VOTD: Sam Raimi's Original 'Spider-Man' Trilogy In Six Minutes

Comic book adaptations may be a cinema staple these days, but when Sam Raimi's first Spider-Man opened a decade ago, Hollywood still wasn't entirely sure about this whole superhero movie thing. In fact, it was in part thanks to the critical and commercial success of that movie that we're in the middle of a costumed-hero glut at the moment.

The trend came full circle this week with Marc Webb's reboot The Amazing Spider-Man, which starts fresh with a brand-new Spidey (Andrew Garfield) and a revamped origin tale. As that film takes the box office by storm, Kees van Dijkhuizen has taken it upon himself to revisit Raimi's original trilogy. Watch his 6-minute montage of highlights from the Tobey Maguire movies — yes, even the disappointing last one — after the jump.

[via Kees van Dijkhuizen]

Van Dijkhuizen — whom you may recall from the wonderful "[the films of]" series last year — explains on his YouTube page what inspired him to create this video montage of Raimi's movies:

The superhero genre wouldn't be what it is today were it not for Sam Raimi's original Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man 3. The trilogy brought the hero to the screen like we'd never seen before and is one of the landmarks in American film. With the release of Marc Webb's The Amazing Spider-Man, it's time to celebrate one of the most amazing trilogies ever to hit the screen.

What's most striking to me is remembering just how different Maguire's take on Spider-Man was from Garfield's new one. Both versions share some of the key Peter Parker characteristics, like the outsider status, the obsession with photography, and the aptitude for science. Otherwise, however, it's pretty tough to even recognize them as the same character. If anything justifies rebooting the franchise so quickly, I think it has to be that.

Unfortunately for Webb's version, this video also reminds me of how much more interesting Willem Dafoe's Green Goblin and Alfred Molina's Doc Ock were as villains than Rhys Ifans' Lizard. Oh well — there's always The Amazing Spider-Man 2.