Here's a left hook for ya. Marc Webb, the dude who directed the totally awesome, knows-more-about-love-than-any-other-romantic-film-but-is-not-a-love-story 500 Days of Summer has been announced by Columbia Pictures and Marvel Studios as the man to reboot Spider-Man.
Commenting on the choice, a couple of studio brass told of how they believe Spider-Man to be a small, intimate tale of a boy who must come to grips with juggling the life of a teenager with the responsibility of being a superhero and wanted to find a director who could bring that element into sharp focus. In other words...they wanted someone who can remake Spider-Man 2, which was all of those things and more done to perfection. Honestly, sure, Spider-Man 3 kind of sucked, but no one will ever understand Spider-Man better than Sam Raimi.
Although I know Raimi can't pigeon-hole himself with the franchise for the rest of his career, he was already a veteran director when he took up the task of the first Spider-Man film and was, by then, known as a man who was always ahead of his time and knew how to push boundaries. Raimi in essence developed the contemporary comic book film look and feel to which all subsequent adaptations owe credit to.
So how do I feel about Webb? Well, he did the right thing in announcing that he respects what Raimi has created and doesn't just want to continue with that, but wants to take the franchise in his own new direction. Time will only tell what direction that may be. Webb has proven himself a gifted filmmaker with his debut film, but will he be able to handle a big budget, special-effects driven action franchise without being bullied by the big bad studio bosses? There is no doubt he will bring a unique spin to the human elements of Peter Parker and his relationships, but the whole idea of Spider-Man needing a reboot in the furst place still doesn't sit just quite right with me.
The Spider-Man reboot is planned for a 2012 release.
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