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two heads, no brain
Monday, 7 May 2007 11:36 amI shouldn't whinge, really - and apologies for yesterday's depressive wossname, I also shouldn't post when depressed. Nor should I make assumptions about bad superhero films - Spiderman 3 was flawed and cheesy in the extreme, but nonetheless left me bouncy, happy and able to get my butt scientifically kicked at Magic thereafter without angst or woe. Yay pop culture.
I had very low expectations of Spidey 3 after reading this interview with Sam Raimi, in which he cheerfully talks about the Big Cheese producer moving in on his script and demanding the addition of Venom and wassherface, Gwen Stacy, to his Sandman-based narrative. The dread committee hand really shows: Spidey 3 is a horrible, giant, deformed, two-headed monster of a film - not only two heads, but about half a brain between them, as well as a lot of excess flesh, horrifyingly double-jointed wriggly hips, and at least six extra limbs. This is not to say it isn't often extremely entertaining to watch it lurch and shamble about the screen, occasionally bumping into things, but what this film really needed was a surgical hand to split it neatly down the middle into the two quite lean, thematically tight movies. OK, they'd still have extra arms and not much brain, but they'd be infinitely better than the current monstrosity.
To me, the important thing about superheroes is the way in which superpowers, supervillains, costumes and conflicts externalise and embody the psychological issues of the hero. In this sense, Venom/Eddie Brock/Gwen is a neat thematic package in itself, playing nicely with the dark side of Spidey in the same way that artificial Kryptonite did with Superman in the third movie. Likewise, Sandman/Harry/Goblin/problems with MJ is a potent bunch of symbols for exploring love, loyalty and identity on a number of levels. Put the whole lot into one movie, and what you get is a confused, frenetic, nasty mess without the time or space to develop these characters and issues in the necessary depth.
I have to say, enormous script problems aside, one of the other fatal flaws here is, alas, Tobey Maguire. As an actor his default position is "petulant"; he was all too horribly believable being narcissistic and insensitive to MJ, and frankly ludicrous with an emo fringe and a scowl, being "bad". Also, it may have been the truly torrid scripting which gave him the total lack of conviction, but the construction of Spidey in a Venom suit as a sudden sex magnet really, really didn't work. Not only because of the *shudder* hip-wriggling, but because it simply wasn't believable that this sulky, slightly flabby narcissist could actually turn women's heads. Eeeuw. I watched a lot of that sequence with my eyes closed, wincing. (Topher Grace could so have done it, actually. He has a spark of genuine wickedness. Tobey Maguire's just pouty and a bit limp).
Verdict: this is an entertaining no-brainer action evening, but don't for heaven's sake expect anything more; if possible, watch it drunk or stunned for the better suspension of critical facilities. It's all very annoying, because the first two films were more than watchable, achieving a good balance of heart and flash, and Sam Raimi is a far better director than this. They may or may not make another film in the series, but I'm not giving up hope of the franchise. In the immortal words of stv, we can now look forward to the sequel, Spiderman V.
I had very low expectations of Spidey 3 after reading this interview with Sam Raimi, in which he cheerfully talks about the Big Cheese producer moving in on his script and demanding the addition of Venom and wassherface, Gwen Stacy, to his Sandman-based narrative. The dread committee hand really shows: Spidey 3 is a horrible, giant, deformed, two-headed monster of a film - not only two heads, but about half a brain between them, as well as a lot of excess flesh, horrifyingly double-jointed wriggly hips, and at least six extra limbs. This is not to say it isn't often extremely entertaining to watch it lurch and shamble about the screen, occasionally bumping into things, but what this film really needed was a surgical hand to split it neatly down the middle into the two quite lean, thematically tight movies. OK, they'd still have extra arms and not much brain, but they'd be infinitely better than the current monstrosity.
To me, the important thing about superheroes is the way in which superpowers, supervillains, costumes and conflicts externalise and embody the psychological issues of the hero. In this sense, Venom/Eddie Brock/Gwen is a neat thematic package in itself, playing nicely with the dark side of Spidey in the same way that artificial Kryptonite did with Superman in the third movie. Likewise, Sandman/Harry/Goblin/problems with MJ is a potent bunch of symbols for exploring love, loyalty and identity on a number of levels. Put the whole lot into one movie, and what you get is a confused, frenetic, nasty mess without the time or space to develop these characters and issues in the necessary depth.
I have to say, enormous script problems aside, one of the other fatal flaws here is, alas, Tobey Maguire. As an actor his default position is "petulant"; he was all too horribly believable being narcissistic and insensitive to MJ, and frankly ludicrous with an emo fringe and a scowl, being "bad". Also, it may have been the truly torrid scripting which gave him the total lack of conviction, but the construction of Spidey in a Venom suit as a sudden sex magnet really, really didn't work. Not only because of the *shudder* hip-wriggling, but because it simply wasn't believable that this sulky, slightly flabby narcissist could actually turn women's heads. Eeeuw. I watched a lot of that sequence with my eyes closed, wincing. (Topher Grace could so have done it, actually. He has a spark of genuine wickedness. Tobey Maguire's just pouty and a bit limp).
Verdict: this is an entertaining no-brainer action evening, but don't for heaven's sake expect anything more; if possible, watch it drunk or stunned for the better suspension of critical facilities. It's all very annoying, because the first two films were more than watchable, achieving a good balance of heart and flash, and Sam Raimi is a far better director than this. They may or may not make another film in the series, but I'm not giving up hope of the franchise. In the immortal words of stv, we can now look forward to the sequel, Spiderman V.
