|

New This Week
Critics & Publications
Archives: A-Z Index
Advanced Search
Upcoming Release Calendar
Awards & Bests By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
How Metascores Are Calculated
Discuss Film In Our Forums

97
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
xx
Beer for My Horses
75
Boy A
xx
Christmas on Mars: A Fantastical Film Freakout Featuring the Flaming Lips
48
Death Defying Acts
85
Edge of Heaven, The
33
Elite Squad
80
Encounters at the End of the World
20
Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed
86
Flight of the Red Balloon, The
54
Get Smart
73
Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
34
Happening, The
25
Hell Ride
78
Hellboy II: The Golden Army
44
Henry Poole is Here
61
Incredible Hulk, The
65
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
46
Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer
57
Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D
xx
Kiss the Bride
63
Kit Kittredge: An American Girl
73
Kung Fu Panda
52
Milarepa
62
Mister Foe
53
Mister Lonely
74
Mongol
61
On the Rumba River
83
Paranoid Park
32
Perfect Holiday, The
49
Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: A VeggieTales Movie, The
63
Planet B-Boy
72
Priceless
63
Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, The
70
Standard Operating Procedure
35
Star Wars: The Clone Wars
57
Stone Angel, The
47
Strangers, The
61
Stuck
55
Sukiyaki Western Django
63
This Christmas
71
To the Limit
72
Transsiberian
71
Tropic Thunder
79
Visitor, The
93
WALL-E
37
War, Inc.
xx
Whaledreamers
54
What We Do Is Secret
66
When Did You Last See Your Father?
54
You Don't Mess with the Zohan
39
Young People F**king
45
Zombie Strippers
97
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
93
WALL-E
86
Flight of the Red Balloon, The
85
Edge of Heaven, The
83
Paranoid Park
80
Encounters at the End of the World
79
Visitor, The
78
Hellboy II: The Golden Army
75
Boy A
74
Mongol
73
Kung Fu Panda
73
Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
72
Priceless
72
Transsiberian
71
To the Limit
71
Tropic Thunder
70
Standard Operating Procedure
66
When Did You Last See Your Father?
65
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
63
Planet B-Boy
63
Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, The
63
Kit Kittredge: An American Girl
63
This Christmas
62
Mister Foe
61
Stuck
61
On the Rumba River
61
Incredible Hulk, The
57
Stone Angel, The
57
Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D
55
Sukiyaki Western Django
54
You Don't Mess with the Zohan
54
Get Smart
54
What We Do Is Secret
53
Mister Lonely
52
Milarepa
49
Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: A VeggieTales Movie, The
48
Death Defying Acts
47
Strangers, The
46
Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer
45
Zombie Strippers
44
Henry Poole is Here
39
Young People F**king
37
War, Inc.
35
Star Wars: The Clone Wars
34
Happening, The
33
Elite Squad
32
Perfect Holiday, The
25
Hell Ride
20
Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed
xx
Whaledreamers
xx
Christmas on Mars: A Fantastical Film Freakout Featuring the Flaming Lips
xx
Kiss the Bride
xx
Beer for My Horses
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
|
Spider
Sony Pictures Classics
FILM:
MPAA RATING: R for sexuality, brief violence and language
Starring
Ralph Fiennes,
Miranda Richardson,
Gabriel Byrne,
Bradley Hall,
Lynn Redgrave,
John Neville,
Gary Reineke,
and
Philip Craig
A psychological thriller about a man (Fiennes) trying to piece his life back together after his premature release from a mental institution.
| GENRE(S): |
Suspense/Thriller
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
David Cronenberg
Patrick McGrath (also novel)
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
David Cronenberg
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: July 29, 2003
Video: July 29, 2003
Theatrical: December 20, 2002
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
98 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
France / Canada / UK |
Best Canadian Feature Film, 2002 Toronto International Film Festival

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
100
San Francisco Chronicle
Mick LaSalle
In this small and very smart film, Cronenberg does several things at once and makes them all look effortless, capturing various shadings of consciousness and versions of reality.

100
Christian Science Monitor
David Sterritt
Arguably the subtlest, most carefully textured film of Cronenberg's career.

100
Village Voice
J. Hoberman
Spider lasts in the mind and it's built to last -- this is a movie that invites and repays repeated viewings.

91
Portland Oregonian
Shawn Levy
Exciting spectacle of a master director reining in his abilities to create a work that is etched in acid, burnished in smoke.

90
Washington Post
Michael O'Sullivan
His story is sad, compelling and morbidly, tragically watchable.

90
Wall Street Journal
Joe Morgenstern
The most elegantly crafted and confidently directed of all his (Cronenberg's) films, it's a calm, chilling portrait of a blighted soul and, just as calmly but quite stunningly, an evocation of the thought processes behind the blight.
90
Dallas Observer
Bill Gallo
It takes an especially fine-tuned director and an inventive actor to cut as close to the bone as Spider does.

90
The New Republic
Stanley Kauffmann
Spider is not a pulse-quickening experience, but Fiennes's art makes it engrossing.

