When the first Spidey film swung (spider-man pun #1) into cinemas in 2002 it set off a chain reaction to develop and produce "good" superhero films, its the 9th marvel film and was even nominated for 2 Oscars. Taking a superhero who is loved by millions and turning it into a film is risky, it can go wrong very easily if not delicately constructed... Sam Raimi did something strange though and it worked. Raimi took Spider-man and changed him quite a bit and fans were okay with it which IS strange because look how some reacted to the Mandarin, they hated it!
In Raimi's version Peter could shoot webs from his wrist without the need for his web shooters designed by the genius himself which I thought was good because it made him more "Spider-like" however I felt the trilogy betrayed too many elements from the comic such as characters like Gwen Stacy, Venom and Peter Parker himself in many ways and I'll explain why but I would like to say that making changes is good because it creates something new and unpredictable but there are certain things which we needed, don't get me wrong I love the Spider-Man trilogy.
1) Peter Parker- They got the character perfect! what's great about Peter especially in the films is that he struggles, he has bills to pay and relationship problems many problems that out society face which I believe is why he has become so recognisable or even relatable because it doesn't always work out for him and they convey that perfectly however... there are a few things I wanted to see like him being the genius he is, we get a little taste of it in Spidey 2 when he's talking to Otto and they talk about science stuff which was good but the entire trilogy failed to show Peters true intelligence and instead portrayed him as quite lazy which in many ways is correct but I wanted to see the smarter side to Peter, as well as the witty and funny side which they avoided.
2) Gwen Stacy- she just wasn't in it... until the 3rd film and they completely avoided the fact that Gwen is Peters first love but it was good to see her in the film I just felt she was a bit under-developed and just thrown in there to make Venom make sense... which brings me to my final point!
3) Venom- now! Venom was designed brilliantly, everything about him was visually stunning but he got about 20 minutes screen time. Why is this a problem you ask? Well Venom was a fan made character bought for $200... Imagine what he's worth now considering he is one of the most memorable and badass villains in the marvel universe and they gave him a weak role. Like I said the overall design was awesome they just didn't include him at all, it would be like having a Thor film with no Loki, you need that balance... its like Yin and Yang. When they teased Venom everyone expected full dedication to the villain but it turns out Sandman was in fact the main focus... It should have been the other way round! sandman would have been great as a secondary character.
What was also good about the trilogy was the fact it was fun, the new spider-man films have gone down a darker path which is very interesting but when you grow up with these cheesy films as a kid, they grow on you no matter how cheesy they are but they are actually very fun to watch despite there inaccuracies (its Spider-man he can do what he wants even defying the laws of physics!)
I did however feel that the character selection was very limited, we had very recognisable characters in the trilogy but only when they were relevant to the story, what Amazing Spider-man did was expand the universe by involving characters even if they were irrelevant, Black cat makes an appearance and there are several nods to future villains but with the old trilogy it felt very grounded and restricted.
The entire cast was great although I thought MJ got a bit annoying eventually. Tobey Maguire will always be Spider-man because I grew up with him as Spidey and I guess thats just natural but I honestly think he did a great job even with his funny faces...
Bless him... Anyway! the cast were awesome and they were memorable especially with rising stars like Franco and legends like Willem Dafoe and Alfred Molina. But who could forget that women who clearly had a crush on him... and he did nothing about it! what were you thinking Parker! If was was going to pick a favourite secondary character it would be J. Jonah Jamerson mainly because its an awesome name and they also got his character right, spot on.
As a kid though... I loved these films! I watched them too many times and I would always skip most of the second one because I wanted to see Spidey, not Peter. Now I watch them I understand them more and this idea of responsibility which is constantly brought up and I'll never forget some of the loveable characters such as Aunt May and Harry's butler (he does have a name... right?)
This trilogy is also responsible for some brilliant character designs, they took some memorable and famous characters and brought them to life and although they weren't dead on accurate, we still recognised them and they were still brilliant like Green Goblin, I thought it was fantastic what they did with the overall design and I think Willem Dafoe executed it perfectly unfortunately the same can't be said for his son; Harry. Whilst I thought Harry was a terrific character I thought their interpretation of the new goblin was quite weak in stages but for the other villains they did a very good job especially when they incorporated Uncle Ben's death with Sandman and this villain was very different compared to the others because in many ways he is like electro, manipulated and angry but at heart they are innocent (reasonably) and that does create a nice heart warming scene to end the trilogy. I don't think a 4th Spidey would have worked.
Anyway thats all from me today, I love the Spidey trilogy and I would recommend them but unfortunately they have been outdone by the newest incarnation of Spidey which stays true to the comics but nonetheless Tobey Maguire's performance will forever be the original Spider man.
I haven't been around a lot this month mainly because I've been busy and unfortunately that will apply to May as well because its Exams... sorry! (don't hate me!) but rest assure, there will be posts :) your welcome
thanks for reading!
Until next time
from you friendly neighbourhood....
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