I was a little worried,walking into The Dark Knight Rises that I would not be able to watch it without thinking, in the back of my mind at least, of the shooting in Colorado that claimed the lives of a dozen people.
As it turns out, while I was not completely able to keep that tragedy out of my mind, I was still able to enjoy a truly compelling film, reportedly the last Batman film Christopher Nolan, the director who has brought the Bat franchise to unprecedented heights, will ever make.
Eight years after Batman (Christian Bale) took the blame for the death of Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) the city of Gotham, thanks to legislation known as "the Dent Act" that has apparently removed parole and short-circuited due process, organized crime has been all but eradicated. In that same span of time, Batman has apparently disappeared altogether while his alter-ego, billionaire Bruce Wayne, has turned into a recluse.
That changes, however, when, during an event held at Wayne Manor commemorating Dent's martyrdom, Bruce is burgled by a thief masquerading as one of his maids (Selina Kyle). Never missing a trick, Bruce is able to deduce that what Kyle was after was really his fingerprints, which in fairly short order sets him on the trail of someone far more dangerous than a simple thief, the masked terrorist known as Bane (Tom Hardy), a powerful, terrifying figure with close ties to Bruce's past whose master plan could have explosive consequences for Bruce as well as all of Gotham City. Bruce dons the cape and cowl again for the first time after nearly a decade away, but the challenge ahead of him will be unlike any he has ever faced.
Considering that the movie is loaded with twists and surprise revelations, some of them clever, others not so much, I'll refrain from discussing any more plot points at this point and simply limit myself to a review of the film, which I found absolutely splendid.
The bad-guy-taking-revenge-on-the-hero-for-the-defeat-of-a-previous-bad-guy isn't the freshest storyline around, as plots go, but as I love to say, it's all in the execution, and Nolan and company, with their variation of this particular plot, have done themselves proud here. From the characterizations to the action set pieces this film is uniformly outstanding.
Christian Bale, in his last outing as Batman, turns in a fantastic performance. Sure the "cookie monster" Batman voice is still a little grating, but Nolan actually remedies the situation by having Bale spend more time as Bruce Wayne, a bit of a throwback to Batman Begins. Anne Hathaway is delightful as Selina Kyle, who is actually never referred to in this film as Catwoman. I love how Hathaway really invests herself in her roles; for me she was one of the few bright spots of the otherwise forgettable Alice in Wonderland a couple of years ago, and she shows the same energy and dedication here that she did to that role, and even more, considering she's got more than a few fight scenes here. Notably she also infuses the proceedings with humor it wouldn't otherwise have. Tom Hardy as Bane is a little harder to rate considering he spends almost the entirety of his screen time behind a mask, but a good benchmark would be to rate his performance next to that of Hugo Weaving in V for Vendetta, in which that actor had to spend the whole movie masked. Weaving still edges out Hardy in terms of pure performance, but considering that the Australian is a much more experienced actor than the Brit, Hardy's performance is still quite commendable. Finally, among the actors new to the saga the real treat for me was Joseph Gordon-Levitt as young police officer John Blake. I've long enjoyed this guy's work, especially the recent bittersweet romantic comedy (500) Days of Summer, and while he doesn't deliver an especially outstanding performance, his optimistic, bright-eyed take on Nolan's clever, dedicated police officer is a pleasure to watch; in a movie that is as deliberately, unrelentingly dark as this one, characters like Hathaway's witty Kyle and Gordon-Levitt's indefatigably optimistic Blake serve as welcome foils. Oscar-winning hottie Marion Cotillard is a bit wasted here; she does not make much of an impression as Miranda Tate, even if she turns out to be more important to the story than the viewer is originally led to believe.
Series veterans Gary Oldman as Commissioner Jim Gordon, Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox, and Michael Caine as Alfred Pennyworth continue to give Batman's crucial supporting case members the heft they deserve, though Fox and Gordon have considerably less to do in this film than in the last two, while Caine's Alfred gets the opportunity to flex some dramatic muscles.