90
Los Angeles Times
Kevin Thomas
In an instance of director, stars and material melding flawlessly, Spider is a brilliantly realized depiction of a mentally ill individual.

90
Variety
David Rooney
This slow but brilliantly sustained journey into madness is fronted by a remarkable performance from Ralph Fiennes and superb backup from Miranda Richardson in a triple role.

90
Chicago Reader
Jonathan Rosenbaum
I was floored by Cronenberg's mastery of the material. Fiennes gives one of his finest performances; Miranda Richardson, playing at least three characters in the protagonist's twisted vision, is no less impressive.

90
Newsweek
David Ansen
The superbly acted Spider is muted in comparison: its a quiet nightmare, painted in hospital greens and rust browns.

90
LA Weekly
Ella Taylor
Deliciously wicked, strangely poetic portrait (adapted by Patrick McGrath from his own novel) of a schizophrenic man at once tyrannized and elevated by oedipal terrors.

88
Boston Globe
Ty Burr
It's Cronenberg's finest film, it's star Ralph Fiennes's riskiest role, it's a tour de force for actress Miranda Richardson.

88
Rolling Stone
Peter Travers
What catches us in Spider's web -- besides the indelible performances of Fiennes and Richardson -- is the director's sympathy with this freak man-child who struggles to order his confused memories into a kind of truth.

88
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Rick Groen
This is a rare adaptation where the script (by McGrath himself) heads straight for the novel's horrible essence, reproducing it non-verbally and in an even more concentrated form.

88
Chicago Tribune
Michael Wilmington
A shocker for devotees of stylish angst and psychological torment. You'll have to watch it with patience and great attention, but it richly rewards that patience.

83
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Sean Axmaker
Cronenberg's most disciplined exploration yet of that shadowy realm: the world refracted through the prism of a schizophrenic mind.

80
Salon.com
Andrew O'Hehir
It isn't likely to drive anybody out of the theater -- although getting people out of the house to see a meticulous, minimalist study of madness and memory may be another story.

80
Washington Post
Stephen Hunter
An eensy-weensy movie sustained by two utterly gigantic performances.

80
The New York Times
Stephen Holden
Brilliantly realized but bone-chillingly bleak.

80
Film Threat
Darrin Keene
This is the film that "Shine" and A Beautiful Mind could not be, a story about schizophrenia that doesnt neatly resolve its complex subject matter.

80
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Keith Phipps
Were he only trying to remark on that world's creepiness, Cronenberg would still succeed brilliantly, if coldly, but his sympathy makes the film.

78
Austin Chronicle
Marc Savlov
Cronenbergs nonlinear narrative is trying at times it keeps you nearly as off-kilter as the characters, and surely thats intentional but as a character piece about madness and stymied dreams, its remarkably realistic.

75
USA Today
Mike Clark
This is the kind of well-made movie you wish well but you don't particularly wish to see again.

75
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
The details of the film and of the performances are meticulously realized; there is a reward in seeing artists working so well. But the story has no entry or exit, and is cold, sad and hopeless. Afterward, I feel more admiration than gratitude.

75
New York Daily News
Jami Bernard
A cat's cradle of creepy childhood memory oozing unreliably from the mind of an aging, desiccated, paranoid schizophrenic, played quite amazingly by a mumbling, stooped, shifty-eyed Ralph Fiennes.

75
Entertainment Weekly
Lisa Schwarzbaum
Fiennes' very skin participates in the project -- his fingernails are nicotine-stained the color of tea bags. The performance works; it's a ballet, a concerto of big, big Acting.

75
New York Post
Jonathan Foreman
If you have the patience, its almost endless silences and extremely slow pacing eventually pay off.

75
Miami Herald
Rene Rodriguez
This superbly realized, clammy and unsettling movie doesn't hinge on plot. Claustrophobic and profoundly creepy, Spider isn't a pleasant viewing experience, and that's the point.

75
Philadelphia Inquirer
Carrie Rickey
Spider is a difficult film, but an inspired one, the movie equivalent of eating a meal of artfully prepared eel or sea urchin. It's for those with adventurous tastes and no fear of squishy textures.

70
Slate
David Edelstein
The inner life of the young Spider is just screaming to be taken to the next level--but Cronenberg mulishly won't go there. What goes wrong with Spider is pretty basic: The audience has no idea why it was made.

70
New York Magazine
Peter Rainer
A kind of psychological whodunit, but without the thrills. The clue-making is rather desultory, as if Cronenberg were indulging a narrative strategy he didnt really care for.

70
TV Guide
Maitland McDonagh
Its minutely detailed revelations work their way under the skin like slivers of glass.

50
Baltimore Sun
Michael Sragow
Spider as a character is a fantasizing detective, but the movie is no Singing Detective (the high-water mark of the sub-genre). This film rarely rises above a murmur.


The average user rating for this movie is 6.9 (out of 10) based on 31 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Read more user comments...
Discuss this movie in our forums |
|