It’s odd to watch a once daring cult director settle so comfortably into mainstream mediocrity, but that’s just what has happened with Sam Raimi. During the ‘80s and ‘90s, Raimi made his name with his over-the-top meta-horror trilogy of Evil Dead films, while continuing with off-the-beaten path projects like Darkman and The Quick And The Dead. By the late ‘90s he even started to mine more serious territory, like his pals the Coen Brothers, with the excellent A Simple Plan. Raimi then stumbled a bit, starting with the Kevin Costner weepy baseball film For Love Of The Game followed by The Gift, which is most renown for giving the world a glimpse of Mrs. Tom Cruise’s breasts.
And then came Spiderman.
The teaming of Raimi and Spiderman was initially a fanboy’s dream, and the first film was a faithful adaptation, keeping the comic’s humor, tone and playfulness intact. However, as the franchise continued, it spawned two more, lesser sequels, in which the writers seemed more concerned about wooing tweenage audiences, than writing a credible story. Spiderman essentially became, a mopey teenager who spent more time pining for girls than flying around the city kicking ass. As for Raimi, his once unique stamp had all but disappeared in these films (aside from the obligatory cameos from his longtime friend Bruce Campbell) in a haze of poorly rendered CGI. However, the films were massively successful, but instead of leveraging that success into personal projects, Raimi instead fell into producing a spate of low-grade, PG-13 “horror films” or defanged J-horror remakes such as The Grudge, The Messengers and Boogeyman. Unlike Christopher Nolan who flexed his directorial muscles with The Prestige between his highly acclaimed Batman films, Raimi simply did nothing.
And now, Raimi has signed on to direct two more Spiderman sequels.
What has happened to Sam Raimi? While fans may point out he does have his first non-Spiderman film in nearly ten years, Drag Me To Hell, is coming out in 2009, it should be noted that Ghost House Pictures, his partner in the slurry of cheapie horror flicks noted above, is producing the film so it doesn’t make me optimistic about its prospects. In my mind, Raimi has effectively turned into George Lucas, reaping the benefits of a successful franchise, while no longer being interested in challenging himself as a director. The fire that once sparked one of the most inventive minds in the business has all but been snuffed out.
The only positive thing out of all of this is that it will hopefully put Raimi’s gestating, but ill-advised, remake of his own Evil Dead film on the backburner. But the director who once worked so passionately on the fringes, is now disappointingly complacent within the Hollywood machine.
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As you might know, I'm a HUGE horror fan.
Always been... probably will always be.
THE EVIL DEAD is high in my all time favorite list. Its a film of raw power, very energetic, at the time fresh and with guts. Now all of this is something that Sam Raimi never managed to do again... NEVER!
EVIL DEAD 2 DEAD BY DAWN was more a less an updated version of the first film with bigger budget and more FX. ARMY OF THE DEAD was a loose sequel which was more in the vein of the THREE STOOGES (which Rami loves), then any of the horror he unleashed upon the world a few years ago.
DARKMAN could and should have been so much more. THE QUICK AND THE DEAD was a lame Hollywood western that simply couldnt rival even the worst of the Italian Pasta Western of the 1960s and 70s. A SIMPLE PLAN... some call it genius, I called it b-o-r-i-n-g! The less said about FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME the better... and pretty much the same for THE GIFT.
Which brings us to SPIDER-MAN.
Wow... everyone loved SPIDER-MAN... everyone!
Well not me, taking the blueprint of Richard Donner SUPERMAN, Raimi managed to make the first hour watchable but the rest was utter crap filled with some of the absolute worst "performance" from that year! Tobey and Kristen should be banned from the screen!
People are still complaining about BATMAN & ROBIN, Schumacker's final nail in the coffin for the Batman franchise at the time. Yet they claimed that SPIDER-MAN 2 was the best superhero movie ever! AHhahahahah make me laugh! Raimi's sequel is just as bad, maybe even more as he actually took himself seriously!
As for SPIDER-MAN 3, I have rarely felt so betrayed while watching a film. Sure I didn't expect much but not to be anal raped like Monica Belluci in IRREVERSIBLE! SPIDER-MAN 3 is one of the worst ever. An insult for comic fans. Raimi wasted the greatest comic book villain of all time... Venom.
The fact that Sony signed him for the next two sequels is not a surprise but it do makes me sick! And I wouldnt said that Raimi turned into Lucas. At less George has created some of the coolest universe and characters the world of cinema have seen... what has Raimi "created" beyond Ash... which if you think about it is more of a Bruce Campbell creation then anything else. (Oh, and I cant stand Campbell either so there you go!).
And one last thing, I couldnt help but noticed you mentioning Christopher Nolan. Seriously, what happened to him after MEMENTO?! For me that film was a rare occassion of a perfect 10. He then turned in INSOMNIA (come on!), BATMAN BEGINS which the first half was watchable... but the villains where badly handled and the whole bomb on the train made me wanna puke! So THE PRESTIGE... what a terrible bore! Wasnt THE ILLUSIONIST bad enough?
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