The Rise & Fall of the Spider-Man Franchise

[nacho]

Well, glad Raimi's dead.  This leaves me with Jackson.  No one else has survived. 

[Matt]

I refuse to pronounce death until I've seen it, nor will I give up on Superman Returns.

[nacho]

The second one got wobbly, Matt.  Not bad... And, yes, I'll not walk into the third one with dark thoughts.  But I'm prepared.

[RottingCorpse]

Teaser trailer for Spider-Man 3. Dig on the dark, moody tone.

http://www.apple.com/trailers/sony_pictures/spider-man_3/

[Matt]

That looks fucking AWESOME.

[Matt]

Also, Nacho, I disagree. I think the 2nd one was stronger than the first. And looking at some of the camera angles in the trailer, Raimi appears to be playing around with some horror ideas when it comes to the symbiote. I have full faith that Spider-man 3 will kick ass. Totally.

From the trailer, we should have the second Green Goblin and the Sandman, but Venom doesn't appear at all, which suggests that either the CGI is still under progress OR that Venom is the tag-on to the end of the movie and that we face more of a conflict from Sandman and Harry Osborn.

[Cassander]

you guys are naive. 

everyone knows that super-hero movies stop being cool when you start doubling up on enemies.  Sandman, Green Goblin 2, and Venom?  in a 100-minute movie?  plus the conflict with spidey/dark spidey?  plus gwen stacey bullshit?  this movie is going to suck, maybe not as much as 2, but it will be awful.  hopefully this franchise will die with 3, then come back in 10 years a la Batman Begins with the only movie anyone wants to see (so long as Raimi isn't involved): MAXIMUM CARNAGE!!!!!

[Matt]

I'm unimpressed with Carnage. You like Todd McFarlane, don't you?

[Cassander]

how is carnage, a rampaging maniac with a shape-shifting body not better than sandman, a loser with a shape-shifting body and a freddy krueger sweater?

[Cassander]

OR better than Green Goblin, Jr., who is an exact copy of his dad?  you really want to see the same villain again?  maybe this time spidey won't be tricked by the old "I'm an old lady caught in a fire disguised only by a shawl!" routine.

[Matt]

Green Goblin Jr. has conflict between him and Spider-man, especially if the set-up is for Spider-man to ditch Mary-Jane for Gwen Stacy. Advocating Carnage as a villain is like asking Rattner to do X-Men 3, without the nuances and care of Singer... oh wait, they did that, and X3 sucked.

[Cassander]

that...makes no logical sense at all.   

[RottingCorpse]

I'm going to side with Cass on the whole "multiple villains is a bad idea" issue. It's unnecessary, and it hampers the story because that's one more character you have to explain and integrate into the story. My big hope is that Venom is just being set-up for a Spider-Man 4.

There does seem to be a lot going on storywise in the trailer, but it all seems to tie together in the whole "Dark Spidey" idea. Again, I dig the darkness of it, and exploring how power corrupts seems a natural progression of theme for he character.

Raimi's got my nine bucks if he makes one of the villains is a one-armed monkey. I'm addicted to the brand. Shameful, but true.

Oh, and my wife thought the trailer was confusing and pretentious, and when I explained the Venom/symbiote concept to her, she replied, "That's really gay."

[Cassander]

what's really gay is that they'll probably make the symbiote something that Harry creates in his lab. 

Edit: I hope spider-man 4 is actually the whole Clone Saga.  That'll serve you guys right for making this bland action, stale characterization, horrible acting-filled trilogy one of the most successful ever. 

Jeez, I really am bitter, aren't I?  I really wanted the spider-man movies to be good, but Raimi has shit on me more than Lucas.  With Lucas you at least kind of saw it coming.  That wizard's just a crazy old man.  But Raimi...why?  why?  Et tu, Willem Dafoe? 

[RottingCorpse]

what's really gay is that they'll probably make the symbiote something that Harry creates in his lab. 

Of course they will.

I think Raimi has done well. I love both the first and second movie. My fear is that you're getting the whole corporate studio "Bigger! Louder! MORE!" mentality creeping in.