Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Film review: Spiderman 3
Sam Raimi is a genius director.
Not your deep, philosophical, meaning of life-and-death genius director, but a director who understands fun film-making. This hit me in some subliminal way back when I first saw Evil Dead 2 and realised he was scaring me and making me laugh at the same time. And it struck me again as Spidey and the Green Goblin and a giant Sandman and Venom and Mary-Jane jump and fall and punch and scream all over the screen in the climactic scene of Spiderman 3. Here's a director who understands comics, and how they were (and are, I hope--even Venom is too contemporary for me) full not only of action, but humour, pathos, fear, love, hope ... the whole shootin' match.
Like the best of comics, Raimi packs it all in for Spiderman 3, and like the genius director and writer he is, he juggles it all with consummate skill. He has only 140 minutes to give us Venom, the Sandman, the new Green Goblin, not to mention relationship problems, competition at work, struggles with the nature of power ... yes, it's busy, but I think those who have criticised the film for too many storylines miss the way it all comes together, and how skilled Raimi is at giving us so much with so little. The Sandman background scenes, for example, are short but wonderfully economic, giving us just enough to really empathise with the character.
And besides, it's all fun! Everything here is entertaining, even the slightly over-the-top 'bad' Peter Parker dance routine. It all works because Raimi has style and a wonderful visual inventiveness, and he isn't afraid to enjoy himself and take the audience along for the ride. Like being on a rollercoaster, you just have to give yourself up to the experience.
It's what comics were all about before they became too deep and meaningful. And the icing on the cake is the way the three films are nicely wrapped up as a trilogy. Nice one Raimi. I can hardly wait to see Spiderman 3 again. Now, all we need is a few more sarcastic wisecracks by Spidey when he's fighting, and we'll be spot on.
Four alien meteorites out of five.