Spider-Man (2002): MOVIE SPOILER SUMMARY (after capsule review)

Sony is rebooting its crown jewel superhero in a few weeks with The Amazing Spider-Man. To celebrate the occasion, Cinesnatch is putting out movie spoilers for the first three feature films directed by Sam Raimi and starring Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, and JamesFranco. The first was such a solid submission (and the second held up to its promise). Having had one decent origins story only ten years ago, why bother with another, unless the producers are scared that audiences won’t be as interested in “another sequel.” But, when they have a gun to their head to make a film or lose the property, than cooler minds rarely yield inspired results.




[Image via IMP Awards]

Or, perhaps because the last one left such a bad taste in audiences' mouths (I didn’t think it was half-bad), they wanted to completely sever themselves as much as possible from any associations (kind of like Al Gore's presidential campaign in 2000, when he played down serving as VP under the still-in-the-headlines-for-you-know President Clinton). Interestingly enough, the first two films enjoy relatively high RT ratings (while on IMDb, they don’t fare as well--weren't they once consider "the best" superhero films ever made?). But, let's face it, how many engaging, fresh stories can you squeeze out of the comic book genre, especially when the discussion is about one particular franchise? The reboot was inevitable. Whatever the case, in the original Spider-Man feature film (which I waited so long for, having only had the crappy TV movies as a kid, I felt too old by the time it rolled around), we watch Peter Parker (Maguire) become the spandex-clad web-slinger as he learns the lesson that all ego must be removed from a true crime fighter or, as Uncle Ben would put it, “With great power, comes great responsibility.” There is also the parallel storyline of Norman Osborn's own transition to monstrous strength and ability as technology taps into his negative human traits and turns him into the Green Goblin, contrasting the title good guy's journey. The offspring of a happy accident verses the desperate measures driven by corporate pressures butt heads throughout. William Dafoe is perfectly cast in his cheesy but frightening Alienesque identity. This first full length feature treatment of the arachnid-themed superhero reminded me of Tim Burton’s first Batman in some ways. Burton's initial foray (and second for that matter) were very mood heavy and concentrated on the aesthetic, giving the film a serious, yet still cartoonish veneer. Though still a tad buffoonish, Raimi's 2002 film focused more on the story and provided a better grounding for the subsequent sequels. He completed camera roll in New York City a few months before 9/11 happened. After the jump, you'll find the Movie Spoiler Summary.

Dunst refusing the advances of
True Blood's Alcide (Joe Mangeniello)?

The movie opens with some killer opening credits involving a matrix-like trip through an animated version of Manhattan with various webs strung throughout the frames. After they wrap up, we hear a voice-over of Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) letting the audience know that the movie is really about MJ (Kirsten Dunst), “the girl next door,” who he loved so much, she inspired him to become the greatest person he could ever imagine. He’s not the most popular kid in class. In fact, he’s a geek that is mildly despised. During a field trip to Columbia University’s Science Department, Norman Osborn (twice Oscar nominee William Dafoe) drops his son Harry (self-proclaimed “artist” and Oscar-nominee James Franco) off in front of his classmates. The father responds to his embarrassed son, “What, you want me to trade in my [Rolls] for a Jetta just because you flunked out of every private school I’ve sent you to?” Harry reluctantly introduces his father to Peter.

The delana flying spider from the family
sparassidae

Shan Omar Huey as a teacher in a
nominal role, knows how to leave an impression,
showing up Manganiello AND James Franco

So, does this genetically engineered spider ....

Inside, Peter is enamored by the contents of the research lab. Bored, Harry hits on MJ. Shan Omar Huey, in the role of teacher, does a lot with his small role, as he plays a nerdy taskmaster trying to keep his students in line. In a low, concealing voice, he inquires to misbehaving students, "What is going on? The next person who talks will fail this course, I kid you not." While taking her picture, an escaped spider climbs onto Peter and bites him in the hand. At Oscorp, the board of directors which include Henry Balkan (Jack Betts) and Maximilian Fargas (Gerry Becker) show up during a trial run of an invention being created that is, for all intents and purposes, a jet-fueled glider board that surfs the air. They threaten to pull the funding on the performance enhancers Norman had been working on, unless human trials begin STAT!

"It's cold," Norman quivers.  

At the Parker household, Uncle Ben (Oscar winner Cliff Robertson) and Aunt May (Oscar nominee Rosemary Harris) Parker discuss their tough economic situation. Peter walks up to his room and begins to sweat and convulse. After an argument with Dr. Mendell Stromm (Ron Perkins), Norman convinces him to administer the performance enhancers. It results in Norman going ape-shit, attacking and killing Dr. Stromm. While we don’t see it happening at the time, he has also taken the glider and accompanying flight suit, that will become synonymous with his Green Goblin persona.

Hello Tobey Maguire!  Thanks for
bringing the guns out.

