Sam Raimi Spider-Man Movies: An Obituary

Its the end of an era, folks. Sam Raimi is no longer the man behind the Spider.

The days leading up to the 2002 film adaptation were filled with optimism that I would finally see my favorite super-hero come to life. I didn’t have much to worry about, considering that the man who made Evil Dead was gonna bring the Wall Crawler to life.

Sure, there was the Power Ranger style helmet for the Green Goblin, but Willem Dafoe as Norman Osborne was GOLD! Cliff Robertson as Uncle Ben was perfect. Rosemary Harris as Aunt May was better than I could have hoped for. JK Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson? The best. I had a fairly unhealthy crush on Kirsten Dunst at the time (sorry) and her Mary Jane was exactly how I wanted her to be. Then there was Tobey Maguire. I thought he pulled off Peter Parker as the science-nerd-turns-super-hero exactly as I had read in the comics. It was the comic book movie I was born to pay ten bucks for.

In 2004, on June 30th at 12:01 a.m. I dragged ten of my friends to see the midnight showing of Spider-Man 2 at the local multiplex. I could not have been more excited for that movie. Doctor Octopus had always been my favorite Spidey villain, and I wanted to share the epic battle between ol’ web head and Doc Ock with everyone that I knew. In hindsight, it is the second best comic book movie ever (the best being The Dark Knight, but at that time nothing could beat Spidey 2). Molina was better than I could ever had hoped for. James Franco finally had something awesome to do and, as many of my friends commented, he was the best-dressed villain ever. Mary Jane was even hotter, the special effects were amazing and it was even more reverent to the source material than the original. It is a ‘desert island’ movie for me. It is the best Marvel movie ever, followed shortly by Iron Man and X2. The bar had been set for sating the geek in me.

Sam Raimi had successfully directed two installments of the journey of Peter Parker from attaining his powers through to coming to terms with his great power and his great responsibility. Pete had gone from skinny teen to super-hero with a Broadway star girlfriend. The future was bright and ominous. Go get ‘em, Tiger.

Then came Spider-Man 3. Oh, Spider-Man 3. I was certain it would be awesome. I had only one misgiving: Venom.

Children, Venom is a visually dynamic and cool looking super villain—for a comic book. In a movie, he is a one-dimensional monster who has less of a character arc than Arnold in the first Terminator. Raimi didn’t like the character and Todd McFarlane, the co-creator of the Bizarro Spider-Man said that Venom would be a boring screen villain. But the studio wanted action figures, and attention-deficit-disorder teens wanted a super violent and malicious 90s bad guy to tangle with—in a Spider-Man movie franchise that embodied the 60s/70s comic book roots which paid more attention to the character of Peter Parker than the flash of super-hero life.

When Sandman was announced as a villain, it fit in the Raimi Spider-Man pantheon. Sandman is top 5 in terms of kick-ass Spidey villains. I don’t say that as a person who only knows 5 Spider-Man villains. Had they announced Shocker, I would have cried ‘LAME!’, but Sandman? Bring it. Raimi had announced Sandman as the villain in Spidey 3 and I was totally on board. Then came the kids. Then came the suits.

So, the movie came out and I saw it and I lost my job due to my excesses in the life of drink’n’geek. Do I blame losing a job on Spider-Man 3? Yes. Is that a valid reason to lose a job? No. However, I am no longer alone in losing a job because of Spider-Man 3.

Jan 11 2010. Spider-Man 4 No More. With John Malkovich in talks to play the Vulture, Dylan Baker to take the final steps towards becoming the Lizard, and Anne Hathaway to play Black Cat or some nonsense character called the Vultress, the franchise has come to a grinding halt. Sony has decided to ‘reboot’ it. The critical failure of Spider-Man 3 had Raimi re-think his role as director and the need to be true to Spider-Man as a character, as a continuing story, and as something more than an action figure. He has bowed out as director of the new Spider-Man movie. The familiar cast will also be absent from the new interpretation of the Spider-Man movie world.

I will gladly eat my words when another kick-ass Spider-Man movie hits the big screen. Just like James Bond before him, Spider-Man is not a character that is defined by the actor who plays him. The rub is that every Bond has been measured against Connery. The performance of Peter Parker will now be held up to Maguire and in terms of direction, Spider-Man had a custodian in Sam Raimi who was true to the origins of the character. It was the influence of a marketing juggernaut that derailed his vision in the third installment. A redemptive fourth episode was in the works and a return to form for the franchise could have been. From this day forward, it will only be a topic of speculation.