In terms of the action playing out, at nearly three hours the movie did feel a little long to me at some points, but it's hard to fault Nolan for his very deliberate pacing. What I can fault Nolan for, though, is giving me the opportunity to consider plot holes and logical gaffes by stretching out the running time as he did. All Hollywood blockbusters have holes in their plots; this is almost a rule of thumb. The trick has always been keeping things moving too briskly for the viewer to want to pay attention, with the flaws surfacing during the second or third viewings. By making the film as long as he did, though, Nolan gave me plenty of time to wonder why certain things were the way they were, though I won't go into them to avoid spoiling anything.
Not only that, but a lot of his topical references felt a little too heavy-handed and a little simplistic. The "99 percenters" who overran Gotham City at the threat of annihilation (though not quite of the kind that the actual United States is facing) were basically depicted as mindless rabble right out of Charles Dickens' take on the French Revolution, A Tale of Two Cities, complete with a mob mentality and kangaroo courts. The tattered American flags depicted at one point in the story were about as subtle as the giant American flag behind Spider-Man in the last of Sam Raimi's Spider-man movies. One upside of this aspect of the plot, though, was a welcome cameo from Cillian Murphy as Dr. Jonathan Crane.
Flaws notwithstanding, though. Nolan has really ended his tenure on Batman on a high note, and he really deserves a round of applause for this. He had nothing to do with the tragedy that took place in Colorado, and while this film will be indelibly associated with that horrible incident, those who have seen it will always remember its quality, or at least, to my mind, they should.
Score: 4.5/5
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Film Or Not, It's Something Special: A Review of "This is Not a Film"
If one can imagine a fish being forced not to swim, or a kangaroo being restrained from hopping, or an eagle being prevented from flying, then perhaps one can imagine the plight of Jafar Panahi, an Iranian filmmaker who was placed under house arrest while making his last movie and who now faces a 20-year-ban on filmmaking. This is Not a Film, an opus that is over an hour long and was captured partly on a digital video camera and partly on an iPhone, is his cry for help to the rest of the world.
The documentary film is a sort of slice-of-life treatment of Panahi's situation; he's under house arrest in his posh Tehran apartment, and about to face trial. He's already been imposed a 20-year-ban on filmmaking, obviously for displeasing the state with his work. He talks to his lawyer, and then shares with his friend, who is effectively directing the movie, his idea for a movie that, Panahi realizes with considerable sorrow, is not likely to be made any time soon. After a little over an hour, Panahi's day winds down and the last person he talks to before the film ends is the building's garbage collector.
There's something distinctly clever about the structure of Panahi's "non-film;" in particular I found myself struck by his conversation with his lawyer, in which, in rather precise terms, the casual viewer comes to understand exactly what Panahi's situation is. As a lawyer, I could not quite believe that she would knowingly do anything that would jeopardize her client's case, like, in this case, help him make a movie against a strict government injunction, but then, one must remember that Panahi is a filmmaker to the bone, and that there are all kinds of tricks to the trade that could be at work here. Was his lawyer completely ignorant of her role in his narrative? Or was it even his lawyer at all he was talking to on the phone?
As Panahi shows footage from a 1997 film of his titled The Mirror, which chronicles a very young girl trying to find her way home from school. At the climax of that film she breaks the fourth wall, takes off her uniform/costume and declares that she doesn't want to act in the film anymore. There's a clever little ambiguity in this scene; there seems to be the suggestion that her onscreen rebellion against the filmmaker is part of a larger narrative tapestry.
Part of me, the lawyer watching this film, pitied Panahi's lawyer, who no doubt had her work cut out for her when this film started doing the rounds and surfaced at the Cannes Film Festival. But the person who has enjoyed the freedom to express himself his whole life through watched this opus and saw a man whose art was as important to him as breathing, and I understood him, no matter how foolish his endeavor was, and how potentially destructive to his court case.
This is filmmaking at its most primal. No budget, no merchandising, no considerations of profit or loss, no...PERMISSION. Just an irrepressible urge to express one's own truth. I could feel the vigor in Panahi's spirit as he attempted to outline the movie he wanted to make for his friend holding the camera. I could feel the frustration in his voice and even his body language. This man is every inch a filmmaker, and probably ten times the filmmaker that most of the drones working in Hollywood are.
