Compare that to the Tim Burton Batman films, which portray the Dark Knight as a violent recluse using his caped crusade as a way to work through some obvious issues, or the X-Men series, which has always been about shifting the ethical goal posts. The closest the era’s other superhero movies came to relatable moral messages was in 1978’s Superman, with Pa Kent telling a young Clark Kent that he landed on Earth for “a reason,” and that while it’s hard to resist showing off and achieving personal glory with his powers, he must ultimately stay resolute. This sounds like pretty standard superhero stuff, but in 2002, it stood out as a singular theme in movies, and it felt surprising even in the sequels that followed. Peter Parker reaches that same conclusion multiple times, through multiple scenarios that make it increasingly hard to stick to that virtue. And many of them, even the villains, eventually realize that in order to be virtuous, they must give up selfishness. So in spite of the ramping scale of the films’ special effects, and a revolving door of villains that only grew more larger-than-life with each outing, the small cast of central characters remains empathetic on a tremendous level. Even characters who could easily be rendered ancillary or one-note, like Mary Jane or Alfred Molina’s Otto Octavius, labor to do what they know is right, rather than what they know will be easy. It permeates every major arc of Raimi’s trilogy, emotional or otherwise. Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man and his two sequels - 2004’s Spider-Man ’s Spider-Man 3 - are consumed with the idea of heroism as an inherently lonely form of sacrifice. It’s the finest moral resolution of any superhero film. But it’s a testament to the strength of Spider-Man’s character arc that all this noise doesn’t drown out the story sequence of a young man learning he must do what’s right, even if it’s rarely easy. The inclusion of catchy tie-in album music coupled with such an obvious cultural nod both date the film and render it a victim of its own franchising. It sounds messy, like a clumsy assortment of 2002 culture closing out the superhero blockbuster that went on to inform all the superhero blockbusters that followed it for the next 20 years. There’s a smash cut to the credits, then Danny Elfman’s incredible Spider-Man score juxtaposed with “Hero,” the lead single from the soundtrack, shouted by Nickelback’s Chad Kroeger and Saliva’s Josey Scott. He walks away, knowing that “with great power comes great responsibility.” If he stays true to his morals, he can’t stop being Spider-Man, and he can’t allow the role to endanger those he cares about.Ĭue the ending: a thrilling web-slinging sequence, an American flag consuming half the background in a post-9/11 “We will be strong!” bit of iconography. And Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst), the love of Peter’s life, has admitted she returns his feelings, but he can’t reciprocate. His would-be mentor Norman Osborn (Willem Dafoe) became a villain and died while trying to murder Peter, and Norman’s son, Peter’s former best friend, Harry (James Franco), seems prepared to follow in his dad’s footsteps. Peter’s Uncle Ben is dead, and his Aunt May is struggling. By the end of Sam Raimi’s 2002 movie Spider-Man, secret superhero Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) isn’t any better off personally than he was at the beginning of the film, when he was an awkward nerd without superpowers.
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