Growing up I thought the first two Batman movies were o.k, but were just too dark and gothic; and then the next two came in and sucked...I wasn't an X-men fan either so it looked like all hope was lost for CBMs...but then something amazing happened, and all of a sudden I was interested in CBMs again! That thing that happened was SPIDERMAN. Looking back on it now it might not be the best, but back in 2002 it was the greatest CBM ever, and Spiderman's release it became a tradition for a CBM to be released EVERY SUMMER. I loved the origin story and Willem Dafoe was phenomenal as Norman Osborn/ Green Goblin. Then Spiderman 2 came and it was EVEN BETTER. It was the perfect adaption of a comic book, everything felt like it should: straight out of the comics. The fights, the dialogue, EVERYTHING. Sam Raimi had proved to everyone that he knows how to make a kick-ass Superhero movie.
Spiderman 3 was the most-anticipated CBM ever at the time, and was a let-down to a lot of people. The casting of Topher Grace as Venom had me puzzled in a lot of ways-"how the hell is that dweeb from That 70s Show playing VENOM, a enormous beast who is supposed to be one of Spiderman's toughest enemies?". But then the first trailer was released, and I had faith in Raimi, Maguire, and the rest of the crew, since it looked awesome. After anxiously waiting for what seemed like forever, I saw Spiderman 3 the Friday that it was released. I had no idea what to think of it...it took me another two weeks of thinking about it after I had seen it again to make up my mind on whether I thought it was good or not. Overall I thought it was alright, but I was expecting it to be ALOT better after being amazed by both Spiderman 1 and 2. I could not stop thinking about the pure retardedness of some of the scenes (*cough cough emo Peter dancing on the street *cough cough), but also did not forget the good scenes that sent chills down my spine ( Peter and Harry putting aside their differences and working together to fight Sandman and Venom). Venom should have been left out, point blank. He is too good of a character to get this type of treatment, 20 minutes of screen-time and only 1 encounter with Spiderman. They could of had the black suit and all, but leave Venom out until the 4th film; Sandman was a good enough villain to go along with Harry's side-story. There was too much going on, that is what the overall problem was. I forgive them for Peter's retarded dancing episode, because it's intentions were to get a few laughs, but most of us were just thinking "what the f***?" throughout every painful moment of it. Having Peter wear a little mascara and flipping his hair down to look "bad" was lame too, but it is forgivable. Looking on the bright side, The CGI improved greatly, but was over-used in my opinion. James Franco, Thomas Haden Church, and Tobey Maguire turned in solid performances for their respective roles (Kirsten Dunst's Mary Jane felt like a nuisance once again). If I were to grade each movie of the trilogy, I would give Spiderman an 8/10, Spiderman 2 a 10/10, and Spiderman 3 a 6/10. It was a bit of a disappointment, but wasn't as bad as some people say (nowhere near the likes of Batman & Robin). Now to the mess that happened after Spiderman 3...
Sony is to blame for disappointing us with Spiderman 3 and ultimately ending the Spiderman series. They pushed Venom into the script, and didn't let Raimi sit back and do it HIS way. Some parts of the movie just didn't feel the same as Spiderman 1 and 2, and this is most likely because of Sony's interference. I give Raimi credit for not giving in to Sony and leaving the Spiderman series. He made the Spiderman series successful along with Maguire, and didn't deserve to be pushed out of the way by Sony. As far as the supposed script for Spiderman 4 went, it was probably Sony's idea to have the Vulture and the Vulture's daughter in to create another love triangle with Peter and MJ. According to the script, Peter throws his custome away and quits being Spiderman, only to come back and kill the Vulture. This sounds like trash...just Spiderman 2 all over again and then some of Spiderman 3, except with the Vulture's daughter replacing Gwen Stacy. I would have loved to see Raimi's take on the Lizard with Dylan Baker reprising his role as Dr. Curt Connors. I wish they had given Raimi and the crew another chance at making another great Spidey film. The ending for Spiderman 3 was well-done and seemed to give the trilogy some closure and brings it full circle in a way, but it kills me to think that everyone's last image of Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker is of him dancing down the street in his goth outfit. After watching Spiderman 3 again today on FX, it made me think a lot about how this movie gets trashed so much when it isn't all that bad, and the bad parts most likely have some connection with the Venom symbiote, which was Sony's brilliant idea. This summer's reboot looks promising with a fresh cast and a grittier feel to it, and I'm sure I'll be impressed by it, as it may be better than Raimi's Spiderman...but I wish this had come a few more years later, after Raimi had a chance to clean up the image of his Spiderman that did so much for CBMs and fans everywhere.