The fact that this film was shot surreptitiously and then smuggled into France on a flash drive stuffed in a cake is but a small, albeit rather remarkable part of a truly extraordinary story.
Not being too big on independent film (I'm more of a junk food/blockbuster fan myself most of the time) I had not even heard of this man before this film, er--non-film, but I'm pretty sure I won't ever forget him now.
Panahi's lawyer talked about international pressure on Iran's government possibly having an effect on his case; I hope the government is feeling the heat right now.
Score: 5/5
The documentary film is a sort of slice-of-life treatment of Panahi's situation; he's under house arrest in his posh Tehran apartment, and about to face trial. He's already been imposed a 20-year-ban on filmmaking, obviously for displeasing the state with his work. He talks to his lawyer, and then shares with his friend, who is effectively directing the movie, his idea for a movie that, Panahi realizes with considerable sorrow, is not likely to be made any time soon. After a little over an hour, Panahi's day winds down and the last person he talks to before the film ends is the building's garbage collector.
There's something distinctly clever about the structure of Panahi's "non-film;" in particular I found myself struck by his conversation with his lawyer, in which, in rather precise terms, the casual viewer comes to understand exactly what Panahi's situation is. As a lawyer, I could not quite believe that she would knowingly do anything that would jeopardize her client's case, like, in this case, help him make a movie against a strict government injunction, but then, one must remember that Panahi is a filmmaker to the bone, and that there are all kinds of tricks to the trade that could be at work here. Was his lawyer completely ignorant of her role in his narrative? Or was it even his lawyer at all he was talking to on the phone?
As Panahi shows footage from a 1997 film of his titled The Mirror, which chronicles a very young girl trying to find her way home from school. At the climax of that film she breaks the fourth wall, takes off her uniform/costume and declares that she doesn't want to act in the film anymore. There's a clever little ambiguity in this scene; there seems to be the suggestion that her onscreen rebellion against the filmmaker is part of a larger narrative tapestry.
Part of me, the lawyer watching this film, pitied Panahi's lawyer, who no doubt had her work cut out for her when this film started doing the rounds and surfaced at the Cannes Film Festival. But the person who has enjoyed the freedom to express himself his whole life through watched this opus and saw a man whose art was as important to him as breathing, and I understood him, no matter how foolish his endeavor was, and how potentially destructive to his court case.
This is filmmaking at its most primal. No budget, no merchandising, no considerations of profit or loss, no...PERMISSION. Just an irrepressible urge to express one's own truth. I could feel the vigor in Panahi's spirit as he attempted to outline the movie he wanted to make for his friend holding the camera. I could feel the frustration in his voice and even his body language. This man is every inch a filmmaker, and probably ten times the filmmaker that most of the drones working in Hollywood are.
The fact that this film was shot surreptitiously and then smuggled into France on a flash drive stuffed in a cake is but a small, albeit rather remarkable part of a truly extraordinary story.
Not being too big on independent film (I'm more of a junk food/blockbuster fan myself most of the time) I had not even heard of this man before this film, er--non-film, but I'm pretty sure I won't ever forget him now.
Panahi's lawyer talked about international pressure on Iran's government possibly having an effect on his case; I hope the government is feeling the heat right now.
Score: 5/5
Sunday, July 1, 2012
Rebooted in Glorious 3-D: The Amazing Spider-Man
I'll admit I'm one of the fans of Spider-Man, both the comic book character and the film franchise, that was a bit ambivalent about Sony Pictures' decision to reboot the series after Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 3 proved to be a critical and commercial disappointment relative to the first two movies. None of the early pre-production announcements, from the casting of then-relatively unknown Andrew Garfield (The Social Network) as Peter Parker to the selection of Marc Webb ((500) Days of Summer) as the film's director, got me particularly excited. Neither, for that matter, did the first few trailers. As the marketing campaign got a bit more aggressive after the release of The Avengers, I started to perk up and take notice. This was a marked departure from Sam Raimi's take on the character that only ended five years ago with the unqualified disaster that was Spider-Man 3, and it appeared that Sony was intent on doing things quite differently this time.
