Spider-Man 32007

I think a lot of the criticism this movie gets doesn’t make much sense to me anymore. Too many villains? I think their introductions might feel a little repetitive but each of them have a clear reason to exist (they each confront a certain aspect of Peter's life) and are quite balanced throughout. The amnesia thing with Harry comes and goes away kind of fast and I don’t know how justified that feels. But then SANDMAN is such a cool villain. Completely connected to Peter's rage and desire for vengeance, complicating his relationship to his past and the very thing that makes Spider-Man the way he is. It just humanizes the world a lot more. And the way the sand effects work in his transformation scene is so impactful. Of course, this is very corny a lot of the time, but that once again just points to a film that feels extremely sincere in its presentation. It believes in itself. Speaking of a humanized world, the side characters in this trilogy feel so truly human. I can’t help but compare it to MCU stuff and I can’t remember any side characters that feel as alive as Ursula does in these. One thing I think about is this: the MCU feels like its own genre, the Raimi Trilogy feels like action-dramas that focus on the romantic relationship between Peter and MJ and uses the super hero side of the story to dramatize that. And MJ! Flawed, human, tridimensional. The last scene, where MJ and Peter stand before each other and then hug, made me feel so hopeful, emotional. It’s the type of image that reminds me that cinema can convey much more than I could possibly describe with words here.  This couple has a bunch of issues to figure out. But they’re going to try!!  :,)