Foreign flicks

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal"><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="" font-style:="" italic="">Spider-Man</span> Cast: Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst Direction: Sam Raimi Showing at: PVR Anupam<br />The boom is on. The comics-to-movies craze has intensified over the years. So, pretty close on the heels of Batman, Superman, Blade and X-Men comes the wryly witty, webslinging Spider-Man.<br />Several topline Hollywood directors, including Tim Burton (Batman), Chris Columbus (Harry Potter), David Fincher (Seven) and even James Cameron (Titanic) had expressed interest in the Spider-Man project; eventually, however, the relatively lesser-known Sam Raimi clinched the assignment.A grossly under-rated director, his expert handling of action set-pieces and visual effects in the Evil Dead trilogy, A Simple Plan and The Gift, makes him the perfect choice to helm a razzmatazz romp. And he doesn’t disappoint. Unspooling a slew of spectacular stunts, we’re sucked in right from the opening frames into a virtual funhouse. The two-hour, hurricane-paced narrative focuses on a shy, introverted teenager (Maguire) who is suddenly endowed with amazing, arachnidish powers on being bitten by a renegade spider. Utilising his new-found agility to combat criminals, the awkward adolescent even wins the heart of his childhood sweetheart (Dunst).Uncomfortable at first with his dual identity, the geeky high-school kid then uses his superskills to rid New York city of a megalomaniac monster (William Dafoe).<br />With a budget (reportedly upwards of $100 million) as lavish as its conception, this extravagant son-et-lumiere show is crammed with inventive special effects and eye-boggling pyrotechnics. The only dead spots are the cutie-pooh romantic scenes. Also, Danny Elfman’s score appears to be derivative of Bernard Herrmann’s spine-chilling compositions for the Hitchcock oeuvre.<br />Even though he’s mostly attired in a web-latticed costume, complete with mirrored insect eyes, the upcoming Maguire (earlier seen in The Cider House Rules) makes a walloping impact in the title role. He is perfectly complemented by the alluring Dunst as his love interest. As the masked arch-villain, Dafoe strikes us as evil personified, speaking volumes through his frosty eyes and tart voice. Academy Award-winning veteran Cliff Robertson (Charly) fetches up in a brief cameo as the guardian-uncle whose murder spurs Spider-Man to a crime-busting career.</div> </div>