Feature Article

Spider-Man (2002) Critical Analysis

Spider-Man

Spider-Man is an action film released in 2002, directed by Sam Raimi and staring Tobey Maguire. The film follows Peter Parker, a bullied teen that doesn’t seem to fit in anywhere who has his life turned around when he is bitten by a spider that gives him superhuman powers representative to the traits of a spider. Throughout the film we then see him battle against the Green Goblin in a fight for Justice. This film has had a huge impact on cinema today. This is evident through the most recent film to break the record for highest grossing film ‘Avengers: End Game’. This is because Spider-Man was so instantly popular that other films like Iron man came out years later trying to replicate this same response, which in turn lead to the MCU. Whilst other superhero films were around at the time like ‘X-Men’ for example, non were as immediately popular as Spider-Man, which made 114.8 million dollars in its opening weekend, a new debut record at the time.

As this film was released in 2002, there were a lot of limitations in place for how much they could accomplish using CGI alone, something that most superhero action films heavily rely on today. Because CGI was only just starting to find its tropes in the world of cinema, Sam Raimi did most of the effects for the film in Camera. I feel that this gives the film a huge upper hand in comparison to the marvel films that we see today. This is because whilst the more recent Spider-Man films such as ‘Spider-Man Homecoming’ are a fantastic spectacle, they are drowning in CGI, and it’s obvious. Whereas with the original Spider-Man, having the majority of the effects done practically makes the film feel much more real. This especially helps the action sequences of the film. For example, in the final battle scene between the Green Goblin and Spider-Man you can see that to make it they actually had people throwing punches at each other and flying through the air dramatically rather than doing it all digitally. Sam Raimi was the perfect director to accomplish these in camera effects for a film with such a high budget. The reason for this is that before this Raimi was only really known for his work on the Evil Dead films, which were pretty low budget, meaning that he would always have to find a way to create unseen horror like effects in camera. Raimi clearly brought this same creativity to the set of Spider-Man. For example, in a scene just after Peter Parker gains his new powers, we see him use his Spider like reflexes to perfectly catch falling lunch onto a tray, but this didn’t use any wires or CGI, and Raimi had Maguire attempt this 156 times before they got the perfect shot. Raimi’s previous work on Horror films also shines through in this same scene due to the set itself. It is an old abandoned house with overgrown dead plants around the place, with Mise en Scene such as broken glass, and rubble everywhere. The lighting of the scene is also dark and very sinister. This is worth mentioning because Spider-Man should have been seen as a film primarily for a younger audience, and so shouldn’t have its final battle in such a dark setting, but having Raimi direct this film and bringing that element of the horror genre with him to such an epic action, is what made Spider-Man so entertaining for an adult audience as well. Whilst all of the in-camera shots were perfectly done, even though CGI technology was lacking at the time, the swinging scenes still look incredible. The film was certainly the best feature for CGI at its time. Raimi also did a perfect job of blending real actors into digital versions of New York City to give the film a more realistic feel, unlike todays marvel films in which some scenes are entirely digital.

When making a film like Spider-Man that already has a huge fanbase for the character before the film itself is made, it is vital that the film is appealing to a new audience, whilst also providing all the original details known to the character and his story by its more dedicated fanbase. Before this film came out the only other popular comic book adaptation of Spider-Man that was accepted by true comic book fans was the animated tv show that ran from 1967-1970. The reason that fans still look back at this show today as some of the best Spider-Man content out there is because of how the show stuck solely to the attributes of the character and story that had only been previously seen in the original comics written by Stan Lee. Raimi did manage to keep a lot of these original details in his adaptation of the story, although he did have to make some changes that a lot of fans were not happy about. For example, in the comics Spider-Man had web shooters that he crafted himself, Raimi did not include this and instead made his version of Peter Parker have organic webs. Raimi has stated that his reasoning behind this choice is that he did not feel it was a realistic idea that his Peter Parker would be able to create these advanced devices, which when looking at the storyline as a whole makes a lot more sense. However, even though there was a very small amount of backlash due to Raimi changing parts of the original comics in order to benefit his interpretation of the story, the large part of the audience for this film were people that may had never even heard of Spider-Man before its release in 2002. This would mean that these people going in to watch the film would be able to watch it with a far more open mind set, which I feel is what helped lead to the films success.

