Every so often, a franchie gets “rebooted,” which essentially means that it has everything that came before it stripped away, and the characters are returned to their narrative starting positions. Origin stories are re-told, and few origin stories are more well known than that of Spiderman.
That Spiderman is being rebooted comes as something of both a surprise and relief, depending on what camp you’re in. Tobey Maguire was, to many, an extemely competent Peter Parker, and whether you’re a passionate fan of the web-slinger or you prefer Party Poker to putting up with any more of Tobey’s antics.
Andrew Garfield has been awarded the role, and a whole cast of competent actors are backing the film, so it may in fact pan out pretty well. But it’s a question of the fan reaction, although that only makes up a small amount of the potential box office audience.
Marvel have turned their comic book line-up into something of a cash cow, and the same can be said for DC. But Spider-Man is sacred, and although it’s relentlessly merchandised and serialised, the films are of a high standard and the impressive cast (look no further than Willem Dafoe as Norman Osborn, or Alfred Molina as Doctor Octopus) is definitely memorable.
It’ll be a while yet before we get to experience the fruits of their labours, and Spiderman 4 looks set to either reinvent the franchise or disappoint severely. Hopefully the Spiderman image will help to carry the story, and although everyone will be familiar with the narrative (as it’s been told so many times, and even by Hollywood within the last ten years) it will be a chance for Marvel to demonstrate the ever-lasting appeal of New York’s heroic web-head.
Leave a Reply