Review: Spiderman

On Friday night I, along with David, Bryan, Pete, Berney, Liz, Bob, Loren, Brian Lewis, his girlfriend, and about half of the WashU senior class hit the Esquire to see the latest adaptation of the Spiderman story.

I am usually a big fan of superhero movies, and this one was no exception. There were a few cheesy lines, the CGI effects were not quite seamless, and there were a few curious plot holes, but all in all it was a fun summer movie to start out the blockbuster season.

I've never read the Spiderman comics, but from what I understand they made a few changes from the original story. One was to have the spider that bites Peter Parker be genetically enhanced rather than radioactive. Neither scenario is the least bit plausible, but since genetics research is always in the news nowadays this seems to be about updating it to reflect the present environment. The other major change was to make the webslinging aspect of his power be biologically built-in. In the comic books, Peter Parker invents a superstrong adhesive and small handheld cartridges to shoot it out. This was also a positive change, in my opinion, because as smart of a science student as he may be he would not have time to do this sort of research while still being a high school kid doing chores and fantasizing about Kirsten Dunst.

There was more major inconsistency, however, and that was the strength of his powers. Much like the Superman movies, where in one movie Superman could fly around the world faster than the speed of light to make time stop but other times he could barely catch a falling person before they hit the ground, Spiderman's powers seemed to fit the scene. If they needed him to seem weaker, he was weaker, if they plot called for superhuman strength, he all of a sudden had it. People would look away and look back and in a split second he would have sped out the window, but most of the time he moved much slower than this. I have not seen a superhero movie yet where there was some sort of constant restraint on the hero's powers, I wonder if the comics are also like this.

All in all it was an entertaining evening for my $5, though, and the opening left it wide open for a sequel. We'll see if Spiderman becomes a long running franchise like Superman and Batman, but even if not there will be plenty more comic adaptations in theaters soon. Daredevil, The Incredible Hulk, X-Men II, rumors of a new Superman...