Of course, The Amazing Spider-Man is still the story of high school student Peter Parker (Garfield, in a captivating performance), whose parents (Campbell Scott and Embeth Davidtz) have left him, at a very early age, with his Uncle Ben (Martin Sheen) and Aunt May (Sally Field), and never returned. He grows up to be very bright, like his scientist father, but somewhat introverted and more than a little troubled by the fact that his parents have basically abandoned him. He's not quite the stereotypical nerd; he can stand up to school bully Flash Thompson (Chris Zylka) even if it means getting his butt kicked, and he rides around on a skateboard, but he's still very much an outsider. The one person who appears to bring Peter out of his shell is fellow high school student Gwen Stacy (the delectable Emma Stone). One day while tooling around in the basement, Peter happens on an old briefcase belonging to his father, one that happens to contain a picture of his father, who used to work as a geneticist, with an old colleague of his, and some mysterious documents. Uncle Ben identifies the old colleague as Dr. Curtis Connors (Rhys Ifans), another geneticist who works at Oscorp. Peter sneaks into a tour of the Oscorp facility, where he meets Dr. Connors, an amputee who is missing his right arm and rather keen to remedy the situation. Peter's curiosity gets the better of him during the tour, and as a result he sneaks into a room where the company appears to be breeding several kinds of exotic spiders which are used to manufacture one of its products, the "bio-cable." One spider bites Peter, and his life changes forever. From kicking bullies' butts to skateboard stunts, Peter finds himself having a ball with his new powers.
The void with his father is still very present, though, and, Peter studies the papers he found in a secret compartment of the briefcase, in particular an equation written on them that seems very important to the cross-species genetics work that Dr. Connors was discussing during the tour. Peter goes to Dr. Connors' home and shares the equation with him, little knowing that, under enormous pressure from his superiors to deliver some kind of wonder serum, and wanting very badly to use the reptilian DNA they've been experimenting with to generate a replacement for his own arm, Connors is ready and willing to shoot himself up with his formula.
When someone important to Peter dies, he uses his powers, at first, to go on a vigilante rampage to catch the killer, a crusade that puts him squarely in the crosshairs of the New York Police Department, headed by Captain George Stacy (Denis Leary) who happens to be Gwen's dad. When Connors' self-experimentation goes horribly awry though, the newly-christened Spider-Man has to put his manhunt on hold for new mission; to save New York from a monster with a horrible agenda.
Comparisons with the Sam Raimi films are inevitable, so I might as well get them out of the way. This film has established a markedly different direction for the character, but the unfortunate reality is that, this close to the first Sam Raimi movie, most of the things that happen in the first hour of the film still feel all too familiar. There are definite tweaks, but the beats remain the same. The bullying, the awkwardness around the object of his affection, the spider bite and the death of a significant family member, all of which remain integral to the character's mythology all play out, as a result the proceedings feel a tad tedious for a spell.
What makes this particular pill easier to swallow are some well-directed and acted performances by all of the lead actors, and wonderful chemistry between Garfield and the other cast members, particularly his chemistry with romantic lead Stone, which was a lot more engaging to watch than the puppy-love exchanges between erstwhile Peter Parker Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst's Mary Jane Watson in the first Spider-Man. It's familiar, but incrementally better in many respects, though unfortunately not all of them. The death of a pivotal character that anyone who knows anything about Spider-Man will certainly know does not play out as well here as it did in Raimi's first film, and that hurts the narrative considerably, as does the exclusion, or confusing paraphrasing, of the previous films' signature phrase, "with great power comes great responsibility."
