Sam Raimi balances comedy with drama much more effectively than modern MCU movies

After re-watching Spider-Man 2, I was surprised at how well this film holds up. It's not as dated by the 2000s as the first Spider-Man is. It feels timeless in a way, and most of all, it excellently balsnces drama and comedy.

I know people didn't like the fact that his Spider-Man wasn't as quippy as his comic counterpart, but here's why I think Raimi balances comedy and drama more effectively than MCU.

He commits to the moment. Spider-Man 2 is intriguing in that it very abruptly has tonal shifts. The scene where he confronts Uncle Ben in his dream (which is actually him talking to his inner self), is very dramatic and poignant. There's no joke to undercut the scene. This scene serves its purpose of advancing the story and Peter's arc for the film. The very next scene is the comedic Raindrops scene, and the film fully commits to letting that comedy play off. It's not a meaningless scene either, its light hearted to contrast to just how much Peter's double life had been weighing on him. If you've been weighed down by something and are finally set free, you bet your ass you're gonna enjoy it initially, which is what Peter does.

Now MCU, I'll use Infinity War as my prime example. There's a very poignant scene where Quill is talking to Gamora aboard their ship. You can actually legitimately feel the emotional stakes, which is rare for an MCU movie - but then, Drax immediately appears and ruins the scene with his invisible joke.

While I laughed when I first saw this, I was disappointed afterwards. Why not just let the scene breathe? It was immediately undercut by comedy. It's not just Infinity War either, the MCU films are full of this, besides maybe Winter Soldier and Civil War.

Raimi let the drama breathe which is what made it work. It made his comedy much more memorable because it was well balanced.

Submitted August 30, 2020 at 05:56PM by ThrowawayTheraptiei2 https://ift.tt/3gIJ7VO