This is great news... hopefully. If Sam Raimi does not start shooting for another year then that should give him enough time for himself and his writing crew to come up with not just a good but a great script. I have heard the rumors that Kirsten Dunst will not be back to reprise her roll as Mary Jane. Which I think is warranted. We have seen 3 movies were Mary Jane gets caught and then rescued by our favorite Wallcrawler. Time for something new. The logical way for this story to unfold is to finally see The Lizard. Dr. Connors (Dylan Baker) has been in the last three movies. With 10 or 15 minutes of background story Dylan Baker’s character is developed enough for the audience to see The Lizard in full reptile fashion. If the movie must have more then one villain (which it clearly does not, ex: Sandman, Venom) then it would be great for them to introduce Kraven the Hunter who is out to catch The Lizard. Morbious was a great villain in the 90’s cartoons but does not have the fire power to be the main villain. Or Mr. Raimi could add Electro or The Shocker for a cameo appearance, setting up the next film in the process. The one good thing about the Spiderman franchise is that the writers have a large array of original Villains and storylines to choose from. Let’s just hope they chose wisely.
It seems every movie these days wouldn’t be complete without a love interest. And so it is so, even with Spidey. With Kirsten Dunst rumored to not being involved in this upcoming film hopefully we can see what the writers can do with Gwen Stacy’s (Bryce Dallas Howard) character. Especially since she wasn’t killed by the Green/New Goblin as she was in the early comics. It’s only natural that Gwen be in the next installment as she was in Dr. Conner’s class with Peter.
Now let’s bring our attention to our Favorite Neighborhood Spiderman. We have had three movies were Spidey is in constant conflict with himself over being bestowed with his new powers. The natural progression of Peter Parker is for him to get out of college, start snapping photos for the daily bugle full time, and accept that he and no one else is Spiderman. Spiderman is a cocky hero, he is very quick to think of an insult to get inside his foe’s head using that and his spider like abilities to defeat some of his most deadly foes. We need to see that element in the next couple of movies. As Spiderman grows a little older he becomes totally comfortable with who he is and should act accordingly. No more sob story’s for the Web head.
Spiderman 4 will be very successful either way. Unfortunately the studios have learned that if the character is loved by the fans then they will in fact turn out for the movie, regardless of how good it is said to be. Let’s just hope that Sam Raimi incorporates a dark but not to dark, solid storyline into his next Spidey film. By doing so Spiderman 4 could easily make more then the The Dark Knight.
jman