On its own merits, and the aforementioned storytelling shortfalls aside, this is a rock-solid film which works surprisingly well, even if it doesn't always soar. Gone is the whimsical buoyancy of the first two films, but gone as well as the ridiculous "Power Ranger" style fighting and ridiculous dialogue of the first film (one need only look back on the ridiculous rooftop dialogue between Spider-Man and Willem Dafoe's Green Goblin to see how bad it could get), as well as some of the goofier aspects of the first three films. In its place is storytelling that isn't so much "darker" as many people have claimed as it is moodier. Garfield's Peter is utterly compelling; he doesn't quite wear his angst out on his sleeve but he isn't some super-cool rebel either, and unlike Maguire he perfectly captures the dichotomy of Spider-Man, shy and withdrawn as himself but completely cocksure when in costume. Emma Stone, more attractive as Gwen than Dunst ever was as MJ, is probably the strongest female character ever featured in the cinematic Spideyverse and it's easy to see why Peter would fall for her; it's a most welcome change from tradition that this Spider-Man does not spend the last few minutes of the movie rescuing her from the clutches of the villain. It's interesting to see if the filmmakers will actually follow Stacy's storyarc in the comic books considering what her character's ultimate fate is. Sheen does excellent work as Uncle Ben, Peter's surrogate father, and his performance is easily on par with that of his predecessor, the late Cliff Robertson, even though the script lets him (and everyone else) down at Ben's most pivotal moment in the film. Field brings Aunt May to life a lot more convincingly than her predecessor Rosemary Harris did. She may not quite look the part but I loved watching her interact with Garfield's Peter. It was right out of the pages of the comics, and considering that Peter's on-page relationship with his Aunt is more enduring than any romantic relationship he has ever had this is critical. Rhys Ifans, as Connors, conveys inner conflict and menace well, but it irks me that he didn't bother to put on an American accent, unlike fellow Brit Garfield who not only put on an American accent but who actually tried to go for a vague Queens accent. All together one can see that collective and individual effort of the cast to make this iteration of Spider-Man's universe their own, and something audiences haven't seen before. They don't always succeed, but that's usually more a function of the first film being too recent in my mind than their own inadequacies.
The crew is similarly diligent. Director of photography John Schwartzman's more nuanced lighting helps the characters explore a rather wider range of emotion than Don Burgess' pastel colors did, or even Bill Pope's often over-saturated orange-y sunsets. The visual effects crew of Sony Pictures Imageworks have striven to craft a Spider-Man who seems that much more gravity-bound than his more obviously digital predecessor. This is helped in large part by efforts to create a lot of the swinging and fighting sequences using stunts and practical effects rather than pushing the CGI button almost every time a fight scene came along, the way Raimi used to do. One technical aspect of this film which conspicuously outshines the Raimi films is the music score, with the soaring melodies of James Horner (Avatar) making far more of an impression than Danny Elfman's admittedly effective scoring did. Spider-Man actually has a THEME now, something I can hum, something the band at the Academy Awards show can actually play if this film wins an Oscar or two. Geek note: when Spider-Man 2 won its visual effects Oscar, the only Oscar a Marvel film has won so far, the band played the execrable "Hero" song of Chad Kroeger, which wasn't even in that film but was played at the end of the first film.
I have to give special mention to the 3-D in this film, which is, all hyperbole aside, the best I've seen since James Cameron's Avatar. It utterly puts the last 3-D film I saw, The Avengers, in the shade. The image was never too dark (which was remarkable considering how much of the film took place at night), and the action basically exploded off the screen during the last twenty five minutes or so of the film. Webb and his crew shot this film in 3-D, taking pointers from Cameron himself, and the attention to detail shows. Coupled with SPI's new-and-improved digital web slinger, the 3-D made for easily the most incredible viewing experience I've had since Jake Sully blasted off for Pandora three years ago. Not only is this film good enough to merit a repeat viewing; it's the first film since Avatar that I've wanted to see again in exclusively in 3-D. The difference between this and The Avengers is the difference between shooting a film in 3-D, as was done with this, and converting one to 3-D, as was done with Marvel's mega-smash.
Yes, this film is flawed and yes, as a reboot it feels like it's happening too soon, but considering that the stink left by Spider-Man 3 left Sony with no choice but to do a reboot and considering that the threat of losing the cash-cow franchise to Disney/Marvel forced them to make the reboot sooner rather than later I am able to look past the whole "reboot" gripe and appreciate this film on its own merits, as hard as that may be.
