Spidey's Worldview

If you ever read our reviews of Spider-Man or Spider-Man 2, you might remember we dug both films for more than just all that cool superhero action. Director Sam Raimi gave a lot of screen time to developing his characters and the super-sized worldview issues they're forced to grapple with.

In the first outing, he gave meaning to Spidey's motto: "With great power comes great responsibility." The next film went deeper, showing the consequences for Peter P. of NOT using his power to serve others, as well as the high cost of making the sacrifice to do the right thing. Without ever being preachy, Raimi and Co. made the heroic case that the life worth living is often a hard one.

Due up in '07 is Ep. 3. The Jan/Feb issue of Premiere has a great extended article about the May 4 release. In addition to even more stunning battles, flights through the city, and two new villains—Sandman and a black-clad evil Spidey called Venom—can we expect more messages in the mix? Check out this paragraph: "Although Sandman and Venom have exciting and frightening powers, Raimi says it's their complex motivations to do evil that matter most. 'I wanted to humanize the villains. Because it's really the story of Peter Parker learning that we're all sinners, and none of us are right or wrong.' "

Hmm. We're all sinners, but none of us are wrong? In spite of that apparent contradiction, I can't wait to see black Spider-Man, the promised new train battle (underground), and how Raimi deals with the BIG issues of sin, revenge, and forgiveness.