SPIDER-MAN: Tobey Maguire Weighs In On The Lasting Appeal Of Sam Raimi's Trilogy

SPIDER-MAN: Tobey Maguire Weighs In On The Lasting Appeal Of Sam Raimi's Trilogy

Tobey Maguire made his long-awaited return as Peter Parker in last year's Spider-Man: No Way Home, and the Babylon star has now shared his thoughts on the lasting appeal of Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy.

By JoshWilding - Dec 27, 2022 05:12 AM EST
Filed Under: Spider-Man
Source: Reddit

With Tobey Maguire shifting his attention to producing in recent years, it's rare we get to hear from the actor. On the plus side for him, that means he gets to avoid endless questions about reuniting with Sam Raimi for Spider-Man 4, a movie that sadly seems no closer to becoming a reality now than it was when Spider-Man: No Way Home swung into theaters last December.

That's okay, though, as we expect to see the actor return as his Peter Parker Variant either in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse or Avengers: Secret Wars (possibly both). 

Doing the rounds to discuss a rare on-camera role in Babylon, Maguire recently took part in a Reddit AMA. The actor managed to avoid making the entire thing about a certain webbed wonder, but did share his thoughts on the lasting impact his and Raimi's Spider-Man movies have had.

"I've had a lot of memorable experiences with people, and they've shared what the films have meant to them," the actor explained. "I've had some funny and touching experiences from spontaneous encounters in public and someone being surprised to sharing how I've helped them through hard times."

"It's sweet, and I feel grateful. Especially with kids, it's almost like magic, it's amazing to see their eyes light up."

Maguire was also asked how he feels about the many memes he's now part of. "Fairly neutral," he admitted. "I did see the Bully Maguire videos, which was a funny discovery."

If Spider-Man: No Way Home was his farewell to the web-slinger, we'd say Maguire got to go out on a high. The Spider-Man trilogy, now a distant memory for some or not even the first Spider-Man movies many of you will have seen in theaters, remains a groundbreaking entry into the superhero genre...even if the threequel is better off forgotten. 

How do you guys look back at the original Spider-Man trilogy? 

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Doomsday8888
Doomsday8888 - 12/27/2022, 5:23 AM
The new Spidey movies ain't got shit on Raimi, i'm not even trying to diss Holland and his Spider-man but...i mean, just look at this:


It's not hate, i'm actually LONGING to have something like this back, outta the new movies...ANY CBMovie for that matter.

This pure, undiluted sense-of-wonder.
Doomsday8888
Doomsday8888 - 12/27/2022, 5:24 AM
Also, lel, yeah, that's why he's THE GOAT!

:P
MochaKing
MochaKing - 12/27/2022, 9:42 AM
@Doomsday8888 - I know why MCU did not went with Sam Raimi way of story telling. They needed to appeal much of New Gen kids, hence they went with mix of John Hughes way of story telling. I believe the next director of the series may bring in more different theme and tone. I didn't hate it MCU movies, cause all had pretty great villains and Spider Man was vulnerable teen who was tend to make mistakes...
bobevanz
bobevanz - 12/27/2022, 5:23 AM
This is almost a week old. If I wasn't so lazy, I'd make articles
PartyKiller
PartyKiller - 12/27/2022, 6:16 AM
The Raimi Spider-Man movies are all time greats! They were not made to fit in with a cinematic universe so they had their own style and own storylines. There was no Tony Stark. The movies had heart and were true to the spirit of the comics even though not verbatim. People were cast because they fit the parts not because of forced diversity.

The MCU Spider-Man and supporting cast are garbage by comparison! Which is why Marvel had to bring in Maguire and Garfield for No Way Home. After several years of using Spider-Man, they had nothing going on!
EgoEgor
EgoEgor - 12/27/2022, 6:56 AM
One thing that I realized that I didn't as a kid watching this... Sam can't write women, and his romantic drama are really forced and are telenovella level.

They have a old school feel to them and are well structured from a writing standpoint but from a macro level, the films are not that well written. Definitely a trailblazer trilogy but had a lot of problems.
Humperdoo
Humperdoo - 12/27/2022, 8:47 AM
@EgoEgor - Raimi’s Aunt May is awful. She’s too nice and old. MCU Aunt May is young, cool and wanted to be a lesbian, so much for Uncle Ben.
MCULover
MCULover - 12/27/2022, 10:14 AM
@Humperdoo - wtf aunt may wanted to be lesbian. I think that's you, humperdoo. Wishful thinking I guess... Raimi's Aunt May was 100% for people who lived it. Stop trying to appropriate shit.