Peter wakes up and learns that he has a tighter body, corrected vision, and, ahem, a longer member is also implied. On his way out the house, he witnesses a confrontation between MJ and her father Philip (Tim De Zarn), before her friends pick her up while he talks to himself. He misses the bus again, but realizes his fingers have some adhesive properties he didn’t possess before. At the Osborn penthouse, Harry walks in on his passed-out father. At the school cafeteria, Peter saves MJ, as well as her lunch from slipping on a puddle. He begins to explore his web-spinning capabilities. During a slow-motion sequence, Peter is made more fully aware of his spidey sense, which helps him win an unsolicited fight with MJ’s boyfriend Flash Thompson (an unrecognizable 25-year old Joe Manganiello, who would go on to stardom as resident hot werewolf Alcide on True Blood). He begins climbing walls and jumping from buildings, which nicely shows off Maguire’s little bubble butt (he has never been my type, but the movie certainly does a great job of convincing me otherwise). He also figures out the unpredictable nature of his web-slinging and difficulty in mastering control over his new-found gift.

Maguire's hair looks great here

Peter arrives home late, having forgotten the promise he made to Uncle Ben about painting the house. His guardians left him dinner anyway. While Peter takes out the garbage, he chats with MJ who has just had another run-in with her father. They discuss their plans post-graduation. They both want to move into the city; Peter’s dream is to be a photographer and MJ a theatre actress. “I cried like a baby when you played Cinderella,” he tells her. Flash picks her up in his brand spanking new sporty car. Peter decides he needs money fast to buy one of his own. He designs a costume for a wrestling match he enters, where the prize is $3,000. Peter practices his web-slinging in his room. Norman reads an article announcing that rival company Quest may beat his company out of a contract. In the car, Uncle Ben discusses Peter’s erratic behavior of late. When mentioning Peter’s fight with Flash, Uncle Ben utters the soon to be oft-repeated line, “Remember, with great power, comes great responsibility.”

He arrives at the wrestling content, where The Help’s recent Oscar winner Octavia Spencer sizes him up and warns the comparatively diminutive Peter, “There’s no featherweight decision, you small fry.” The ring announcer (Raimi regular Bruce Campbell, who has different roles in all three films) isn’t crazy about his name either. “’The Human Spider’, is that the best you got? … well, that sucks.” The host fortuitously makes the executive decision to change it to “Spider-Man.” Peter shows up in a costume that isn’t quite as sharp as the one he designed. After being taunted by onlookers, a house-sized cage locks Peter into the ring. After his opponent tries to bludgeon him with a few heavy objects, the more agile Peter with his new abilities outwits him. The wrestling promoter (Larry Joshua) stiffs Peter the promised $3,000 on a technicality. A hood (Michael Papajohn) walks in and steals the money. The promoter complains and Peter calls back to a comment the guy made earlier, “I missed the part where that’s my problem.” (But, it is, Peter, it is.)

Peter arrives home to find Uncle Ben shot by a carjacker. In a short, but teary scene, he dies. Full of rage, Peter starts climbing and jumping all over town. His anger fuels him to figuring out a way to properly sling webs and swing from building to building at his own discretion. He finds the carjacker in the middle of an escape and causes him to crash his car. In an abandoned building, Peter starts beating the living daylights out of him and discovers that he’s the man who stole the money from the promoter. The irony is that Peter could have prevented Uncle Ben from being killed, had he stopped him during his getaway. He allowed his own self-serving emotions to cloud his judgment towards the promoter and temporarily doled out justice discriminately. The robber falls out of a window and dies while trying to flee. The police try to arrest Peter, but he manages to escape and returns home.

Quest runs a test on the jetpack, when the Green Goblin shows up to sabotage their plans. At graduation, Norman congratulates his son and Peter. He informs Peter, “Commencement: the end of one thing, the start of something new,” while he watches MJ break up with her boyfriend. At home, Aunt May consoles Peter over Uncle Ben’s passing. After she leaves his room, he contemplates an illustration he drew of a new and improved spider suit. There’s a montage of Spider-Man slinging around Gotham fighting crime, interspersed with interviews asking New Yorkers about their opinions on the masked crusader. A subway artist even sings a song he wrote about him.

At the Daily Bugle, publisher J. Jonah Jameson (J.K. Simmons) gripes about Spider-Man being a criminal, but when he hears about the rise in circulation, he changes his tune. "If we can get a picture of Julia Roberts in a thong, we certainly can get a picture of this weirdo." And, "If he doesn’t want to be famous, then I’ll make him infamous." Peter and MJ run into each other and talk for a short bit. At their apartment, Peter informs Harry that he lost his job. Peter takes a picture of himself as Spider-Man breaking up a robbery and tries to sell them to Jameson, who lowballs him on price. After leaving his office, he fails to impress Betty Brant (rising star Elizabeth Banks) while flirting with her. At the board meeting, Oscorp informs Norman that they’re selling the company and asks him to resign.

