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| Thursday, September 9, 2004 02:47 AM |
| My Love-Hate Relationship with Sam Raimi |
 by Fëanor |
Sam Raimi confuses me greatly.
I love his Evil Dead movies. Love them. We watched the first one last night at movie night (preceded by a great little short documentary about fans and fandom made by Bruce Campbell called Fanalysis--thanks for bringing the great stuff, Yagathai). I'd forgotten how great it was. It's just fun and silly and creepy and full of gore. But I love Evil Dead 2 even more. As the series goes on, the movies get sillier and swing more towards comedy. This one bridges the gap between horror/gore and goofy comedy very, very well. The scene in which Bruce Campbell, as Ash, fights his own hand, is possibly one of the greatest pieces of physical comedy ever put to film. And it's creepy and gross! How awesome is that?
And then there's Army of Darkness. Definitely the silliest of the three--and maybe a bit too silly. But also fantastic, and loaded with quotable one-liners.
My problem with Sam Raimi began with Darkman, and continued through The Quick and the Dead, A Simple Plan, The Gift, and the recent Spider-Man movies. All of these movies (excluding A Simple Plan and The Gift, which were just mediocre) have this same cheesy, half-kidding, half-serious flavor to them that just doesn't work for me. I hated Darkman. I mean, I hated it. Then I heard that it was supposed to be funny, that it was corny on purpose. Here's my problem with that--I couldn't tell. If you're going to be corny and cheesy, then be corny and cheesy. Don't fool around and try to be serious, too. You can't have your cake and eat it too. Either your movie is silly and dumb, or it's serious.
I had a similar problem with the awful Starship Troopers, which otherwise intelligent people are always telling me is a good movie. Except that it's not! Paul Verhoeven apparently wanted to make a plausible action sci fi thriller, in which you sympathized with his characters in their struggle against the evil bugs. But he also wanted to make a satire about the mindless, fascist "nationalism" that arises among people during a war. The problem is, he tried to make them both at the same time, as the same movie! And it just doesn't work. I can't sympathize with your characters and care about their struggle, and yet also enjoy it while you satirize those characters and that struggle. Besides the fact that the movie is completely implausible and ridiculous from beginning to end.
But this post was supposed to be about Sam Raimi. Raimi's movies are just so odd to me. I feel like there's some joke I'm not getting. Why should I enjoy The Quick and the Dead? It's so utterly ridiculous and melodramatic and awful, just like Darkman. The thing is, I get this feeling like it's deliberately ridiculous and melodramatic and awful. And I don't understand that. Why are you doing it on purpose? And then directing the movie as if it's serious and we should like it?
The Spider-Man movies made me feel the same way. I wanted to like them. I really did. And there are lots of bits of them that I do like. The special effects are great. The story is neat. There are funny parts. But again, there's so much cheese (my constant example from the first movie being the scene in which the city of New York comes out on the bridge to throw rocks and yell at the Green Goblin, on behalf of Spider-Man), and so many totally implausible story developments (the entire origin story of Dr. Octopus, for instance), that I just can't fully enjoy them. I'm constantly wincing and groaning.
Why do you torture me, Sam Raimi? Why? |
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