Raimi's fist two Spidey movies aired on TV a couple of days ago (they didn't even air the third haha!).
After watching those again after a long time, I feel like I've experienced some kind of awakening. I feel that I have been so wrong about these films lately. I haven't realised how great they actually are. Especially Spider-Man 2.
While there still are things that bother me, such as arms controlling Ock, Green Goblin's cheesy suit, there were alot of things that bothered me before that I actually loved this time around! Oh, and not to mention how horrible Dunst is.
Tobey Maguire was one of those things. Not to jump any bandwagon here now, but I feel that afterall, he was the best Peter Parker so far (I think Andrew's version will be written alot better next time). He wasn't nearly as corny and stale as I remembered. His Spider-Man sure leaves alot to wish, but I think he pretty much nailed Peter Parker. He was extremely likeable.
Another thing is the humour and tone. I despised the humour before and felt it was way too cheesy and kiddy. Truth is (to me), that it's the other way around. It is clever, delivered extremely well and placed almost perfectly. The tone itself is pretty perfect. There are genuinely funny moments and there are alot of serious and even some dark stuff. Compared to Spider-Man 2, the humour of ASM feels less thought out, not delivered as well and is too forced. Also, the plots and the story is done so well in SM2, it didn't only rise in my Spidey list, but also in my CBM list. ASM looks almost a little amateurish compared to that one, dare I say.
I would even say that the directing of Raimi, with the camera work, colors and stuff is the best in any CBM I've seen and even one of the better ones of films in general.
Yes, a complete U-turn, but that's my stance right now.
1) SM2
2) SM1
3) ASM (pretty close to SM1)
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4) SM3