Swinging to our cinema screens last month was Spiderman 3.
Having already grossed £29.2 million at the international box office (an 86% increase from SpiderMan 2 on its first day of release), Spiderman 3 is tipped to be this summer’s blockbuster, despite competition from Pirates of the Caribbean 3 and the huge X-Men style marketing campaign that is heralding the release of Fantastic Four 2: Rise of the Silver Surfer.
With director Sam Raimi once again at the helm, the sequel picks up immediately after the events of Spiderman 2, where Spidey’s alter ego Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) is finally enjoying life with his lovely girlfriend Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst). His happiness is short-lived as this time he confronts more villains than he can handle, in the guise of a mutant The Sandman (Thomas Haden Church) who may or may not have killed his Uncle Ben, a former friend, Harry Osborn out for revenge in the form of The New Goblin (James Franco) and the nastiest villain of them all… Venom (Topher Grace).
To make matters worse, our friendly neighbourhood webslinger discovers a mysterious substance that taints his suit to a darker shade and enhances his power, stirring hidden feelings of bitterness and revenge.
A far cry from the first two movies, to say that the latest instalment in the Spidey franchise is darker, is an understatement. According to film critic Gerry Penacoli for Extra entertainment magazine: “It’s definitely more intense, you still have great action, but certainly it’s the deepest of the three.” Even the movie poster showing Spiderman donning the black suit is a strong metaphor for the hero’s inherent soul searching with the tagline: “The greatest battle lies within.”
Prior to the Spiderman 3 London premiere, in an interview with Total Film Tobey Maguire said: “I think we’ve found a new approach to show what Peter Parker’s going through, a unique journey for the character that does not lose the essence of who these people are.” Maguire added: “It’s a new angle on all of it; we tie up a lot of relationship storylines from the first two films in the third part”.
While it is an unfortunate trend that sequels tend to do less well than the original, Spiderman 3 has drawn new fans with its ingenious screenplay.
Spidey’s marketing campaign has certainly been clever to say the least with the film being launched first in Tokyo, Japan prior to Europe and the US. The market factors behind this is that Japan is home to a huge community of superhero comic book fans and is undoubtedly the second biggest Spiderman market after the United States.
Fans will be glad to hear that the third chapter in Spidey’s coming of age won’t be his last one as Sony are currently in negotiations with Tobey Maguire and director Sam Raimi to return for Spiderman 4 with the unveiling of Spidey’s latest arch enemy, The Lizard.
“If only Batman creator Bob Kane were alive to seal this…” said original Spiderman-maker Stan Lee in an interview with www.reelzchannel.
com. Both Lee and Kane’s comic book hero creations vied for the public’s attention back in the 60s.
Forty-five years after having sprung from a four-colour printed page with black borders and speech bubbles it is truly amazing the appeal Spiderman has for people from all over the world.
The arrival of Spiderman provided a new and altogether more accessible kind of comic book hero.
Refreshingly different from his colleagues in the pantheon of crime-fighting characters, Spiderman’s alter ego was more altruistic than the brooding Bruce Wayne/Batman. This was due to the character’s background of juggling between being a university student and also having to work part time to help support his Aunt May. Unlike Superman, Peter Parker was a real young man with real problems and growing pains. After he got back from being Spiderman, Parker still had to do his homework and dispose of the garbage.
With so much work put into the charter’s formation over the years, Spiderman has deservedly earned his place in popular culture.
From comic books to radio shows, from animated television series to music, Spiderman has swung all over them.
Countless songs have been written on our favourite webcrawler, from the 60s’ Spiderman Theme covered by Aerosmith in 2002 to Italian Band 883’s Hanno Ucciso il Uomo Ragno! (They’ve killed Spiderman!).
While Spiderman 4 lurks in the wings for 2009, we can rest assured that the character’s appeal won’t wane as people of all ages like to immerse themselves in Spidey’s fantasy world of swinging from the tallest buildings, battling against all odds and of course, getting the girl at the end!