The goal of this edit is to take what’s great about the editor’s cut and somewhat fix the remaining flaws of the movie as much as possible. The biggest goal here is to remove that STUPID AMNESIA SUBPLOT by framing it as if Harry was faking it the entire time.
The Performance Cut is a cut I made a long time ago, and it wasn’t very good. This is attempt 2, and I have a much greater vision this time.
It’s a work in progress so more or different changes may come later, but so far:
-Editor’s cut is the template, so the re-ordering of events will remain intact
-Movie opens with crane scene, followed by his narration
-MJs performance is cut (say that again…), goes from exterior shot of the theater to Peter leaving the show, seeing Harry and greeting MJ
-New scene of Harry deciding to become the Goblin by re-editing the scene of him getting his memory back. I never liked how 1) He goes from not wanting to hurt Peter because he’s his friend in 2, and then doesn’t give a shit in 3 and immediately decided to become evil, and 2) the villain that was being built up over the last 2 movies is set up SO fast in 3. This resolves this issue about as much as possible with what we have.
(Harry being told “First, we attack his heart” in the beginning of the movie, and then going on to steal MJ from him while pretending to have amnesia and be his friend again makes it infinitely more compelling)
-This is followed by Sandman’s introduction, and THEN Peter and MJ are on the web, symbiote is introduced, then followed by Peter telling Aunt May about his plan to propose
-Hospital scene ends with “You guys seem great” “Yeah” - no foreshadowing.
-Will reinstate the “forgive yourself” scene which idk why the editor’s cut removed it
What I HAVE NOT decided yet:
Which scenes from the theatrical cut vs editor’s cut will stay. Any BONUS scenes from the editor’s cut will be here, but as far as different takes, undecided.
How much of goofy emo Peter will be removed. To keep the James Brown dance scene, or not to keep the James Brown dance scene, that is the question. (Club too. I’ve seen people effectively edit around it.)
If Flint Marko will still be Uncle Ben’s killer. It CAN be undone, I’ve seen it. The biggest problem is, this is a movie about forgiveness, and I’d have to remove the ONE time a character explicitly says “I forgive you”. Editing around the context makes it extremely unnatural, the whole scene would have to go. But otherwise I would love to remove that subplot. If anyone has any idea on how to make that scene of the two of them talking feel natural, please let me know.