Film Spider-man [review laced with spoilers]
I should start by saying that this is a great film. It's entertaining and exciting and you should all go and see it. Everyone is perfectly cast and you'll want to see it again. It's prove more that proof that we no longer just want action in our films -- it has to come from somewhere and should be subserviant to story. This is the most heartbreaking superhero film since Superman II.
But.
It's too much. What I mean to say is, that over ten years of continuity from the comic has been condensed into two hours of screen time. Within an hour Peter Parker goes from being a lame college student to a professional man about the city. This has the effect of making the narrative feel like one of those DTV films which are editied highlights from a Hallmark mini-series (see Patrick Stewart's 'Moby Dick').
With a sequel an almost a certainty (possibly a trilogy), would it not have been more logical to separate the story into three sections. The first - let's call it Episode One -- would have been the college years. Even when Peter was still in education there was scaope for him being the superhero. Episode Two would have been about the city boy. By Episode Three he might has settled down with MJ (as he did in the comics) and we would have seen him trying to balance a family and heroing. This would have given scope for more J. Jonah Jameson (here he feels one dimensional).
My other issue (and this happens a lot with such things) is that the development of the Green Goblin is artificially grafted onto Parker's story. Before we've even got to know Peter, Osborne is showing some big wigs about his factory. When we want to be following the story of Spider-man we're having to sit through lot's of set-up for the later story.
But it's still a great film. Damn, I'm conflicted.
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