The casting for Spider-Man is possibly the best I have ever seen. Tobey Maguire for Spider-Man is an amazing choice for the role because he is able to brilliantly replicate the work of Christopher Reeve from when he played Superman in 1978. Superman is one of the first superhero films that had a high budget and received back incredible reviews, scoring a critical score of 94% on rotten tomatoes. The reason Christopher Reeve was so great as this superhero role was due to his ability to switch between Clark Kent, a push over character that’s clumsy and scared of everything, and world loved all powerful superhero. Tobey Maguire was able to bring this exact dedication to the role of Peter Parker, convincing the audience that he is powerless and hard done by in this cruel world, whilst simultaneously playing the role of a brave hero whenever he is behind the mask. Tobey Maguire was also perfect for this role because he was in no way seen as an action star by any means. This was due to the fact that the majority of the films he had been in so far were usually dramas and rarely action. This worked massively in favour for him playing the role of Spider-Man because the character is supposed to be seen as the last person you would expect to have superpowers. Another amazing casting choice for this film was Willem Dafoe as the Green Goblin. This is because having an actor that has previously been in such classic films, like Platoon for example, in a film that may be in danger of being assumed to be a film for children will help to ensure that people understand this this is a film for everyone to enjoy. Another reason Willem Dafoe is so perfect for this role is because of his dedication to the character, I still get chills to this day when I watch the scene where he is talking to himself in the mirror as both Norman Osborne and The Green Goblin. It is in these scenes where he is playing both characters where a lot of credit is due to Raimis camera angles as well. He managed to always make the scenes appear that if an outsider was watching the film then they could easily assume that there are two twin brothers currently talking to each other. How he did this was by angling the camera so that we were on Dafoes back and looking at his face through the mirror when he was talking to himself as the Green Goblin. He would also use props such as the mask that he wears when he becomes the Villain as a way of representing the other person in this fake conversation. Doing this gave the scenes an incredibly eerie feel that left the audience on the edge of their seats as they watched this character slowly descend into madness through the film, before he finally breaks and performs acts of terrorism on the city in the film’s final battle.

One of the most important factors of a good superhero film is the costume warn by the protagonist. The costume that was used for Spider-Man in this film was perfect, it’s a perfect balance between what we have always recognised in the original comics, and a modern twist given to it by Raimi in order to making it more appealing to the new generation. How he did this was by simply making the colours slightly damper/darker, rather than having them look like bright blue and red pyjamas, as they did in the comics originally. If we also compare the Raimi suit to the more recent Jon Watts suit warn by Tom Holland in ‘Spiderman: Homecoming’, then you can very quickly tell which suit is real and which is not. This is because whilst in the original Spider-Man films they had Tobey Maguire wear an actual Suit made for the film during all the action sequences, in the more recent Spider-Man films the majority of the time the character isn’t even wearing a suit at all, and it is all done through motion capture. The reason that they do this is that they can get rid of any creases that would naturally form in a superhero suit like this one, as well as use colour tools to always make the colours of the suit pop, even in the worst lighting situations. Whilst this does make the character shine whenever he is on screen, it also has the negative effect of making him look slightly animated. Whereas, when you watch the Raimi films the character feels much more real, and you can tell he is actually in the scene you are watching, rather than being drawn in digitally in post-production. Another very important attribute to any superhero film is the costume of the villain. The costume warn by The Green Goblin in this film is definitely one of the films downsides. This is because whilst with the protagonists’ costume, they were able to find a good balance between the comics and a modern twist, with the villain they failed at doing either of those things. The costume is nothing like what we see in the original comic books, and the modern twist that they tried to give to the character simply ended up making him look like something from Power Rangers. In other words, it made the character look incredibly outdated, and gave the film an unfortunate generic trope of an unintimidating villain that we are used to seeing in kids action films, which is something that this film has been trying so hard not to be.

To conclude, I would still argue that Sam Raimi’s interpretation of Spider-Man is still the best that we have seen so far. This is mostly due to how Raimi so creatively replaced technological factors of the film with practical effects. This is what makes the film feel so much more real in comparison to most other superhero films that we see today.

