SEVEN CONCESSIONS

DO NOT READ
UNLESS YOU LIKE SPOILERS
OR HAVE SEEN THE MOVIE!!!

There are seven concessions that I feel Sam Raimi and company made in the conversion of Spider-Man from the comic to the screen… and I hate them all.  The movie survives them, but I hate them nonetheless. 

1. The combination of Mary Jane Watson and Gwen Stacy.  Raimi told some Aussie outlet that he liked some things about each character and combined them.  My bet is that it was more of an acknowledgement, in pre-production, that there might not be a sequel and that killing off a Kirsten Dunst in the first film or making her wait around for action as Mary Jane would be to the detriment of the project. 

2. Mary Jane acts as though Peter Parker doesn’t exist… even though his bedroom window looks into her bedroom window.  Suddenly, after he catches her before she falls, she questions his eye color as though they were distant friends for a long time.  Please!  Another problem caused by the two-characters-as-one.

3. Peter Parker is given a reason to let the thief who kills Uncle Ben go… he’s not callous like he is in the comic, therefore not as responsible.  No balls.

4. Even when it comes to killing the thief who killed Uncle Ben, they soften it by having the guy put a gun to Peter’s head and then, he trips over a pipe and falls out of a window… boo!!!  Were they afraid of the MPAA or The Patriot?

5. Macy Gray.  I love Macy Gray, but she makes Prince seem like a good choice for Batman.

6. The Green Goblin threatens Mary Jane’s life in a sequence very much like the one in which Gwen Stacy died in the comic.  And, of course, she survives, belying the Goblin’s demand that Spider-Man makes a choice that defines his character.  The character never has to make a choice.

7. The ending is screwed.   Peter Parker has to suffer the loss of Norman Osborne as though he were as important to him as Gwen was in the comic, therefore forcing him to push away a loving – and horny – MJ, so Spidey could have his Batman-like solitude at the end.  And this is all happening even while it is clear that Mary Jane knows that Peter Parker is Spider-Man.  This is where I got the “Taste Test” comment… she kisses Peter and he apparently tastes the same as Spider-Man, with whom she sucked face with in the alley.  A better choice, in my never humble opinion, would be a dead Gwen and a live Mary Jane, lurking, waiting to get her Spider in the sequel.  C’est la cine’.

Back to the Review

The Spider-Script

Eight Great Raimi Moments