The Trouble With Threequels

Never have I felt more disappointed leaving the movie theater than when I was walking out of SPIDER-MAN 3 on May 5th, 2007. X-MEN was the film that broke through the cinematic wall for comic book films, but SPIDER-MAN was the one that opened the floodgates, garnering both critical and box office success and offering up a succesful blueprint for how to bring a comic book character to the big screen. Even when the market for comic book films began to explode, director Sam Raimi continued to outdo the rest with SPIDER-MAN 2, which blew its predecessor out of the water and dared to present the idea that being a superhero wasn't all it was cracked up to be. With two impressive first installments under his belt, there was little reason to doubt that Raimi would bring the trilogy to a spectacular end with SPIDER-MAN 3, and I was more than willing to buy into the hype. I would watch and re-watch each trailer hoping to snag a few hidden plot details, scour the Internet in search of articles or interviews with the cast and crew, and waited with anticipation to see how Raimi would transform Topher Grace into the iconic villain Venom.

Then I saw SPIDER-MAN 3, and it all came crashing down. Harry Osborn finally took up his father's mantle as the Green Goblin... and then took a blow to the head and got amnesia. Escaped convict Flint Marko is transformed into the Sandman... after falling into an unexplained sand experiment at a conveniently located particle physics test facility. Gwen Stacy makes her first appearance in the franchise... but only shows up randomly to act as an oblivious homewrecker to Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson. Sleazy new photographer Eddie Brock arrives to bring Venom to the big screen... but never receives anything resembling character development and seems shoehorned into the film just so fans could have Venom for the final half hour of the movie. Peter is overcome by a black symbiote suit from outer space... and ignores several blatant warning signs as it turns him into an emo hipster with a serious attitude problem. And then it hit rock bottom:

I couldn't believe it, I couldn't understand how Raimi could have let this happen after exceeding expectations with both SPIDER-MAN and SPIDER-MAN 2. Some were concerned before its release that it seemed like SPIDER-MAN 3 had too much going on - with new Green Goblin, the Sandman, and Venom all serving as  villains - and that it was going to be a challenge for Raimi to bring these all together in a cohesive storyline, but I gave Raimi the benefit of the doubt because I was so certain that he was infallible. Alas, I was wrong. Instead of a film that seamlessly weaved these different storylines together to form a single narrative, we got a movie that was all ideas and no execution. Like a kid at the candy store, Raimi was trying to cram everything he could into his bag, and then proceeded to try and throw it all together in a two-hour film. It appeared that Raimi had forgotten what made the first two movies great, instead subscribing to the idea that bigger is better and that that meant more characters and more action, with little room for character development. SPIDER-MAN 3 went on to smash box office records, outgrossing both of its predecessors, but it went down as a black mark on an otherwise pristine franchise to most critics and fans.

I can't help but relive this disappointment as anticipation continues to build for THE DARK KNIGHT RISES, the final chapter in the trilogy that has made director Christopher Nolan a household name and breathed new life into a Batman franchise that seemed all but dead after the abomination known as BATMAN AND ROBIN. For me, BATMAN BEGINS is the definitive Batman film because it put the spotlight on Bruce Wayne and gave him the origin tale that he deserved, focusing on the psychological reasons for why a man would spend his nights fighting crime while dressed up like a bat. THE DARK KNIGHT, on the other hand, is considered by quite a few people (myself included) to be the best comic book movie ever made because of it how well it functions as both a thrilling crime drama and a chilling portrait of the times, incorporating contemporary questions about terrorism, justice, and morality. And then there is the unforgettable performance of the late Heath Ledger as the Joker, for which he won the Oscar of Best Supporting Actor, a much deserved accolade for a talented actor taken before his time. So what we have here is the final installment in a trilogy that has re-defined comic book films as we have come to know them. Sound familiar?

I await THE DARK KNIGHT RISES with cautious optimism, confident that Christopher Nolan (who has yet to make a bad film) will not botch the final act of a character he seems to know so well, while the bitter memory of SPIDER-MAN 3 sits in the back of my mind as a constant reminder of what happened the last time I got my hopes up for the last entry in a comic book movie trilogy. But SPIDER-MAN 3 isn't the only the example of a botched threequel. SUPERMAN III? X-MEN - THE LAST STAND? THE GODFATHER - PART III? THE MATRIX REVOLUTIONS? Why is it so hard to make a successful threequel? I believe it's because filmmakers try too hard to top the previous film and tend to cram too much into a single film, rather than focusing on expanding the development of the storyline and introducing characters who will complement the story that you're trying to tell. When I was a kid, I would always try to think of what villain would be the coolest for a given sequel. Like a lot of people, I was too focused on what character I most wanted to see, not what character would present the most significant threat to the protagonist, both creatively and dramatically. You look at how you left the characters at the end of the previous film, figure out what lies ahead for each of them, and develop a narrative that will challenge them but also feel like a natural progression of their storylines. Never sacrificing character for spectacle seems to be the most important lesson here. I have faith that that is a concept not unfamiliar to Christopher Nolan.