"Times Square"

Dunst hanging on by a thread

Beautifully composed shot

At the Unity Day Festival, Peter takes pictures while Macy Gray sings “My Nutmeg Phantasy.” What’s funny about this is that it’s obvious that it’s the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, but, possibly because of trademark and naming rights, Sony had to settle with masking the event as something fictional and generic. The fact that they got “Macy” Gray to perform during the scene is hilarious Peter spots Harry and MJ on a balcony having a moment during an Oscorp party. Peter’s spidey sense kicks in and the Green Goblin arrives on the glider and throws goblin grenades at the Oscorp function, some of which blow up, others emit a force that simply incinerate people down to their skeletons. As MJ is about to fall to her death, Peter changes into costume and confronts the Green Goblin. In a rather buoyant move, Spider-Man uses the floats to bounce off of, before one last fight that sends the Green Goblin away on his glider. Spider-Man saves MJ and drops her off on the rooftop garden of Rockerfeller Center.

Brilliantly filmed schizophrenic scene

MTV Movie Award Best Kiss winners 2003

Peter eavesdrops on Harry’s conversation with MJ and realizes that she’s tickled pink by her recent rescue. Harry apologizes to Peter about not telling him about dating MJ. While he has a drink in his penthouse, in a great scene involving a full-length mirror, Norman’s reflection speaks to him in Green Goblin’s voice and informs “them” of what “they” just did. In Jameson’s office, Peter argues with Peter about Spider-Man and educates on something I can never remember, “Slander is spoken; in print, it’s libel.” The Green Goblin breaks in on them. Peter quickly reappears as Spider-Man and the Green Goblin gasses him into a paralyzing sleep. He wakes up on a roof, where his nemesis tries to convince him to join forces. Peter reads headlines painting Spider-Man out to be a criminal. Peter tracks MJ down and they talk about her audition and Harry. Some hooligans attack MJ and Spider-Man saves her leading to the famous, exceptionally hot, upside down kiss.

New York's finest Myk Watford

Also fine Bill Calvert

The next day, Spider-Man saves a baby from a burning building. However, the Green Goblin tricks him back into the building, enlisting his partnership yet again. He starts launching Goblin throwing stars and they engage in another fight. At Peter and Harrys’ apartment, Aunt May, MJ and Norman join them for Thanksgiving dinner. Peter is late, of course, and must at first hide, as he is still in costume from his last altercation. Norman’s intuition leads him to suspect something strange is going on and it dawns on him that Peter is Spider-Man. On his way out, in a fit of rage, Norman leaves dinner prematurely and suggests to Harry that he dump MJ.

Back at his penthouse, Norman’s alter ego demands he go after Peter’s heart in order to destroy him. The Green Goblin shows up at Aunt May’s and sends her to the hospital. When Peter rushes to her side, it occurs to him that the Green Goblin has figured out his secret. MJ checks in on her the next day and reveals to Peter that she’s in love with Spider-Man. They have an intimate moment where Peter kind of expresses how he feels about her in a roundabout manner—but not entirely—bringing her to joyful tears. At Norman’s penthouse, Harry informs his father that it’s over with MJ and father and son reconcile.

Peter has nightmares about the Green Goblin while at Aunt May’s side. When he wakes up, Aunt May prods him to come clean to MJ about his true feelings towards her. His instinct is to call her, but the Green Goblin has kidnapped and placed her atop a high building and begins to wreck havoc around New York. Spider-Man arrives and the Green Goblin makes him choose between saving MJ and a Roosevelt Island air tram full of kids. Of course, he’s Spider-Man and manages to do both. Citizens begin to give the Green Goblin a hard time as he tries to interfere with Spider-Man’s heroism. A Goblin grenade injures Spider-Man and he begins a violent assault. “You’ve spun your last web, Spider-Man,” he announces as he tries to kill him with a pitchfork. However, Spider-Man escapes his clutches and flattens him by pulling down a huge brick wall. Norman reveals his identity and elicits his sympathy, before a plan to kill Peter backfires and results in his own death. Before he dies, he requests that Peter never tell Harry about his secret. Harry pulls a gun on Spider-Man when he watches him return the dead body of his father, but doesn't have a chance to shoot him as he leaves.

At the funeral, Harry swears to Peter that he will one day make Spider-Man pay for his father’s death. MJ confesses her love for Peter. They kiss, but it isn’t as hot as the upside down exchange in the alley while Peter was in his Spider-Man suit. Peter’s burden of being a crime-fighter prevents him from being in a relationship with MJ. He leaves her in tears and we watch Spider-Man sail throughout Manhattan via his trademark mode of transportation. Peter sadly ends the first installment, "No matter what I do, no matter how hard I try, the ones I love will always be the ones who pay."

Stay tuned for Movie Spoilers for the two Raimi sequels!