Score: 4/5
Of course, The Amazing Spider-Man is still the story of high school student Peter Parker (Garfield, in a captivating performance), whose parents (Campbell Scott and Embeth Davidtz) have left him, at a very early age, with his Uncle Ben (Martin Sheen) and Aunt May (Sally Field), and never returned. He grows up to be very bright, like his scientist father, but somewhat introverted and more than a little troubled by the fact that his parents have basically abandoned him. He's not quite the stereotypical nerd; he can stand up to school bully Flash Thompson (Chris Zylka) even if it means getting his butt kicked, and he rides around on a skateboard, but he's still very much an outsider. The one person who appears to bring Peter out of his shell is fellow high school student Gwen Stacy (the delectable Emma Stone). One day while tooling around in the basement, Peter happens on an old briefcase belonging to his father, one that happens to contain a picture of his father, who used to work as a geneticist, with an old colleague of his, and some mysterious documents. Uncle Ben identifies the old colleague as Dr. Curtis Connors (Rhys Ifans), another geneticist who works at Oscorp. Peter sneaks into a tour of the Oscorp facility, where he meets Dr. Connors, an amputee who is missing his right arm and rather keen to remedy the situation. Peter's curiosity gets the better of him during the tour, and as a result he sneaks into a room where the company appears to be breeding several kinds of exotic spiders which are used to manufacture one of its products, the "bio-cable." One spider bites Peter, and his life changes forever. From kicking bullies' butts to skateboard stunts, Peter finds himself having a ball with his new powers.
The void with his father is still very present, though, and, Peter studies the papers he found in a secret compartment of the briefcase, in particular an equation written on them that seems very important to the cross-species genetics work that Dr. Connors was discussing during the tour. Peter goes to Dr. Connors' home and shares the equation with him, little knowing that, under enormous pressure from his superiors to deliver some kind of wonder serum, and wanting very badly to use the reptilian DNA they've been experimenting with to generate a replacement for his own arm, Connors is ready and willing to shoot himself up with his formula.
When someone important to Peter dies, he uses his powers, at first, to go on a vigilante rampage to catch the killer, a crusade that puts him squarely in the crosshairs of the New York Police Department, headed by Captain George Stacy (Denis Leary) who happens to be Gwen's dad. When Connors' self-experimentation goes horribly awry though, the newly-christened Spider-Man has to put his manhunt on hold for new mission; to save New York from a monster with a horrible agenda.
Comparisons with the Sam Raimi films are inevitable, so I might as well get them out of the way. This film has established a markedly different direction for the character, but the unfortunate reality is that, this close to the first Sam Raimi movie, most of the things that happen in the first hour of the film still feel all too familiar. There are definite tweaks, but the beats remain the same. The bullying, the awkwardness around the object of his affection, the spider bite and the death of a significant family member, all of which remain integral to the character's mythology all play out, as a result the proceedings feel a tad tedious for a spell.
What makes this particular pill easier to swallow are some well-directed and acted performances by all of the lead actors, and wonderful chemistry between Garfield and the other cast members, particularly his chemistry with romantic lead Stone, which was a lot more engaging to watch than the puppy-love exchanges between erstwhile Peter Parker Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst's Mary Jane Watson in the first Spider-Man. It's familiar, but incrementally better in many respects, though unfortunately not all of them. The death of a pivotal character that anyone who knows anything about Spider-Man will certainly know does not play out as well here as it did in Raimi's first film, and that hurts the narrative considerably, as does the exclusion, or confusing paraphrasing, of the previous films' signature phrase, "with great power comes great responsibility."