Bohemian Rhapsody//Yesterday

Bohemian Rhapsody is a film released in 2018 by director Bryan Singer. The film is based off a true story and follows Freddie Mercury (Raimi Malik) on his journey to stardom with his legendary band Queen. The genre of the film is biographical drama. This film allows us as an audience to watch Queen rise to fame with their revolutionary music, as well as witness Freddie’s fall when fame becomes overwhelming, only to finish on the band reuniting to perform for live aid, the biggest concert ever. Bohemian Rhapsody went on to win four oscars for best sound mixing, best film editing, best sound editing, and best actor. This film manages to do everything it should do. It educates us on the band itself and what they went through, whilst paying tribute to some of the most legendary songs in rock history, as well as adding the finishing touch at the end of the film of a shout out for the Mercury Phoenix Trust, a charitable organisation that works on fighting against HIV and AIDS in the name of Freddie Mercury.

The other film I will be comparing this with is the film Yesterday. Yesterday is a 2019 film directed by Danny Boyle and staring Himesh Patel as Jack Malik. The film starts with Jack as a struggling musician trying desperately to get his music out to the world. We see Jack is ready to give up on his music dreams, when he suddenly wakes up in a world where the only person who seems to remember the band The Beatles is himself. We then follow Jack as he makes his way to stardom by claiming these songs to be his own. The film is brilliantly funny, whilst also paying tribute to one of the most influential bands in music history. 

In the opening scene to Bohemian Rhapsody it becomes quickly evident that director Bryan Singer has made this film to pay tribute to Queen. This can be taken from the glorious cinematography that frames our protagonist as a rock legend. For example, the long shot where we are following behind Freddie as he makes his way to the stage at the live aid concert, he is always central to the camera so our focus as an audience is always directed towards him. The music in the entire opening sequence is also vital to the whole feel of the scene. The song playing is Somebody To Love, by Queen. This song is such a classic that the majority of any audience would know the song themselves, this would draw them into the film more because it shows them that they’re unknowingly fans of Queen. The song also reaches its peak as the shot swiftly moves from behind Freddie to in front of him so we can see what he sees. This happened because it shows the audience the enormous crowd that Freddie is about to face, it also shows their reaction to seeing the lead singer of Queen, before then cutting to the next scene. Comparing the opening of this scene to the opening of the film Yesterday, they are both completely opposite to each other. This is because in Bohemian Rhapsody we as an audience are shown how much of a rock legend Freddie Mercury is, where as in Yesterday’s opening sequence we see Jack Malik playing good music, but being ignored on the street as he attempts busking in a montage of different locations. We then see Jack finish this montage performing a very small gig in a bar. During this scene the sound is cleverly used to make the sound of people talking and murmuring in the background louder than Jacks song. They then proceed to not clap or even acknowledge that he has finished performing when he stops playing his song. Doing this shows us how under appreciated Jack currently is in his career. The direct contrast between the two films in their opening scenes is there for that we start the film Bohemian Rhapsody seeing our protagonist at the top of his career, and then in Yesterday we see our protagonist at the very bottom of his career, ready to give up on his dreams. 

The next scene of Bohemian Rhapsody takes us back to 1970 where we see our Protagonist looking very normal, and working throwing baggage from planes to trucks. This scene makes Freddie Mercury appear a lot more like Jack does in the beginning of Yesterday.  The costume in this scene is vital because of its direct contrast to his costume in the last scene. In the last scene he was wearing bright colours, along with sunglasses, and an arm band. All things that point towards him being a rock star, but then in this next scene we see a disturbing reality of Freddie with messy hair, wearing dim clothes covered by a high vis vest. We then hear one of his co workers rudely refer to him as “packi” when Freddie misses a suitcase. We then hear the song Yesterday by Smile start as we see our protagonist at the bus stop. This song is brilliantly chosen as the lyrics “yesterday, my life was in ruins” perfectly sums up the current plot of the film as we know it. It also shows to any audience that knows nothing about Queen, that what we just saw of Freddie wasn’t just his imagination, but rather reality, and hints at the fact that we are currently in a flashback. As this is a film about music, the songs chosen must be perfect for the setting the characters are in. This is because the main audience for this film will be music fanatics, and so in order to keep them interested it is vital for the film to come with an amazing playlist, mostly consisting of songs by Queen. Bryan Singer cleverly works Queens full songs into the film without simply just showing us a music video as if it were a documentary. For example, when we first hear the song Rock You by Queen, we start the song watching the lead guitarist of the band demonstrate his idea for the song to the rest of the band. This then transitions to the band performing the song in front of a live audience. Doing this gives the songs the amount of screen time they deserve, whilst also keeping the audience interested.

