In the year 2002, something happened that would send ripples through pop culture and the film industry.
Spider-Man happened, and if you will excuse the analogy, I believe that Raimi's trilogy has become better with time. Just like fine wine.
I remember when the film first was revealed. I was going to see another movie, when I noticed the poster hanging overhead. The scope of a Spider-Man movie was so huge. At the time, I was only your average fan, but the movie was bound to be every little boy's fantasy-come-true. One thing about the movie that really stuck to my mind was a little fun-fact that my friend, Chad if I remember correctly, told me. He told me that the movie was delayed because of the 9/11 attack. Was I shocked? No. 9/11 didn't mean much to me at the time (it does now of course). Recently I have looked up that poster on Google Images to find what my friend was talking about.
Much to my surprise, I found that the poster was changed originally because it featured the twin towers.
Somewhat off topic, and a tribute to my friend Chad, I also clearly remember the day 9/11 happened. We were all fifth graders and we just happened to be watching CNN while doing some work in class. The teacher stopped us suddenly, gasping for breath with her hand over her mouth. After getting our attention, we all saw the horror of the attack. “Somebody crashed a plane into the twin towers!” my teacher exclaimed. Nobody said anything...except for my friend Chad. He broke the silence with one word that I will never forget for my whole life. He said, “Cool.”
After the first Spider-Man movie, life was different. Out of the clear blue sky, life became a different game. Now, you could see Spider-Man on television. He was real. He was tangible. Needless to say, Spider-Man was always there as every nerd's inspiration for the rest of the decade. Spider-Man 2 was just another miracle. It was the perfect Spider-Man movie. I saw it while I was in Florence, South Carolina. I was volunteering to be a staff member at Bible camp, and a friend I made there invited me to go see it with his buddies. It blew me away. I still remember hearing Kirsten Dunst say for the first time, “Go get 'em tiger.”. I say it again: perfect.
Things took a turn for the worse when the third movie came out. It was only bad until the movie was out though. Beforehand, everybody was excited. Actually, I don't remember hearing that much about Venom, but just knowing that a third movie was coming out was hype enough. Of course, I was totally geeking out when I figured out that Eddie Brock was going to be Venom. I loved Topher Grace too, so my day at the Cinemas was a heaven-sent gift. It must have been tenth or eleventh grade, in Spanish Class, when my friend Sean told me he'd seen it opening night.
“Yeah! Opening night at the Imax dude!” he exclaimed, holding the tickets high like his Excalibur.
I envied Sean at the time, but it was all good fun. Sean was my personal movie and video game reviewer. When I asked him about how the movie was: “It was great. Everything was put together so perfectly, it was just amazing!” he said with great relish.
Call me crazy, but I thought the same thing after I saw Spider-Man 3. I was seeing stars when I left the theater. I was deeply saddened that Venom was mistreated in such a manner, but I loved the movie. I griped and complained for a looooooong time about Venom. In my opinion, Topher Grace as Venom should have been the whole movie. Venom could have made that movie so much better. I started to hate the film as much as everybody else did here on CBM.
Until I heard that Spider-Man 4 was cancelled. The series was cancelled. Sam Raimi? Out the door.
I heard angels singing. A turd in my Cheerios couldn't have made my day any worse. Why? Not because I thought Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy sucked. Not by a long-shot, especially because his next movie was gonna stink (robo-vulture? Fail). I was happy, because that made Venom the offical last enemy of Sam Raimi's Spider-Man. Venom became his ultimate fight. My fanboy wish of Venom being Spider-Man's nemesis on film was fulfilled. He was the very last enemy that Toby Macguire as Spider-Man faced. The cool thing about this is, it's not my opinion. It's a fact, and nobody can dispute it. I have the right to be happy about it.
Now that the reboot is coming up, I feel much better about Sam Raimi's trilogy. Like I said before, it will become better like wine does with age. Go ahead. Feel better about it. Venom was Spider-Man's ultimate test in the last movie. Doesn't it taste sweet? Isn't it smooth?