Spider-Man

Originally, I was worried how Spider-Man would turn out, since some of the trailers; previews looked cheesy; for a very young crowd, and X-MEN was a disappointment in action, to what it could have been. X-MEN had basically no action until the last 5 minutes, and although I think they did very well with the actors cast for the characters (except for Cyclops it was very slow moving and more like a prequel to characters than anything else.

Fortunately, the effects in Spider-man are very impressive! The previews do not give these great (but flawed) visuals and special fx justice. The sky-fights and building swinging visuals are inventive, what what has been created with CGI, known as Computer Generated Imigery. Excellent! They just do look real! I can't imagine all the editing that went into perfecting the visuals in this movie, considering the fact that the CGI-animation is constantly mixed with the actual movement of the actor. He must have been thrown all over the place! Spider-Man is not all special effects either. For those of you who don't want to walk into a FULL ON computer FX movie or cartoon, you should also enjoy this.

There is a decent (okay) amount of on-ground action, and the love story plays a major role in Peter's life. Actually, the first third of the movie mainly stays on ground. The good thing about this is the movie builds up; it doesn't rush to impress you. The story is surprisingly, or rather thankfully very accurate to the comics. The only thing not accurate with the movie-based comic, is that originally the web shooting weapon came out of a piece attached to his custom, not his wrists, literally. But if they showed that, they'd have to explain why his body is like that, which now goes into this whole story on a planet far away where he obtained certain rare elements and this carries over into Venom and Carnage I believe, which is very ambitious, far out, and involved to put into a movie or even trilogy. Regardless, the film explains the story well (for his life on Earth) and goes into detail with the characters, plot, and fight scene's.

In short, the Green Goblin rocks! Although he looks a little different from the comic books and cartoon, he still has that same insane, wicked humor he has always had! The whole movie is very entertaining, funny at times, and rarely ever cheesy like some of the previews made it out to be. (a highschool comedy it is not) Aside from all those great things, Spider-man does have it's annoyances. I don't think these will bother the majority, but they have annoyed some, including myself.

[NOTE: the people who saw Spider-man will best relate to these next three paragraphs, but it goes over the little problems that hurt the film's quality nevertheless.]

First, when the Green Goblin took revenge on the people who took down his company, he used his little bombs that on detonate and disintegrate. Unfortunately, the way the effects team showed those people dying was too childish and unrealistic. It was only a second long, but still disappointing, considering most of the movie violence is pretty realistic and mature in the sense of the word "serious." The Green Goblin is cool, but that one bit was too simplistic and silly for a revenge element in such a good movie. Compared to all the other hard, realistic action, I expected something more mature.

Second, during the biggest scene at the end of the movie, I REALLY wish the Green Goblin did not say ("uh-oh"), as that was totally childish and unrealistic. Those who have seen the movie know exactly what I am talking about. If you are young, or a big fan, this might not bother you at all, but it was somewhat cheesy regardless. It would have been more powerful if the Green Goblin said nothing during that moment.

Third, the final scene in the cemetery was too drawn-out, and the acting was too mechanical, as that scene appeared to be somewhat rushed. I respect that Peter Parker has a responsibility now that he is Spider-man, and he does not want to get involved with Mary Jane because she would be vulnerable against his enemies, but that scene should have been shorter and better acted.

In conclusion, Spider-Man has lots of great and good moments. While some moments are aimed at a younger audience, the majority of the movie is great for all ages. I wish there was no cheesy moments or cliche', but most of it is very cool and not cheesy at all. Spider-Man is much better then X-MEN on just about every level. (editing, visuals, action, directing, climax, comic-relief, etc...) It is an argument to say Spider-Man is better than Batman was for it's time.

B

Overall the best comic book based film since The Crow, Batman, Batman Returns, and the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, in my opinion.