Youngsters...
MCULover
MCULover - 12/27/2022, 10:17 AM
@MCULover - y'all ridiculous
MCULover
MCULover - 12/27/2022, 10:26 AM
@MCULover - I think you want Marissa Tomei to do some lesbian shit. There was no sign of that. Maybe wishful thinking on your part? Anyway, way to railroad life.
ThorArms
ThorArms - 12/27/2022, 5:11 PM
@Humperdoo - Raimi's Aunt May had more memorable dialogue and moments than MCU May. Hands down. Not even close, really
FinnishDude
FinnishDude - 12/27/2022, 8:33 AM
Remember the short period of time when everyone was supposed to hate the Raimi movies for being too "campy" and love the first TASM movie (at least in comparison), because it "finally took Spider-Man seriously"?

Even though I think some of the aspects of the Raimi trilogy are somewhat overpraised (or at least some of the flaws overlooked), as someone who found TASM mediocre the first time around and grew to hate with later rewatches (no joke, it is in my opinion the worst Spider-Man movie), it has been entertaining to see that movie's stocks fall as the time has gone on and the Raimi trilogy get some serious reappraisal.
Sc00tersays
Sc00tersays - 12/27/2022, 9:05 AM
@FinnishDude - People today misuse the word campy. Those movies aren’t campy. They’re sincere
FinnishDude
FinnishDude - 12/27/2022, 9:21 AM
@Sc00tersays - Even if they were campy, so frigging what? I get it that TASM came out after The Dark Knight, but before The Avengers, which was this weird period of time when everyone thought that only "dark" and "realistic" superhero movies were actually good (some people still haven't grown out of that mindset), but "campy" is simply a stylistic choice, not some objective measurement of the quality of a piece of art.
Sc00tersays
Sc00tersays - 12/28/2022, 9:16 AM
@FinnishDude - I don’t disagree. My only point is that you don’t have to defend the films’ campiness, because they’re not campy.
60’s Batman - campy by design
Raimi’s Spidey - not campy
Humperdoo
Humperdoo - 12/27/2022, 8:40 AM
The characters aren’t annoying like the are in the MCU Spider-Man movies. There isn’t one character that I care about in the MCU Spider-Man movies. All of them are annoying AF, especially Tom Holland’s Peter Parker. Avengers fan boy instead of distraught nephew of murdered uncle. More interested in Tony Stark than he is with Ben Parker.
WeaponXCII
WeaponXCII - 12/27/2022, 9:00 AM
The Raimi films continue to be some of the greatest in the genre. I can’t even put it into words how formative they were for me.
Sc00tersays
Sc00tersays - 12/27/2022, 9:03 AM
Being nearly beat-for-beat remakes of the Chris Reeves Superman films certainly helped
HulkisHoly
HulkisHoly - 12/27/2022, 9:06 AM
I think Raimi made the perfect Spider-Man film but the problem is that he made it twice. Spider-Man 1 and 2 are way too similar, down to the same exact ending with the villain and the will they/won’t they was already getting old by the end of the second film. Watch those films back to back and they almost have the same plot structure.

The third film was a mess and he would up kidnapping MJ again for the final act. BUT at least the third film had a different arc for Peter to choose to forgive and he and Harry teamed up and venom was just a straight up evil dude instead of a misunderstood villain. The problem is the venom in the comics is the anti-hero and sandman is the straight up douche bag.

I think an easy fix would have been to just remove sandman from the story and had Thomas H church play Venom instead and then let the movie play out that way. At the end when Peter rips the suit off of Venom, he can forgive him rather than kill him and then Harry forgives Peter.

Just a thought.

TheCoonII
TheCoonII - 12/27/2022, 10:13 AM
Sony and Marvel spent years try to take these films away from us but finally we said ENOUGH
MasterMix
MasterMix - 12/27/2022, 12:10 PM
I credit Spider-Man (2002) with my love of superheroes and movies in general.
kirbyfan
kirbyfan - 12/27/2022, 12:44 PM
This trilogy along with the first Amazing Spiderman are the best Spiderman movies.
Amino
Amino - 12/27/2022, 1:50 PM
I'm still upset the audience members I was with during my "No Way Home" showing gave a huge applause when Andrew Garfield appeared, but absolutely nothing for Toby Maguire. I had to fill that void of silence myself, suffice it to say.

Flippant younger generation not showing proper respect...disgusting. My angst for this makes me feel like a boomer.
OrgasmicPotatoe
OrgasmicPotatoe - 12/31/2022, 11:13 AM
@Amino - That's because people who applaud during a movie are an absolute nuisance. Thank God it's not a thing where I live. Maguire fans know better. Be better.
OrgasmicPotatoe
OrgasmicPotatoe - 12/31/2022, 11:23 AM
I still remember going to see the Grinch at the theater and getting hit by the trailer for the first Spider-Man.

"Wait a minute, is this Spider-Man ?"

Then the shot where he lands on top of a building in classic Spidey pose with his wrestling suit during the thief car chase appeared, and that was IT, I was hooked !
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