We all pretty much love Sam Raimi, right? Evil Dead is such an amazing franchise, and his handling of the first two Spider-Man films were nothing short of awesome. Problem is, Spider-Man 3 was such a hodgepodge train wreck, and it’s been hard for some people to look past that. The good news for you unforgiving fanboys out there is that Raimi himself has finally come to terms with some of the mistakes he made in that film. Acceptance is the first step towards healing, so this is big. While talking to Chris Hardwick on the Nerdist podcast about Spider-Man 3, Raimi said:
It’s a movie that just didn’t work very well. I tried to make it work, but I didn’t really believe in all the characters, so that couldn’t be hidden from people who loved Spider-Man. If the director doesn’t love something, it’s wrong of them to make it when so many other people love it. I think [raising the stakes after Spider-Man 2] was the thinking going into it, and I think that’s what doomed us. I should’ve just stuck with the characters and the relationships and progressed them to the next step and not tried to top the bar …Rami: [But] directors don’t like to talk about their bad films.
Hardwick: I don’t think that ‘bad’ is the right word.
Raimi: Awful!
Asked if he could do it over again, Raimi added he’d love to, but “I wouldn’t make that movie.”
So even Sam Raimi himself admits he sort of half-assed the movie (which takes some real balls to admit). He tried too hard to appeal to all fans, and in the end, gave us this:
It was like this scene was Raimi’s way of punching us Spider-Man fans in the junk whilst also saying goodbye to the franchise (which has yet to shine any brighter than his second film in that series). Just nice to know even HE knows that movie was a cinematic belly flop. I feel less badly about hating it now.
Oh, and yes, during the same podcast he also addressed his foray into Oz, although all too briefly.
