Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Who's Spidey Facing This Time Out?


I'm just going to be straight up here, I was not a fan of Spider-man 3. It is safe to say that it's probably the most disappointed I have ever been upon seeing a movie. Too many characters, too many departures from the comics, just too many things in which hampered the experience for this lifelong fan of the webhead. Now don't get me wrong, I love the first two Spider-man films, they are still two of the finest superhero films ever made, and I don't think I'm alone in that thought.

Well the Spidey team is reuniting for a fourth go-around. Director Sam Raimi is back on board along with stars Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst, all set to begin filming in the spring of next year for a May 2011 release.

Raimi has essentially stated that his goal with this fourth Spider-man film is to make up for Spider-man 3, which I am glad, because Sam Raimi is the right man to direct Spider-man, he just got overpowered by the studio on the last film. If the studio grants Raimi complete creative control like they did on the first two films with this fourth one, the end result could be amazing.

Ever since the film was first announced there has been a lot of fan speculation as to who the villain would be. We've already had Doc Ock, Green Goblin, Sandman, and Venom, all of which are very big villains from the mythos, so who's left? While many like to buy into Bruce Campbell's usual statements that he has a bigger role in the next film, I highly doubt we will be getting anyone like Mysterio (while I do think a film utilizing Mysterio as the villain could be amazing).

Sam Raimi has stated that the villain within this new film will be a counter to the journey in which Peter will go on within this film. So reading into this quasi-statement, who can we expect? My own interpretation is that the villain will most likely be someone close to Peter, someone that he already knows at the beginning of the story, not a villain that gets introduced about a quarter into the film like all of the previous ones. This leads me to believe that Spidey's foe will most likely be none other than the Lizard.

Think about it, the character of Doc Connors has been in the films since the second one, and I don't think they would have included him if they didn't have plans to ever transform him into the Lizard at some point in the franchise. By making the villain the Lizard, it could really rock Peter's emotional journey throughout the film. Nothing would hurt Peter more than to see his mentor become this rabid creature that has no human control over his actions, so how does Peter bring him down without killing him?

Not only would the Lizard be fantastic in terms of character development for Peter, but it would also be cool to see visually. There has never been anything like the Lizard done before on the big screen as far as my knowledge goes, so I am all for this. A mixture of prosthetics and CGI. Oh, the possibilities.

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