By the time filming begins in March 2010, Tobey will be almost 35 years old. (He was born in July of '75) I think that's too old for him to play Spidey. I think the studio is milking this one way past it's prime. I think they should take 5 to 7 years off, and reboot with a different director and a new Spidey. But they won't. And do you know why? Because they have "beating a dead horse" syndrome. Spiderman 3 is one of the worst big budget studio movie I've seen in awhile. For God's sake take a breather.
QFT. Once you get past the terrible lack of plot, cringe-worthy dialogue (stick to the self-mocking Evil Dead movies, Sam and Ivan!), horrid acting(which ofcourse is due partially to the bad script), and tremendous Venom blueballs, Tobey just isn't looking so cool anymore. Imean, in teh first Spider-Man, he basically embodied Peter Parker, but latley he's been getting...What are the words? Oh yeah. Old and fat. That shouldn't be a problem for Spidey 4 & 5, simpyl because of the digital technology we have today (Red Dragon and XMen 3 managed to reverse age quite effectively). I mean hell. I'd kinda like to see a digitally de-aged Kenneth branagh take on Thor! There's really nothing we can't do with thistechnology anymore. Slimy!
Whenever I think of Spidey 3, I always think of how much I wanted Sandman to just go away. He was completely unnecessary. Venom would have sold the movie on his own and there was absolutely nothing given by the Sandman character that couldn't have been accomplished in a smaller, less dominating way. Then of course there was Harry getting amnesia... *cringes* When you see the coffee shop scene between Peter and Harry and realize just how good the movie would have been had it focused on exchanges such as that... Well as for Spider-Man 4 & 5, I don't know what they think would be a great storyline that would require two movies to flesh it out when they rushed Venom and failed with the new Goblin. I doubt Croc could sell two films.
A few weeks ago they announced that they wouldn't in fact be doing both movies at once, but one at a time, though rumours persist that the stories will be interconnected. Today this popped up: So script by the summer, and Raimi maintaining creative control unlike Spider-Man 3...sounds like this project just took a turn in the right direction.
Sounds like Raimi just outted the suits as the reason why Spider-man 3 was an abortion. Glad it wasn't him. Suit#1: what we need is a scene with forbidden romance. Suit#2: can it be during an omelette cooking scene? Suit#1: only if there's dancing too.
I would have preferred spidey having a showdown with sandman at the end only while in the black suit. Harry helps him but is killed by the power of the black suit in the process leading peter to the church to rid himself of it. You place that topher grace scen as the last in the movie. It sets up a terrific sequel. And venom lunging toward the camera is a great final shot of a movie.
I've heard stories about how Sam Raimi was forced to include Venom in Spider-Man 3, when he didn't really like the character, and would've preferred to stick to old-school Spidey villains. I swear, Avi Arad has been both a boon and a bane to Marvel's effort's into television and movies, but what do you expect from someone whose expertise is mostly in the toy industry?
Personally I would have left Sandman out of it and had the primary villain be Harry/New Goblin fighting against black suit Spidey much like Eeth suggests, but rather than kill Harry, mortally wound him in battle when Pete goes too far, motivating Pete to reject the suit and recognize the influence its been having on him. Three would end on the cliffhanger of Venom leaping out of the cacoon it makes when it captures someone. Personally I would have kept Brock to a minimum as well. This would set up Four to be largely a tale about redemption, where Peter has to atone for his sins in three while fighting a villain that represents the worst of himself, Venom, and knows his secrets. He reconciles with Harry and they team-up knowing that Peter alone can't defeat Venom. All the while there is a small mystery story as to who the Black suit bonded to and why hey have such a blood thirsty vendetta against him. I would also pepper in cameos of lesser villains who may be visually interesting but not necesarily strong enough characters to fill a whole plot. Someone like Shocker or the Enforcers, who are seen once as a moment where Spidey saves the day, but aren't immediately plot specific, and don't require a lengthy origin or exposition.
If there was a Harry vs. Peter movie with the characters the way they were depicted in SM3, I would have rooted for Harry.
IMO thats part of what makes their relationship interesting. You aren't really cheering for either one, because it feels like two of your close friends in a terrible fight and all you can do is sit there and watch. Harry's story didn't play up the fragile soul that made him such a tragic character, the guy who can never find anyone's approval and his efforts to achieve that approval lead him down a path of self-destruction. But at the same time, he is still the guy that you know and love, just broken and skewed slightly. So its hard to root against him. Admittedly they really missed the mark with Peter's character in this one more so then the previous two. He's never really captured the confident, smart-ass that you expect when you hear the words Spider-Man, mostly because Maguire simply can't deliver the necessary dialogue properly to make it work.
Of course, considering how horribly miscast the leads are, it's nothing short of a miracle that Raimi was able to make the first two movies as good as they are.
I'm rarely the type to whine about popular movies, but I'm really rooting for the failure of these flicks. Solely based on Raimi's cowardly "the suits made me do it" copout. Really? Really, Sam? Dancing Emo Parker was the suit's idea? There should not be too more of these terrible movies.
even if this follow-up is awesome, nothing can atone for the atrocities committed to the series two years ago.
Even if most of the big things wrong with Spider-Man 3 were out of Raimi's control, there were so many little things that he surely could have fixed. Venom's voice (or lack thereof) for example.
You read that different from me. I didn't read it as, "the suits made me do it" but rather as "I wasn't acting alone". Its hard to steer a ship when there are many people at the rudder, and evidently it made a bigger mess of things having too much input with no distinctive voice guiding things. There is a difference.
This, this this. Yeah, love the scene where we have this hulking monstrosity coupled with Topher Grace's girly voice. Could they have used something a bit more, evil, perhaps? Spidey's smart-ass remarks. What? Where are they? This has been my biggest disappointment with the franchise thus far. When Peter dons the mask, he's supposed to go from nerdy teenager to confident wise-ass crimefighter. Raimi, et al missed the boat on that one.
In their defense they did try on a few occasions to add Spidey's wit and somewhere between bad writing and poor delivery, it just came off as lame (watch the Goblin crash into Jameson's office again). In the second film they did try to add some incidental comedy, but you are right much of Spidey's wit was missing. I think 3 had the most attempts at Spidey's humour but again it was typically bad (the exchanges in the Armoured Bank Truck for example). However there is always Spectacular Spider-Man if you want a more accurate portrayal of his wit.
Or how about the Harry and Mary Jane cooking scene? In the words of Mike Nelson "This is worse than actually sleeping with her!"
I LIKED Amnesiac Harry. He and Gwen were the only remotely likable characters in the movie. EDIT: Seriously, I think I would like the movie better if Peter died and Harry lived. Also, it's great that Peter got over the desire for revenge, but Sandman was still a dangerous criminal that he shouldn't have let go.
