Of Spidermen and reboots!

Name of the Film:  The Spiderman Trilogy    

Starring: Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst.     

It’s reboot time in Hollywood and Spiderman is the latest victim.  Too soon?  Maybe, but Spiderman 3 was awful, right?

Well I thought it was time to take a look back at the films as a trilogy.  See if the first two elevate the third or if the third drags down the first two?  

And the answer is...

A bit of both if I’m honest.

You see there is nothing really wrong with first two films.  They are a little camp/silly for my tastes in places, but they are both solid entertainment.  I remember thinking the second film was excellent when it was first released.  Any problems people have generally come down to personal taste rather than any particular script or filmic issues.  And then came the now infamous fight between the studio and Sam Raimi.  Ultimately the studio should have either listened to Raimi or sacked him.  Raimi said very publicly that he thought that Venom was stupid and you can see that in his treatment of the character.  Forcing Raimi to use a villain he wasn’t happy with was the worst course of action.

And that is the major problem with Spiderman 3.  By making Peter Parker go emo, have stupid hair some of the time and perform ridiculous dance numbers, it shows Raimi’s contempt for the character.  It messes with the tone of the film and it seems like Raimi is just making fun of the character.

It’s a shame because with Sam Raimi’s horror background Venom could have been dripping (pardon the pun) with menace and to be fair once Eddie Brock becomes Venom he is kinda cool if a little limited.

To make matters worse there is clearly too much going on.  I know this is a personal thing but I always find an amnesia story line to just be lazy.  The second Green Goblin is lessened as a character due to his little screen time and his constant back and forth between hating Peter and being his best friend.  The same is true of Sandman.  We are told about his predicament rather than being shown and this makes him feel slightly false and shallow as a character.  So where as in the first two the villains have been a strength of the films (even if you hated green goblin’s mask in the first one) in this film they are all a liability.

Much has been said of the third films faults.  So I want to move on to how the films work as a trilogy.

When I saw the third film in isolation it seemed like an absolute disaster.  I still hold to that view point but when watched as part of three films its flaws are less pronounced.  The Second Green Goblin is improved as a villain because of the four hours you have spent with him before this film starts.  The scene where Peter Parker is revealed as Spiderman to Harry also carries extra emotional weight when you are in the company of these characters for five hours leading to it.

Unfortunately the first two films suffer slightly when you have the ‘hindsight’ of the third one affecting your perspective.

Willem Dafoe seems more over the top as the Green Goblin, think a crazy unrestrained Nicolas Cage.

Alfred Molina also suffers slightly.  There are scenes now where it feels like he is winking at the camera.

Now let me be clear that both of these actors are amazing and I have the utmost respect for them.  I loved both performances when I saw them originally but now seeing how Raimi approached the characters in the third film it changes everything slightly.  I notice things now that I hadn’t thought about initially.  The above comments about the villains are only part of it.

Now I notice that Tobey Maguire can’t cry.  In any scene that he does he just looks like he is laughing and Kirsten Dunst being whiney is even more evident when you are faced with Mary Jane over an extended time frame.

It’s sad because there was a time when I loved the second Spiderman film.  It really was one of my favourite films.  But like the Star Wars films the newer additions weaken the whole brand.  By accentuating the errors in the more recent films it draws your attention to them in the earlier work.

Ultimately now I am left with a trilogy that is fun and enjoyable but not high on my list to re-watch.

So yes it is time for a reboot and a new vision and the signs seem good.  Shots from the set look cool (if a little blurry) and they have hired good actors, read my Easy A review for my thoughts on Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield did sterling work in The Social Network.

I am hopeful for the new films and this Spidey seems a bit more serious which fits my taste perfectly.  Roll on next year.

  

Did I enjoy the films?  Yes, mostly.   

Would I recommend it to my friends?  Maybe, definitely the first two.   

Will I buy it on DVD/Blu Ray?  I already have.

If it was a mate would I let it date my Sister?  Probably not, its too silly too often.