IMO, a Superhero film is excellent most of the time if the director has a good understanding of the character and what he's about.
The script is and will always be the primary reason for what makes or breakes a movie, everything else including the directing comes second.
Sam Raimi has had a very big understanding of Peter Parker/Spider-man since he was a kid which is why the film's were good.
The films were so good? Moot. I personally think sm1 and 2 were mediocre at the very best. I havn't seen any evidence that supports Raimi has a very big understanding of Peter/spidey. The PP we've seen so far is still characteristically written as though he's still in his pre-spider-bite days. Raimi needs to and should have enforced variety in PP's character. Even in the early comics, Stan wrote PP as being quite spiteful towards people. He was written with real human emotion and characteristics that are lacking in the movies, which is actually quite odd. The PP of the movies is quite hard to identify with because his character is ironically more 2d than his comic book counter part.
As for spider-man, his biggest weapon (the quips) has been subdued because sony can't find anyone clever enough and capable to write spider-man with quips in tow properly. Now, I'm not saying I want to hear spidey make quips every freakin second but what I want is or what should happen is, for spidey to be written properly which includes well placed voice overs. Many movies and TV series do it. Look at Goodfellas, a brilliant movie that handled the VOs brilliantly. The quips should be well placed, tasteful and somewhat maturely witty......it can be done but isn't because like I said, they cant find anyone smart enough to handle it.
now I'm not nessecarily saying that a Director can't do a superhero/Comic Book film and make it good because they never read the Comic's. but what I am saying is that a Director who is more familiar with the Character befor hand then the film would most likley be a highly succesful film without any bump's or any bad thing's in them.
That is still just a matter of opinion. Tmags, although familiar with the spider-man character never read a spidey comic in his life prior to being cast yet some people think he's a brilliant PP. Just because one may know the material it doesn't mean success is guaranteed or will be more successful than someone's film who isn't as familiar with the source material. It's a matter of skill, execution, the quality of the script and how well the cast and crew are in their craft.
so the thing that Sam Raimi did that made the Spidey film's so amazing was that he incorporated his and us fan's favorite thing's from the comic's and translated them onto the big screen but changed them around a little bit.
I agree that some changes are/were good but in no way, imo are the spidey movies thus far amazing.
nothing that can harm the franchise or anything like that, most superhero film's change thing's around but still stay as close as they can without completley redoing what has been done befor in the Comic's but the only difference and probably the biggest difference of all is that it's being transfered onto film.
...and that is a very big difference because, material is being crammed into, on avaerage, a 2hr movie. In that space of time substantial changes are made (not to everyone's delight) and the studio will want to enforce the traditional cliche formula of movie making. What annoys me is, that studios and in this case, sony act like they're ashamed of the fact that these movies are based on fantasy and scifi. Why is it a problem for a guy with spider-powers to create mechanical web shooters? Who cares how he knows how to make them? who cares where his costume came from? At the end of the day, it's all part of mystery and the element of fantasy. Spidey has been a popculture-icon for over 4 decades, we all know what to expect. These are things the studio and those involved need to realise and stop underestimating the audience.
I think that's a route that Sam should not 100% take. mostly because if Sam add's his own interpetation of say, the Character's Villian's and storyline is fine but the element's and the most important element's of the storyline for the Character's shouldn't and thankfully have not been completley changed. beside's Sandman though but that was nessicary. so that is why Sam should stay as director for these film's.
That's a silly reason for Sam to stay on as director. In fact, it's an insult to the craftmanship of other directors. Other directors can make changes and keep things the same and could possibly do a much better job that Raimi but this may never be realised until the movies get new blood involved with these movies. It's like saying Stan is the only person that could write spidey and everyone else couldn't possibly do it BUT we all know that's a load of bs. Change is inevitable and can sometimes be a good thing but until it happens, we'll never know.
The good thing about the spidey movies is that, seeing as its a $billion franchise, the studio, should they decide to get a new cast and crew will likely be thorough in their search to find people capable enough and hopefully better than Raimi and co.