The historical aspects of this film are vital as the film looks to educate the audience, whilst also entertaining them. They cleverly sum up all of Freddie Mercury’s past in the space of one scene where the band is having lunch with Freddie’s family, and his Mother and Father are educating the band and the audience on how Freddie Mercury ended up in London from India, and what his childhood was like. This is very different to the film yesterday, because in Yesterday Danny Boyle didn’t need to be historically accurate as this is a fictional film where history has been changed. Where as Brian Singer needed to keep Bohemian Rhapsody as historically accurate as he could, seeing as he wanted to educate his audience whilst also keeping them entertained. When directly comparing Bohemian Rhapsody to Yesterday, it is important to note that Yesterday is far more fictional than Bohemian Rhapsody. This is because Bohemian Rhapsody is for the most part Historically accurate, whilst Yesterday is a completely made up story with the only elements of truth stemming from the actual Beatles music we hear throughout the film.

Bryan Singers interpretation of this film is brilliantly done technologically speaking. This is because the editing of the film allows for a modern style of film with reference to how a music video would be filmed back in the 70s and 80s. For example, during the scene where we see small snippets of Queens tour of America, rather than just simply having it listed on screen where they are as we journey through America with them, we instead have the words fly towards us in this big bold neon writing. It is small touches like this with the editing of the film that brings a lot of nostalgia to its main audience. The primary audience for this film is people that grew up whilst Queen were first relevant. This doesn’t mean that a younger audience can’t still enjoy it though. For example, the amount of people listening to Queen went up massively after the films very successful release. This is because the film gained Queen more listeners, from the film having such a wide range of audiences. The reason this film was also able to attract a younger audience to watch it was because a lot of teens know who Queen are, and listen to them a occasionally, but they don’t truly know the history of what Freddie Mercury went through with his problems with drugs, being bisexual at a time when it’s frowned upon, and the issues that come with being as overly famous as he was. Not knowing about all of this makes for an intriguing plot line where a younger audience doesn’t know what to expect. The target audience for Yesterday would have been the exact same as the audience for Bohemian Rhapsody. This is because the film has so many Beatles songs in it which is what will have attracted the older audience, whilst also having an exciting fictional storyline, which is what will have attracted the younger members of the audience. 

Danny Boyle’s interpretation of this film was very different to how Brian Singer would have interpreted the film. This is evident in that when you watch Bohemian Rhapsody, the film is centred around the amazing music that Queen produced, where as when you watch Yesterday, you can see that the film is grounded by the relationship between Jack and his love interest Ellie; whilst the music is simply a perfect addition to this feel good film. In saying that, this doesn’t mean that this film isn’t also a beautiful tribute to The Beatles. During the scene where Jack first plays the song Yesterday to Ellie and his friends, we are sat in a perfect setting, it’s early evening on a summers day, there are kids playing together, and Jack has just been gifted a new guitar. We also have a genius piece of cinematography where we have a high angle wide shot of the full set, where we can see happy family’s, beautiful scenery, all the while listening to one of the Beatles most calming songs. All of this combined together makes it impossible fir you to not have an appreciation for the Beatles music. Bryan Singer similarly does this in Bohemian Rhapsody during the scene where we see the perfect recreation of the live aid concert. How he forces the audience to enjoy the music no matter what is done slightly differently. Rather than having a perfect calming scene that relaxes the audience, he instead had a build up prior to this scene where it made the audience unsure as to whether or not Freddie would be able to perform at his best. This means that when he actually started to perform and he sounded amazing, it took the audience by a wishful surprise, which in turn will have given them that sense of relief.

In conclusion Brian Singers interpretation of Bohemian Rhapsody, whilst it is trying to be more historically accurate than Dannie Boyle’s fictional film yesterday, does contain a lot of similarities to the film. This is simply because both films work so hard to try and give the songs the appreciation that they deserve. The way that the have the songs be introduced to the audience is so brilliantly done that it’s almost impossible to not enjoy the music that you listen to.

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