Curious timing considering leaked email conversations between Sam Raimi and Sony brass about the new “Amazing Spider-Man” films— no, he’s not taking over or returning to the franchise, but they were picking his brain and asking for advice on what to do with the troubled series. However, Raimi was recently asked about his own bungled “Spider-Man 3,” the critically reviled entry in the series that was criticized for featuring too many villains.
“It’s a movie that just didn’t work very well,” he admitted to Nerdist (via Pajiba). "I messed up with that third Spider-Man. People hated me for years. They still hate me for it."
“I tried to make it work, but I didn’t really believe in all the characters," he continued, "So that couldn’t be hidden from people who loved Spider-Man. If the director doesn’t love something, it’s wrong of them to make it when so many other people love it. I think [raising the stakes] was the thinking going into it, and I think that’s what doomed us. I should’ve just stuck with the characters and the relationships and progressed them to the next step and not tried to top the bar. I think that was my mistake."
Raimi’s comments echo sentiments he said before about not believing in the villain of Venom and suggesting that character was foisted on him and the screenplay by the studio—it’s really no wonder he bailed on “Spider-Man 4” when Sony kept tweaking the screenplay. The podcast host says, “I don’t think that ‘bad’ is the right word,” to describe “Spider-Man 3” and Raimi counters with “Awful!” OK, now we know how he really feels, and/or he’s being as modest and humble as possible.
Raimi evidently wasn’t a huge fan of “Oz The Great And Powerful” either. When the podcast host tries to compliment him on the movie, he mumbled dismissively, "I did the best I could." Makes sense that he won’t direct the sequel then. Considering we totally agree with his thoughts on his own film, we appreciate the candor. What do you think?
I\’ll always look at it like this – Raimi\’s first Spider-Man is Raimi getting re-acquainted with the type of narrative driven story he hadn\’t necessarily been filming in recent years. It has uneven moments, punctuated by some performances that just don\’t bring it to the level it should be at. Is it entertaining? Yes. It is unassailably great? No. Spider-Man 2, however, is Raimi back in that narrative niche – it delivers on all fronts and is a wholly satisfying story from start to finish. Spider-Man 3 is just a damn train wreck. It splits attentions in too many directions at once, which rips a sense of focus away from its audience (who the hell are we supposed to root for? the tragic villain Sandman? Harry? Pete? Aunt May\’s frock salesman?) and it suffers so much for it. No comic book film needs villains that occupy half the fingers on a single hand (and Sony/Marvel are deluding themselves in thinking Sinister Six is going to be a success).
Raimi is the man and utterly underrated. Spidey 1 & 2 are comic book movie masterpieces.