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Spider-man Film Series by Sam Raimi: Why It Doesn’t Live Up to the Comic Book Series?
Many true fans of the Spider-man comic book series were left disappointed at director Sam Raimi’s film series based on the webslinger. One of those fans was myself, and this is my opinion on how they let themselves down.
Plot
Spider-man, Spider-man 2 and Spider-man 3, seemed to follow the same plot throughout each, with small variables that were barely noticable: ‘A member of the public is involved in a scientific experiment gone wrong. This experiment has not only given said member of the public supernatural powers, but also driven them insane, and they are now weaking havoc, robbing banks and causing danger to the public’. This could have been the tagline to all three films quite easily, along with Peter Parker not having the best of luck with relationships. For me, this isn’t how spider-man is meant to be. Yes, spidey is usually fighting a villain that has, via scientific experiment gone wrong, gone mad and gained powers, yet he is, whilst fighting these villains, suppossed to be playing a role of a detective, not just ranomly fighting them, and at the same time experiences the normal troubles of a teenage boy. This really doesn’t come across in the films, he is, more often than not, struggling with Mary Jane, yet he is rarely conflicted between being Peter Parker and Spider-man.
Setting
Throughout much of the comic book series, readers followed Peter Parker through high school, and, as well as in the now cult cartoons, this is where many storylines took place. In the new animated version ‘The Spectacular Spider-man’ we find Parker in school in almost every episode, having a struggle within about which girl he has true feelings for, about how to deal with bullies like Flash Thompson and how to juggle his life as a student, photographer and vigilante. This just did not happen in the films. Save a few scenes in the original Spider-man, we don’t seem to find the conflict between Parker’s double life.
Gwen Stacy
For those of you who don’t know, Gwen Stacy was Peter Parker’s first love, before Mary-Jane came Gwen Stacy. Tragically, Gwen was killed when thrown off a bridge by the Green Goblin, with Spider-man unable to save her. This didn’t just effect the life of our super-hero but changed the course of comic books in general, as it showed that super-heroes, like human beings, cannot get everything right.
The death of Gwen is a part of Spider-man history, setting in motion the hatred betwee Spider-man and the Green Goblin, showing that spider-man is infallable, yet this isn’t even touched upon in the film series. The only time Gwen Stacy is mentioned is when it is revelaed she is Parker’s lab partner, who seems to have a crush on him in Spider-man 3. No love affair, no tragic death, nothing. This is an important part of Spider-man as a hero yet we see nothing of it.
The Portrayal of Villains
Spider-man has one of the best rogue-galleries in comic book history. Yet with each villain portrayed in the Spider-man film series (Green Goblin, Dr. Octopus, Sandman, Green Goblin 2 and Venom) I have gripes with. Some bigger than others, but none the less…
Dr. Octopus
Now, Dr. Octopus was not a bad character in Spider-man 2. I felt he was as menacing as he is in the comic book, and with superb effects. Yet I feel Raimi added to much humanity into his character; by the end of the film the man tries to redeem himself, yet I feel that the real Doctor Octopus in the comic books is menacing because it is as if he is anything BUT humane, he is a monster.
Sandman
Sandman appeared in Spider-man 3, and like Doctor Octopus, I thought he was generally quite a good character, and my only gripe was his lack of screen time. This was apparent for all villains in spider-man 3, as you’ll find out if you keep on reading…
Green Goblin II
Green Goblin II appeared in the form of Harry Osbourne in Spider-man 3, looking for vengence for the death of his father, using the same steroids and equipment that his father used as the original Green Goblin. What I did not enjoy about this character is that he was not a goblin; therefore not Green Goblin II, therefore not a villain. He, like Sandman and Venom was offered little screentime and the fact that there was nothing even resembling the Green Goblin about him, just said to me that this man is not a villain, he is just an antagonist. He barely fought against spider-man and didn’t offer any threat towards the city. Tehre were however, some redeeming qualities. What we saw in Harry Osbourne fighting Peter Parker was finally some rivalry and real adversity between the two that should of been there in the relationship between the original Green Goblin and Spiderman, but wasn’t. I also thought that James Franco was fantastic in the role, and seemed to me to be the only one in the film even trying.
Venom
Venom is one of my favourite spidey villains, as I’m sure he is on eof yours, yet he was portrayed terribly in Spider-man 3. Like GGII and Sandman, he recieved barely any film time, yet there were worse features about him. Venom is meant to be a terrifying creature, a man who has been taken over, who can be barely reffered to as a man. However in Spider-man 3, he had an air of light-heartedness about him, he spoke not with the menancing voice he should have, but rather a saracastic jokey voice. He shows barely any sign of his power, rather, he actually has Sandman do the majority of the work, after he gets a smack down from the Sandman himself, and just comes across as a poor interpretation. In the comics Venom referes to itself as ‘We’ as it is a combination of the alien symbiote and Eddie Brock, and there is barely a trace of the human Brock inside; suggesting the symbiote has taken over Brock, yet in Spider-man 3, Venom refers to itself as ‘I’ and Brock frequently appears more in control of the suite than the suite is of he.
The Green Goblin
The Green Goblin is my all time favourite Spider-man villain and I could not have been more dissapointed with the way he was interpreted on screen. Where can I start? The suit. The suit was ridicolous, it did not stick to the Goblin’s colour, yes the obvious Green was there, but where was the purple? The purple that makes him out to be in a halloween costumes; a right nutter. The mask. The mask was the worst thing about it, it wasn’t scary, it was silly; it wasn’t practical and didn’t make Osbourne look like the Green Goblin at all. Worst of all, the way that the mask was made meant that you could not see any action or expression from the face inside the mask. One of the fantastic features of the Green Goblin, like DC comic’s the Joker, is his grin and hypnotising eyes. All we saw in the film series was a oversized toy from the power rangers collection. There was no personal rivalvy or adversity between the Green Goblin and Spider-man that we find in the comics and he was no way near as creepy as he should have been. For me, the Green Goblin is Spider-man’s ultimate enemy, yet in the film he just seems like a glorified street thug.
Check out my article on Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Dark Knight’
http://www.cinemaroll.com/Fantasy/Exploring-the-Ways-That-Christopher-Nolans-The-Dark-Knight-Is-Loyal-to-the-Comic-Book-Franchise-Yet-Still-Realistic.621677
