Sam Raimi found worldwide and critical fame when he directed the Tobey Maguire starrer Spider-Man back in 2002. Depicting the story of one Peter Parker who gains spider-powers, the movie revolutionized the superhero genre from that time.
Much like several other franchises, the Spider-Man trilogy also found its demise after the third part failed disastrously. Portraying the story of Eddie Brock aka Venom, fans were very disappointed with how director Sam Raimi let the film become a ruin. The director, however, would like to blame the inclusion of Venom on the fans and Sony.
Sam Raimi Blames Sony For Ruining Spider-Man 3
With Spider-Man, the superhero genre lifted into the air. With Spider-Man 2, the world started taking superhero movies seriously with Peter Parker and Doctor Octavius fighting for science and the world. With Spider-Man 3, people were quite disappointed as Sam Raimi’s buildup became a mish-mash of villains in the end.
With multiple side stories, several villains, and not enough emotional depth, fans hailed Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 3 as the director’s weakest moment. In an interview, the director talked about the inclusion of Eddie Brock aka Venom, and how he did not want the character in the movie at all but was forced to include him.
“But when we were done [writing the script], Avi Arad, my partner and the former president of Marvel at the time, said to me, Sam, you’re so, you’re not paying attention to the fans enough. You need to think about them. You’ve made two movies now with your favorite villains, and now you’re about to make another one with your favorite villains. The fans love Venom, he is the fan favorite. All Spider-Man readers love Venom, and even though you came from ’70s Spiderman, this is what the kids are thinking about.”
The director further continued,
“Please incorporate Venom, listen to the fans now. And so that’s really where I, I realized okay, maybe I don’t have the whole Spider-Man universe in my head, I need to learn a little bit more about Spider-Man and maybe incorporate this villain to make some of the real diehard fans of Spider-Man finally happy.”
The character of Venom essentially lacked emotional depth and felt like a two-dimensional character whose only trait was that he was evil.
When Sam Raimi And Tobey Maguire Reunited
When Sam Raimi returned to the world of Spider-Man, the director met his old friend and the first Spider-Man, Tobey Maguire. Meeting on the sets of a special screening of Raimi’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, the director had a very emotional moment when he saw Tobey Maguire once again.
“When I saw Tobey Maguire, my heart went out and I thought there’s my old hero, my old friend.”
With a shallow Eddie Brock and bully Maguire in the ring, Spider-Man 3 received a rating of 6.3/10 on IMDB and 63% on Rotten Tomatoes. The Sam Raimi-directed movie is available to stream on Disney+ in the U.S.
Source: Collider