On its own merits, and the aforementioned storytelling shortfalls aside, this is a rock-solid film which works surprisingly well, even if it doesn't always soar. Gone is the whimsical buoyancy of the first two films, but gone as well as the ridiculous "Power Ranger" style fighting and ridiculous dialogue of the first film (one need only look back on the ridiculous rooftop dialogue between Spider-Man and Willem Dafoe's Green Goblin to see how bad it could get), as well as some of the goofier aspects of the first three films. In its place is storytelling that isn't so much "darker" as many people have claimed as it is moodier. Garfield's Peter is utterly compelling; he doesn't quite wear his angst out on his sleeve but he isn't some super-cool rebel either, and unlike Maguire he perfectly captures the dichotomy of Spider-Man, shy and withdrawn as himself but completely cocksure when in costume. Emma Stone, more attractive as Gwen than Dunst ever was as MJ, is probably the strongest female character ever featured in the cinematic Spideyverse and it's easy to see why Peter would fall for her; it's a most welcome change from tradition that this Spider-Man does not spend the last few minutes of the movie rescuing her from the clutches of the villain. It's interesting to see if the filmmakers will actually follow Stacy's storyarc in the comic books considering what her character's ultimate fate is. Sheen does excellent work as Uncle Ben, Peter's surrogate father, and his performance is easily on par with that of his predecessor, the late Cliff Robertson, even though the script lets him (and everyone else) down at Ben's most pivotal moment in the film. Field brings Aunt May to life a lot more convincingly than her predecessor Rosemary Harris did. She may not quite look the part but I loved watching her interact with Garfield's Peter. It was right out of the pages of the comics, and considering that Peter's on-page relationship with his Aunt is more enduring than any romantic relationship he has ever had this is critical. Rhys Ifans, as Connors, conveys inner conflict and menace well, but it irks me that he didn't bother to put on an American accent, unlike fellow Brit Garfield who not only put on an American accent but who actually tried to go for a vague Queens accent. All together one can see that collective and individual effort of the cast to make this iteration of Spider-Man's universe their own, and something audiences haven't seen before. They don't always succeed, but that's usually more a function of the first film being too recent in my mind than their own inadequacies.
The crew is similarly diligent. Director of photography John Schwartzman's more nuanced lighting helps the characters explore a rather wider range of emotion than Don Burgess' pastel colors did, or even Bill Pope's often over-saturated orange-y sunsets. The visual effects crew of Sony Pictures Imageworks have striven to craft a Spider-Man who seems that much more gravity-bound than his more obviously digital predecessor. This is helped in large part by efforts to create a lot of the swinging and fighting sequences using stunts and practical effects rather than pushing the CGI button almost every time a fight scene came along, the way Raimi used to do. One technical aspect of this film which conspicuously outshines the Raimi films is the music score, with the soaring melodies of James Horner (Avatar) making far more of an impression than Danny Elfman's admittedly effective scoring did. Spider-Man actually has a THEME now, something I can hum, something the band at the Academy Awards show can actually play if this film wins an Oscar or two. Geek note: when Spider-Man 2 won its visual effects Oscar, the only Oscar a Marvel film has won so far, the band played the execrable "Hero" song of Chad Kroeger, which wasn't even in that film but was played at the end of the first film.
I have to give special mention to the 3-D in this film, which is, all hyperbole aside, the best I've seen since James Cameron's Avatar. It utterly puts the last 3-D film I saw, The Avengers, in the shade. The image was never too dark (which was remarkable considering how much of the film took place at night), and the action basically exploded off the screen during the last twenty five minutes or so of the film. Webb and his crew shot this film in 3-D, taking pointers from Cameron himself, and the attention to detail shows. Coupled with SPI's new-and-improved digital web slinger, the 3-D made for easily the most incredible viewing experience I've had since Jake Sully blasted off for Pandora three years ago. Not only is this film good enough to merit a repeat viewing; it's the first film since Avatar that I've wanted to see again in exclusively in 3-D. The difference between this and The Avengers is the difference between shooting a film in 3-D, as was done with this, and converting one to 3-D, as was done with Marvel's mega-smash.
Yes, this film is flawed and yes, as a reboot it feels like it's happening too soon, but considering that the stink left by Spider-Man 3 left Sony with no choice but to do a reboot and considering that the threat of losing the cash-cow franchise to Disney/Marvel forced them to make the reboot sooner rather than later I am able to look past the whole "reboot" gripe and appreciate this film on its own merits, as hard as that may be.
Score: 4/5
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