Hi All

Here the first Spiderman Review by spidermanhype.com....enjoy

That's right WE'VE SEEN SPIDER-MAN!!!

We were more than a little giddy as we were greeted at the entrance of the Sony/Columbia Studios, in Culver City CA, by a huge billboard of Spidey. (to see a bigger version of the pic we snapped hit the thumbnail) After a short "self guided" tour around the lot we and a very small group of people were seated in the screening theater… Chris nervously thumbed on the back of the seat in front of him, Mirko complained about the lack of air conditioning - because he was too excited… Three years of HYPE was about to pay off.

The "official" press screening & junket is scheduled for this Saturday and Sunday, so sorry gang we'll be seeing the movie again on Saturday… we will have more in depth coverage of the events shortly thereafter. Here is the Hype!'s look at "Spider-Man".

From the moment the first images came on the screen, we knew the wait had indeed been well worth it. The film's opening credits are some of the coolest in recent memory. Very quick cuts of familiar comic images appear as the Danny Elfman score begins to take us on the ultimate spin. And yes, fans of comic artist Steve Ditko (Spider-Man co-creator) can rest easy as he gets a great "Spider-Man created by…" credit. The opening credits are a swirling trip through spider webs, cityscapes and glimpses of our title hero, very cool and stylized! Right away we are introduced to Peter Parker, Mary Jane, and Pete's chum Harry Osborn as they go on a field trip that quickly changes our soon to be hero's future forever. We learn quickly that Peter is smart, in love with M.J. and that he's an easy target for Flash Thompson and his cronies. Unlike other superhero films where you have to wait an hour for things to kick into gear or see the hero do his thing, this film deals with the origin very efficiently and gets Peter crawling and leaping within the first thirty minutes. However it will be nearly an hour before we see Peter Parker in full on SPIDER-MAN gear… but the early scenes of Peter discovering his new-found powers and learning to master them only makes the final reveal of the suit that much more great.

We won't bore you with plot details, if you've been visiting the HYPE these past few years you know the Spider-Man story. But there are a few important plot points that have been the buzz of Spidey fans all over the internet. The fact that in the film Peter is bitten by a "genetically engineered" super-spider rather than an irradiated one makes no difference, the end result is the same, Peter gets bitten and gets his powers. The other much-debated issue revolves around the web-shooters. Well, let's just say this: contrary to photographic evidence there are NO MECHANICAL WEB-SHOOTERS in this film! Nope Nada! They aren't even mentioned. Now we know that some of you reading this will say "wtf" - but let me assure you, you won't miss them and the way the organic web-shooters are handled here makes perfect sense. The Green Goblin. The choice to put the goblin in armor rather than his traditional comic book togs works. Sure we would have loved to see old Norman put on the Halloween fright mask and spandex undies, but the fact is this movie delivers the Green Goblin in a very believable and frightening way, again it makes perfect sense. OsCorp has military contracts and is developing the high-tech supersoldier suit that Norman Osborn ultimately assumes control of.

Okay let's move on.

This movie moves, at a running time of two hours it seemed much shorter. The pacing is great, you get enough action spaced out between character pieces, then it's back in your face Spider-Man action then a little character then MORE SPIDEY! When Peter ultimately decides to use his "Human Spider" powers to make a few quick bucks in a wrestling match against the champ Bone Saw McGraw, played for every grunt he can muster by wrestler Randy Savage, in an attempt to impress Mary Jane, a decision that ultimately leads to a tragic string of events that seals Uncle Ben's fate and Peter's forever. The fight in the steel cage is everything we've come to expect from the WWF, lots of tossing around the ring, Peter is at first taken off guard and takes quite a beating, mid-air leaps with elbows to the neck and a chair bashing that made our backs hurt. As the crowd goes wild, dubbed the "Amazing Spider-Man" by ringmaster Bruce Campbell, Peter quickly turns the tables on Bone Saw. The makeshift Spidey costume is an amusing touch and watching Peter use his "amazing" abilities of web slinging and strength are a real kick. Literally.

The middle of the film features a huge set piece, The World Unity Festival, where the world gets its first taste of pumpkin bombs in a big way. This first confrontation between Spider-Man and the Green Goblin is a full on smackdown superhero fight that will make any comic book fan very happy. Don't blink or you'll miss Stan Lee's cameo!! And every superhero needs to save the fair damsel in distress, Spidey does this as M.J. falls from a balcony snatching her in the nick of time and taking her for an impromptu tour of the city high above the streets of New York. This scene is the equivalent of the "Can You Read My Mind" sequence from the first Superman movie, the effect is the same… the girl falls head over heels for the HERO.

