RSSI Hate Peter Parker
May 04
Movies Ivan Raimi, Movie, Peter Parker, Spider-Man, Superhero Comments Off
I left the theater on opening night of Spider-Man 3 thinking to myself, “Man, I hate that Peter Parker.” It is rare for a hero movie to create such a despicable, unfathomably shallow and irresponsible hero, but to director Sam Raimi’s credit, he has done just that.
I say credit because Raimi, and fellow screenplay writers Ivan Raimi and Alvin Sargent, fully realize a flawed and imperfect hero. Maybe I should tip my hat to Tobey Maguire for convincing me that if I had just met Peter Parker, I would line up behind Venom and Sandman to take a swing at him.
Spider-Man 3 isn’t a great movie, but it is a pretty good one. The action hits all the right notes of spectacle that modern audiences expect. Cars get overturned and crushed, buildings get demolished with abandon, and police officers and bystanders alike get pelted with the residual byproduct, more often then not cement bricks, of super-powered heroes and villains going at it.
Also quite like movies of this generation, there is a lot going on packed into almost two and half hours. So much, that some scenes jump quickly to another, giving the whole flick a disjointed feel. You almost wish that Raimi had been more selective in the editing room, but some scenes are gone so fast there is no time to process what happened, leaving little impression.
At its heart, Spider-Man 3 is really about Peter Parker’s relationship with his girlfriend Mary Jane Watson. All of the action resolves around this dynamic to some degree and their love is the driving force behind my extraordinary disdain for Peter Parker. The guy acts like a self-involved egghead who got into Kappa Sigma and now he’s popular with the girls. It goes to his head. Raimi deftly shows us how Peter’s egomania destroys his relationship with Mary Jane, and he is completely and utterly shocked when Mary Jane breaks up with him. It’s a painful scene because we want to see them together and happy, and because Peter Parker never saw it coming.
Then, of course, there is Spider-Man’s relationship with an alien symbiote that wants to take over his body and use it as an energy source. If that sounded like a load of crap, just go with it.
Spider-Man 3 tackles the subplot of Peter Parker’s relationship with his high school best friend (arguably his only friend that we know of) Harry Osborn. Osborn, played by James Franco, is the most fun we are going to have in the film. He loses his memory and in the absence of the anxiety over his father’s recent death (well, two movies ago,) he becomes fun-loving, forgiving and downright flirty. Franco is hot in this film because, at least in the first half, he doesn’t have to look stern and anguished and keep his lines to rote villain cliches. Oh yeah, Harry eventually gets his memory back, but you’re gonna have to see the movie yourself to see how that turns out.
And finally, Raimi gives us two very human, very realistic Spidey villains, Venom and the Sandman. Venom is Eddie Brock (played by Topher Grace) on steroids. Though the set-up for why Brock hates Parker is glossed over pretty quickly, let’s just say, he’s got a legitimate beef with Parker. And with the help of a certain symbiote (that damn symbiote again!) figures out he can get to Parker through his girlfriend. I won’t ruin it anymore, but let’s just say that for a third movie in a row, Mary Jane ends up trussed up waiting for Spider-Man to come rescue her.
Sandman (Thomas Haden Church) also has his reasons, and he gets a full three minutes to explain them at the end of the movie. His backstory is not as fully developed as the others, but all the same, there is just something about this guy that he could be someone you know. You know, if that guy can turn into a giant human sandbox and blow away like a dust cloud, though I guess it saves on taxi fare.
My only other complaint is how Aunt May (Rosemary Harris) is used solely as Peter’s conscience. That, at least, smacks more of contrivance than anything else.
The Spider-Man films are always at best about the relationships between the main characters, and Raimi has done something magical in the keeping to that game plan. But in delivering such authentic characters, I came to realize that while I might love the movie, I absolutely, unequivocally hate Peter Parker. I guess there’s always Clark Kent. I hear he’s looking for a boyfriend…
