; I mean, is a 17-year-old really going to invent those shooters?) He decides to use his abilities to make money, but in doing so his emotions result in personal tragedy, and he learns that "With great power comes great responsibility", and embarks on his career as a hero. Meanwhile, Norman Osbourne, fearing that his company's great research project is about to fail, tests it on himself, resulting in his gaining super-powers and a psychotic second personality. Murdering and destroying as the Green Goblin to get what he wants, he soon runs into Spidey, who does his best to stop him, a task which proves difficult when the Goblin learns how to strike at him where it hurts the most.

The film's greatest flaw, ultimately, is that Raimi never quite figures out how to stage the camera shots of Spidey swinging around town and fighting with the Goblin. The pace is too frenetic, and not only is it often hard to tell what's going on, but we're never given any lavish shots of Spidey doing his thing so that we can enjoy them. It's frustrating.

The film also blows its denouement, forcing Peter into a difficult decision that he shouldn't have to make so soon, and of course he has to make the self-sacrificing choice, which is unfortunate since despite the personal tragedy that is at the core of Spider-Man's character, Spidey is ultimately about persevering in the face of adversity, and somehow coming out on top of one's own world no matter what hardships the world throws at you. You don't always win, but sooner or later you end up in a good spot, and the film doesn't feel like it ends at that spot.

Still, I guess that's what sequels are for, huh? Well, I'd go see one; this first film was certainly fun enough to justify a second round!

After the film and a couple of hours with my Dad, I headed into downtown Boston for my annual (more or less) meeting with my friend Bruce, whom I've known for over ten years from back when we were both in an APA together. Our meeting are usually a big gab-fest, and this was no exception, as we whiled away a couple of hours in a bar just off Commonwealth Ave near Kenmore Square, and then had dinner at Davio's Italian restaurant on Newbury St (though apparently they'll soon be moving to Arlington St).

At Davio's I suggested we eat inside rather than outside, since the humidity was getting me down. This turned out to be a fine choice, since almost everyone else was eating outside, which meant we nearly had the place to ourselves! So not only did we not have to worry about when to leave, but we had the nearly-undivided attention of the waitress, a charming young lady (named Sophie, according to the bill) who proved adept at keeping up with Bruce in the wry comment department (no small feat, that!). Bruce commented at one point that it had been a while since the waitstaff at a restaurant had been a truly positive component of the meal. For my part, I wondered to him whether she thought we were a gay couple. Never did figure that one out, but I kind of suspected so... I hope we gave her a sufficient tip!

Bruce is doing well. He's nearly the only person from APA Centauri I'm still in regular contact with, and it's hard to believe that the first time we met Bruce was younger than I am now. Well, time only marches in the one direction.