Spider-man 3

At times, it is possible to feel empathy for Hollywood bean-counters. Let's suppose one works for Sony or Columbia Pictures and the initial trilogy of your Marvel Comics' Spider-Man has been and gone. You've happily banked squillions of dollars of profits, and your third film was the biggest grosser so far, and you naturally want a fourth bit of action, to be called The Amazing Spider-Man. But your star writer-director (Sam Raimi), along with his brother-writer (Ivan) has bowed out, as have your leading actors (Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst), and you'd already killed off your strong supporting actor (James Franco). What are the creative folks gonna do to save your franchise?

To their credit, they've probably done what Hollywood folks seem to do so well. They hire new talents, and you love them, because they're hungrier and cheaper.

Sony lined up Marc Webb to be the new director, on the strength of one acclaimed 2009 movie, his first and only feature, (500) Days of Summer. The new Spider-man is a young Anglo-American actor who attracted critical praise for his UK TV and film roles (Boy A, Imaginarium) and his Hollywood breakthrough (The Social Network). His female interest (a replacement Gwen Stacy) will be played by Emma Stone, who broke through with Superbad in 2007.

They were backed up with old troupers to match the first trilogy's strength of character roles. Rosemary Harris is replaced by Sally Field, Martin Sheen is a revivified Ben Parker, and Denis Leary joins the roll (and James Cromwell leaves), while Welshman Rhys Ifans appears as one of those typically bizarre Brit boffins born to be a Lizard. The role of JK Simmons' editor is gone.

Our bean-counter is still nervous, but his worries should have been eased by the new writing team. It's led by veteran Alvin Sargent, an Oscar-winner for Ordinary People and Julia who worked (exclusively, making no other features) on the screenplays of the second and third Spider-mans. His co-writers on Spider-man 3 were only the Raimis, adapting the comic book material of Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. His co-writer for the fourth instalment is Steve Kloves, newly-released from his masterful decade-long labour of love (and good fortune) on the Harry Potter franchise. Their named assistant is James Vanderbilt, a younger talent and six-time award nominee for Zodiac.

The third Spider-man outing is a vivid reminder how important screenplays are, even for action-driven SFX epics. I don't know how much credit should go to the original comic-book authors (with Stan Lee taking one of his now-customary on-screen speaking appearances, as a spectator in one scene) and how many of the cameo parts were created by the movie team. Chickens or eggs, the screenplay successes depend (apart from the actors and their director) on lines, moves and motivations being written with effect and originality.

On a re-sighting, this quality was evident in the small parts. The irascible newspaper editor was given vivid flesh and blood by JK Simmons, but his happily OTT cameo needed to have credible dialogue and pauses. The interplay with his secretary over blood pressure pills provided good comic relief. So did Spider-man's conversations with the heavily European-accented landlord and his passionately helpful daughter.

The hot and cold relationships Spider-man (Maguire) had with Harry (Franco) and Mary Jane (Dunst) gained credibility primarily because of the actors' eyes, but they depended on scene-setting by a screenplay that hid its coincidences and characters' inconsistencies. The villains of the piece were also written sensibly, to reveal human cravings and understandable flaws, giving Topher Grace a role (Venom) he clearly relished (the That 70's Show TV star not having yet made a big movie breakthrough) and letting Thomas Haden Church glower kindly (as Sandman). He has his 2005 Oscar nomination for Sideways to console him if no other juicy parts crop up.

Screenplays for action-adventures don't get the attention and praise they often deserve. If Spiderman 4 succeeds, credits will go to Webb and Garfield. Alvin Sargent (and the bean-counters) must be praying.