I've been thinking a lot about how special the Sam Raimi trilogy is when you think about it in terms of modern superhero films from Marvel.Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2 don't fall into the trap that most of the MCU movies do nowadays, where the last 20 or 30 minutes are just consumed with a huge action fest. There aren't thousands of mindless zombies for the superheros to fight like in the Avengers films, they're character driven fights between Spider-Man and one nemesis. Not only that, but Spider-Man 2's most action packed sequences aren't even in the end of the film; the end is actually a sequence uncommonly light on the violence (more on that in a bit).But to continue what I was saying about the action; if you look at the end fight of Spider-Man, it feels real in a way the most recent Marvel films haven't. Captain Marvel ends with her shooting lasers at a bunch of nameless aliens. Spider-Man: Far From Home is about him doing a bunch of acrobatics on robots. But Spider-Man ends with an intensely personal fight, which is unrivaled by any of the recent Marvel films (despite the ones I just mentioned having scenes where they confront the villain, they're tacked onto the end of the action rather than the action being a part of the moment). Very few MCU films take this approach -- Iron Man (the original) being perhaps the most notable one, where Tony almost sacrifices himself for the greater good, in a battle not defined by punchy-kicky antics, but by the characters.More than that, Sam Raimi's Spider-Man character never chooses violence. After getting his revenge on his father's (supposed) killer in the first film, he always acts out of defense of others and himself, never choosing violence as the best path. Especially nowadays, where everyone and their mother is inciting violence against one group or the other, the ends of the Raimi Spider-Man films are almost Ghandi-like in comparison to the Marvel films. Each and every time, he tries to save his enemy from himself instead of condemning him. In the first film, he tries to help Norman. In the second film, he actually does save the soul of Doc Oc, who ultimately saves the city because of it. And of course, in Spider-Man 3, he tries to save Eddy, and is pained when Eddy kills himself. Not to mention his confrontation and ultimate forgivness of Sandman.It's especially refreshing when it seems that every Marvel movie nowadays solves things with mindless violence. I think you can make the case that Black Panther also sees its main character take the high road, because after ending the fight, the hero treats his enemy with respect and dignity. I think Black Panther might've been a better movie (although I do think it's one of the best of the MCU) if they had thrown out the action-fest for the other characters -- or at least made it about the characters. You might also make that case for Spider-Man: Homecoming, where Spider-Man tries and succeeds in saving the Vulture. The whole climax of that movie is muted in terms of its action-y elements. via /r/movies https://ift.tt/2Bo9rFY
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