Word has it that Sam Raimi and Tobey Maguire have been signed on for the Spider-Man 4 and Spider-Man 5 movies. This will perhaps come as a disappointment to those who feel that Raimi dropped the ball on the last Spidey movie, but I’m actually looking forward to seeing him pick the ball back up and run with it again.
When I saw the first movie, I thought it was the best superhero flick to date. Then the second movie blew my socks off, and I had to transfer the crown. So the third movie left me more perplexed than angry. How did Raimi manage to go so far off track? I tend to believe rumors that he was coerced into including Venom as a primary bad guy, even though it it didn’t fit his previously stated overall plan to work with only old school supervillains for the first few movies — the result, a story that went on too long, with too many bad guys.
So prove me right, Sam. Make these next two as solid as the first sequel, and all will be forgiven (even that whole dancing thing). Follow through on that Lizard subplot you’ve been building up to. An army of genetically altered lizards rising up from the sewers of Manhattan would be an awesome use of CGI, don’t you think? Oh, and be sure to include Bruce Campbell cameos. Lots of Bruce Campbell cameos. People like those. I’m even fine with an Iron Man cameo. Just remember, with great power comes great responsibility — so please don’t frak these movies up. Thanks!
I got to admit, I am very disappointed by this news. As much as I loved the first two movies, I felt the third was proof that some new creative energy is needed to help this franchise.
Remains to be seen, I guess. Based on Raimi’s past success with the character, I’d rather give him the benefit of the doubt that #3 was an aberration, and let him at least do #4 before I write him off, instead of letting somebody new take the reins and potentially do an even worse job, or take the franchise off into some esoteric new direction the way Superman Returns did, or Ang Lee’s Hulk, or trying to make Spider-Man dark like Nolan’s Batman, even though that doesn’t fit the character. So much could go wrong. Also, I think about what a mess the Batman franchise turned into, getting passed from one set of creative hands to another after Tim Burton let it go.
I have a feeling that the failures of #3 hit Raimi hard, and that he wouldn’t bother to take on these new movies unless he felt he could restore his honor, so to speak. But again, it remains to be seen, and I may end up eating those words.
As for Tobey Maguire, I wouldn’t care all that much if they decided to recast the role of Peter Parker. And I definitely wouldn’t mind seeing a new Mary Jane.