The movie covers a few months in the lives of our hero, from High school graduation to Thanksgiving, you don't get the feeling that this film all takes place in one weekend, which is good. It also helps to explain that within that span of time Peter would have had the time to make one real cool looking costume complete with Oakley eyepieces. All the while Norman Osborn is getting crazier and crazier feeling the effects of his earlier exposure to the supersoldier serum. A revealing scene in which Norman Osborn hears the voice of his alter ego is quite well staged and is one our personal favorites. Dafoe plays the scene in the mirror, you would swear there were two of him the way he effortlessly goes between Norman and of the demented Green Goblin with no apparent cut-aways. The effect is very effective and very creepy. And just goes to prove what great casting Dafoe is.

The showdown on the Queensboro Bridge is what comic books are made of. The Green Goblin is truly a bad ass here, he forces Spidey to choose, the life of his true love or that of a cable car full of kids. The result is a sequence that could only be in a "comic book" movie. And in a scene were the citizens of New York rally to the aid of our hero is quite timely. "You mess with one New Yorker, you mess with all of us!" In the end Spider-Man saves the day and the end result really pays off as the Green Goblin drags Spider-Man to their ultimate confrontation. This final fight scene is amazing and breath-taking, you feel and hear every punch. The photography and the staging are perfect and the fact that it all unfolds with no music really makes you feel like you are right there getting beat up too! The power of the punches in this movie is pure comic book madness, over the top - perfect! We won't spoil the ending but the fate of Norman is pretty much sealed and the fate of the rest of the characters is wide open for further web-slinging adventures. And for those of you who like to leave the theater the second the end credits roll, well you may want to stick around till the very end… again we don't want to spoil it but all die-hard Spidey fans are in for a real cool surprise.

The Special Effects: There has been some concern that the CGI looks CGI. Well CGI is CGI, there is no way around that, but in this case the effects team has outdone themselves, we can become jaded by seeing the same few Spidey shots over and over in trailers that we forget that within the context of the edited film they are nearly flawless. There are a couple of shots where the effect is not all it could be but overall the digital effects work in Spider-Man keep the story firmly planted in comic book reality! You truly get the sense you're swinging along with Spidey, it was incredible.

The Music: The score by Batman composer Danny Elfman is among his recent best. There undoubtedly will be those comparisons to the Dark Knight's heroic fanfare, but Elfman has really worked up an awesome score fitting our favorite wall-crawler. Elfman fans from the opening titles won't be disappointed. One sour note - the soon to be released soundtrack includes only two score tracks, so we'll have to wait a while longer for the official score release.

Casting: Director Sam Raimi has assembled an outstanding cast for a "comic book" movie. Tobey Maquire really pulls off the tough dual role of Peter Parker/Spider-Man. Willem Dafoe is just plain creepy from the get-go as Norman Osborn. Kirsten Dunst is quite fetching as Peter's girl next door Mary Jane Watson. And James Franco as Peter's best friend Harry Osborn dishes his character with a hint of the darkness that may come in future sequels. Even though his scenes are few, J.K. Simmons as J. Johan Jameson chews up the scenery, bellows orders and chomps on a ratty cigar in a voice we have only imagined while reading the comics… they are worth every second of screen time he's given. Cliff Robertson has the tough task of making his short amount of screen time count. Uncle Ben is the catalyst that creates Spider-Man, and if you don't believe in Uncle Ben then you won't believe that with great power comes great responsibility, Robertson is a great actor who brings years of experience to a small but important role.

In the end, the years of waiting, the years of legal mumbojumbo and all the HYPE all pay off big time. Any Spidey fan who has been dying to see their friendly neighborhood Spider-Man done right will not walk out of the theater disappointed!

Thank you Sam Raimi.

Special thanks to Sony Pictures for arranging this special screening for SuperheroHype.com

:p

Ummm...you became a member in March 2002...and I know you read the posts here...and I mean this in the most polite way..The info is great, but a link would have been sufficient..no need to copy and paste the entire article..well now you know..just post the link to the webpage like Congress did in this post Example




Edited By HrithikRoshan84 on April 21 2002 at 04:05

I have seen this issue being brought up a number of times before. What I fail to understand is why this aversion to someone posting the info here, ofcourse as long as the person acknowledges where he got the info from and maybe also adds a link to it. After all it does save the trouble of having to go to another link and get the info. I personally see no reason why one should not be able to post the info here as long as the credit to the original source is given and a link also provided for those that may wish to check out the original article.

Sorry Double post.



Edited By Sanjay on April 21 2002 at 12:19

Tip: don't play the recently released Spiderman The Movie video game just out for PC. It kinda of spoils the movie ‘plot’. :bored:

Ali

All the more so that folks will go and play the game...HUMAN PSHYCE u see

Heh.. I guess I'll hold off renting the Gamecube version for a couple weeks.

Even though I love the Siper-Man character, the cartoon, the comics. I just don't think that this Hollywood Production will be any good. I had high hopes for X-Men few years back, and it turned out to be a pathetic experience. I wouldn't be too surprised if it happens with this film as well.