SPIDER-MAN

(May 2002, U.S.)

Fifteen years - six Spider-Man movies. To those die hard fans who crave this stuff crammed down their throat every summer and holiday season, it may not seem like a lot. For me, the less-than-average fan of comic book heroes, Sam Raimi's original film that kicked it all off has been more than enough. It's not just because it's the best of the lot, in my opinion, but it's also timing and history that places the film in a high position of significance. SPIDER-MAN was the first comic book hero film to be released in movie theaters following the horrific events of September 11th just seven and a half months prior. It is virtually impossible for me to watch this film without deep reflection of not only New York City at that time, but my own feelings and memories as a city resident at that time. Hence, my post today of SPIDER-MAN is not just an interpretation of a beloved comic book hero film, but a tale of 9/11, as well.

The film was practically a tribute to the Twin Towers from the moment fans witnessed the first teaser movie poster featuring the city skyline's two towers reflected in the web slinger's huge eyes...

That poster was subsequently recalled by Sony following the terrorist attacks. The film's original teaser trailer ends with Spider-Man trapping the bad guys into a gigantic web spun between the World Trade Center towers. That trailer was also pulled after the attacks. Finally, any scenes of the towers that were filmed in 2001 were digitally removed from the final print following the attacks. However, despite Hollywood's best effort to sensitively protect its audience from any painful reminders of our worst day, the entire feel of Sam Raimi's film is still a film of New York City and the evil that dwells inside it...and ultimately the hero we need to fight it (but I'll get into further in a little while).

If you ever read the comic books or religiously followed the animated TV series that ran from 1967 to 1970 (as I did in re-runs), then you know very well the story of high school student and social outcast Peter Parker (played in the first three films by Toby Maguire) and how he came to develop superhuman spider powers following a bite from a genetically-engineered "super spider" (at least that's how it happens in the film). Peter's also in love with neighbor and fellow student Mary Jane Watson (played by Kirsten Dunst). One fateful day, while trying to win money at a wrestling match to buy a car to impress Mary, Peter allows a dangerous thief to escape capture. This same thief will later kill Peter's Uncle Ben (played by the late Cliff Robertson) during a car jacking. Guilt-ridden and now in the famous costume we all know so well, Peter takes on the role and responsibility (because "with great power comes great responsibility") of our friendly, neighborhood Spider-Man. But while he's a doer of good deeds and fighting injustice, it's the head of the Daily Bugle's J. Jonah Jameson (played by J.K. Simmons) who's convinced that Spider-Man is a menace, even as he hires Peter as the only freelance photographer who can manage to ever get a clear picture of the web crawler (oh, the irony of it all!). As a rescuer of the sweet damsel in distress, he manages to save Mary Jane three times. So it's no wonder that's she inevitably falls in love with her unknown hero who's also in love with her when he's just Peter (oh, the total irony of it all!). And to be perfectly honest, I'd be less than a truthful horny, heterosexual male if I didn't confess that Kirsten looks amazing in the rain-soaked street scene with her wet nipples poking through her blouse, just before the famous upside-down smooch...

Spider-Man's arch enemy in this first film is the Green Goblin, who's the insanely powerful brainchild of billionaire Norman Osborn (played chillingly by Willem Dafoe). Unaware of Peter's true identity, he also sees himself as his father figure, practically ignoring his own son Harry (played by James Franco). Such personal affections don't count for much when good must ultimately fight evil in the face of great danger and peril. During an attack on the Roosevelt Island Tram car (that car was also the scene of a hostage situation in Sylvester Stallone's 1981 cop film NIGHTHAWKS), Spider-Man is forced to choose between saving Mary Jane or the poor children in the Tram car (he saves both, of course!). In the end, Green Goblin is defeated, Norman Osborn is killed, Harry swears revenge against Spider-Man, love is revealed and rejected, and the stage is set for the future heroics and responsibility of the amazing Spider-Man. Whether or not you consider his adventures any good after this one is strictly up to your own cinematic opinions and tastes. For myself, Spider-Man's screen time ends for me after Raimi's first film. Despite it's popularity, SPIDER-MAN 2 did nothing for me. Everything that has followed since hasn't been worth my time.

I'd like to return now to the tone of 9/11 that absorbs this film. As previously mentioned, the filmmakers do their best to shield us of any reminders that once existed with the World Trade Center towers. Still, we cannot ignore that this is still New York City, and it's far from ever being a paradise on Earth. The city is filled with danger and with evil, and the actions of such evil still comes in the form of violence, of acts of terror, of explosions and of innocent lives damaged. Any comic book super hero film will boldly shove those hard facts in our face. But it's the realization and understanding of SPIDER-MAN as a heroic film that follows a real-life event of tragedy that reminds us of how much we hold dear our heroes of action and justice...even if those heroes are fiction.

That in mind, I'd like to conclude with a piece of Spider-Man history that I've always considered very moving and poignant for our time. In December 2001, Marvel Comics released the Amazing Spider-Man, Volume 2, Issue #36 - "Stand Tall", a 9/11 tribute comic book with an all black cover. The story focuses on Spider-Man (as well as other Marvel heroes and villains) coping with the devastation and sorrow following the terrorist attacks. Despite it being a work of fictional characters that do not exist in our real lives, one cannot help but reflect on the themes behind the true evil we live with and the heroes we depend on that do exist in our lives, primarily the great first responders of the city. Still, it's impossible not to fantasize of what we wish existed in our life. Spider-Man, Superman, Captain America and any other beloved character we grew up with are ideas many of us can't help but cling to in times of horrible crisis, despite their being merely imaginary.

There are two images from the comic book that speak wonders for me in their effort to help us connect with the myth of the comic book hero and those who so desperately need him. The first is Spider-Man staring in horror at the ground's devastation following the tower's collapse...

Even as our great hero is horrified at what he's witnessed, he speaks to us by reminding us that "Only madmen could contain the thought, execute the act, fly the planes. The sane world will always be vulnerable to madmen, because we cannot go where they go to conceive of such things. We could not see it coming. We could not be here before it happened. We could not stop it. But we are here now. You cannot see us for the dust, but we are here. You cannot hear us for the cries, but we are here."

The second image is the cries of desperation from innocent people who are running for their lives from the cataclysmic collapse of the towers as they beg for understanding from Spider-Man when they ask him, "Where were you? How could you let this happen?"...

We are reading nothing more than a comic book, but how can we not ask somewhere deep down in our own minds and hearts how such an evil deed could possibly happen to us and why wasn't there a hero to stop it from happening in the first place? These are haunting questions that are likely to never be answered, but I applaud Marvel Comics for just one brief moment, in trying to artistically express those feelings of fear and confusion by reminding us of legendary heroes of good and justice like the amazing Spider-Man.

Always remember September 11, 2001.

Favorite line or dialogue:

Wrestling Promoter (after Peter allows a thief to escape with cash): "You coulda taken that guy apart! Now he's gonna get away with my money!"
Peter Parker: "I missed the part where that's my problem!"