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June 2002

Fire Screen

Hot at the box office, the heat of battle and a sizzling story of adultery

Spider-man****
(rated PG-13, 121 mins.) The most popular comic-book superhero finally makes it to the big screen on his web-spinning 40th anniversary. When Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) is bitten by a genetically altered spider, he gains superhuman strength and the spider-like ability to cling to any surface. Other colorful characters include Spider-Man’s nemesis Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe), Kirsten Dunst as a flaming red, fickle girlfriend, Mary Jane Watson, Cliff Robertson as Uncle Ben, with whom orphaned Peter resides, and J. K. Simmons as Johan Jameson, Peter’s boss at the Daily Bugle. Unlike Batman, this film, with its Matrix-style special effects, is more sensible and dark without being nightmarish. Maguire is perfectly cast with his Jekyll/Hyde boyish charm and bewilderment at his own secret. An engaging, delightful blockbuster that kicks off the summer cinema season, Spider-Man will have marketers leaping to two conclusions: Franchise. Sequel.

We Were Soldiers**
(rated R, 155 mins.)
Based on the book by Lt. General Harold G. Moore—and reteaming director/writer Randall Wallace of Braveheart with Mel Gibson—this is the story of boot camp, 1964, long before Americans had a sour taste in their mouths over the Viet Nam War. Lt. General Moore (Gibson) is a conservative, suburban, Catholic father of five about to lead a battalion of men into battle. His wife (Madeline Stowe), along with other women, fear losing their husbands. Moore, a history buff, reminisces that the 1st Battalion of the 7th Cavalry is the same regiment as General Custer’s. This battle feels like Little Big Horn all over again. Like Black Hawk Down, the message seems to be that these men fought not for their country but for each other. But unlike recent war flicks, this story stands out because it documents the first major encounter of American soldiers with North Vietnamese. Wallace having taken the old-fashioned approach to combat flicks, we are offered the opportunity to “know” these men and their families, though it might be said that the director went a bit overboad in the sap department. Still, Sam Elliot’s portrayal as deadpan, crusty and stern Sargeant Plumley and Greg Kinnear’s skillful interjection of humor into war make for engaging characters. It’s not a bad movie; it’s just a movie about men trying to survive.

Unfaithful*** (rated R, 124 mins.) Based on the 1969 film La Femme Infidèl, Adrian Lyne’s (Fatal Attraction, 91/2 Weeks) scorching new drama is another of the director’s studies of adultery and betrayal. This time, however, there is a refreshing twist: the woman has the affair. Bored with everyday, car-pool suburbia, Connie Sumner (Diane Lane) runs into a French book dealer, Paul Martel (Olivier Martinez), the kind of guy of every oven-cleaning housewife’s fantasies. An affair ensues, proving husband Edward’s (Richard Gere) suspicions. Lyne certainly knows how to juggle love triangles, steamy sex and tension. The screenplay is full of slow, lusty dialog and Lyne uses a dimly lit palette that avoids glamorizing either Connie’s mundane life or her very typical affair. Gere, who we’re used to seeing as the stud who gets the woman, is instead the attentive husband, believable, soft, gentle and likable. Lane, who carries the movie’s weight on her bare shoulders (and butt), is saucy and attractive, mixed with the right dose of high-wired energy. She’s you and me. She’s any wife or mother. (And, she’s now going to be a huge star!) As for the handsome Martinez, he’s pure, hot magic.