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Home > Blogs > Sir Critic on Cinema > Archives > 2008 > September > 08 > Entry
New Spideys on the way: How to fix the series?
Last week news broke that not only has Sony locked in both Tobey Maguire and director Sam Raimi for Spider-Man 4, but that the the studio hopes to shoot parts 4 and 5 concurrently.
I greet the news with ambivalence. On the one hand, I would like to see another Spider-Man movie, so that the series can right itself after stumbling a bit with part three. On the other hand, I worry that Sony might be aiming too high by trying to do 4 and 5 at the same time. It was just that sort of excess that hurt the franchise last time.
That said, I still believe people came down a bit too hard on Spider-Man 3. It wasn’t a BAD movie, but it was clearly the weakest entry of the series, largely because it bit off more than it could chew. Too many villains, too many subplots, and an overdose of angst weighed the whole thing down.
To right itself, the series needs to get back to the basics. There shouldn’t be more than two villains - and if they have to have a second villain, that should only be setup for part 5. I really hope the villain is The Lizard; otherwise they’ve absolutely wasted casting Dylan Baker as Dr. Curt Conners, one of Peter Parker’s professors.
I’m a little uncertain about Raimi being at the helm. I have absolutely nothing against him, but Spider-Man 3 showed he was burned out. I would have preferred to see new blood for Spidey so Raimi can move on.
And speaking of uncertainty, there’s been no word yet as to whether Kirsten Dunst will be back as Mary Jane. So that begs the question: Does the series need her? Should she be recast? I like Dunst, so I would like to see her back, although I’m not sure she needs to be in both 4 and 5.
What do you all think of the news? What would you like to see happen with the series?
Permalink | Comments (4) | Post your comment | Categories: Coming Attractions
Comments
By Erica
September 9, 2008 7:36 PM | Link to this
Get a good script. You can still fit a lot of cool action in a good script — one that doesn’t rely so heavily on coincidence and deus ex machina butler revelations. Don’t bend over backward to make the villain fit into the preestablished backstory of the hero (i.e. Sandman killing Uncle Ben) — and murky motivations and actual bad-guyness can be interesting too. I think the Lizard could be good, as long as he’s well-developed. He’s sympathetic, of course, but they could make the Lizard side pretty compellingly evil. And if they’re going to kill off MJ, do it within the first 20 minutes. Or find some other way to break the mold.By SRCputt
September 9, 2008 2:03 AM | Link to this
Dylan Baker is an absolute must. And since they have gone and introduced the other girlfriend in 3, I think Mary Jane should be killed off, as Spiderman has to be haunted to truly work. The big mistake of 3 was trying to cram too much into one film. There were some effective moments, such as the final farewell to the first villain of the series, but Venom didn’t really work. One villain per movie would be my advice.By Sir Critic
September 8, 2008 8:43 PM | Link to this
Obviously we disagree, Erica - fair enough. But how would you fix the series?By Erica
September 8, 2008 7:48 PM | Link to this
Actually, Spidey 3 WAS bad. Seriously. My friends and I, all serious comic book people who liked the first two films quite a lot, spent the entire drive home making fun of it and having a way better time than we did at any point during the movie.