Spiderman 3 Review

Truth be told I wasn't that impressed with the 1st Spiderman. Sure it was cool, sure Spidey rocked and kicked some Green Goblin butt, the movie however was filled with uncertainties that might have been hidden then, but very obivous when, let's say, a second sequel comes out.

Hey! What do you know...

So here's Spiderman 3. I was actually looking forward to this, just like everyone else on the face of the Earth. I loved the part 2, a great improvement from the 1st and the only time I really felt the Spiderman magic. The trailer for this film showed a lot of kick ass but alread I felt that it might be biting off mor ethan it could chew. Still I gave Sam Raimi the benefit of the doubt.

Maybe not.

It was a disappointment, that is clearly the most obvious point here. Not that I'm saying it's bad, Raimi has had enough experience to keep the movie from sinking anywhere below mediocrity. It's actually good, but filled with so much flaws that in the end, it pales in comparisson to its initial vision and to that of its predecessor.

First of all, the biggest problem... the screenplay. I have no idea how much of the creative team are comic book fanboys but, for chrissakes, enough is enough!

"Let's throw in the symbiote, it'd make an awesome storyline!"

"Sure man! Don't forget Eddie! You can't have symbiotes without Venom"

"Now that'd make a kickass finale! How bout the symbiote sticks to Peter first! Make him all evil and stuff"

"That's the idea dude! And! And! Let's break him up and MJ!!!"

"Oh yeah!!! And let's put Gwen Stacy between them!"

"Where'd she come from?"

"Dunno, just write her in. Make her Eddie's girlfriend or something..."

"How bout Peter goes really evil, kills off some dude..."

"Yah, now that's add up to the plot! Let's make him kill Sandman!!!"

"Jesus! Now that's one villain rock up baby!!! But why would Peter wanna kill Sandman?"

"Cuz Sandman killed Uncle Ben."

"What!? I thought that dude who died in part 1 killed Uncle Ben."

"Well just write it up that Sandman was the real one who did him in. Make him human too. Give him a dying kid or something."

"But man, if we do that, we'd be complicating things, setting back principles we originally defined from the 1st development!"

"So?"

"hmmm... Good point."

"Oh and add in Green Goblin II too. Harry is sooo gonna get creamed this time around."

"So... how many characters we got here again?"

The magic of the second was that it had a linear storyline, not one where everyone just throws in whatever they could think of. Yes, Petey got evil, we get it. We don't need more and more scenes and storylines to remind us!!!

As a result of the multiple storylines, characterization suffered. Despit the fact that this is by far the longest of the Spiderman flicks, it also is the weakest. Venom was a disappointment. Sure he looked cool, but he was damn rushed, didn't do him any justice. And no offense to Topher Grace but I still can't stand seeing the geek from That 70's Show play VENOM!!! Sandman is well defined, but his sympathetic storyline is waaay overplayed. His humanity overstays its welcome really fast and very soon we all actually WISH he was your typical guiltless baddie. The only villain done with justice here is Harry, his characterization is solid and we feel the vengeance and hatred from here as well as the confusion. But no surprise there guys, unlike the other two, Harry's has had two prior films to build up his character!

I do have to hand it to the special effects team though. The action scenes were intense, and the most wildly imaginative of the trilogy. I fell in love with the Sand scene for example. But as much as it totally kicked ass, especially in the grand finale, it may have been too good for its own good. The 1st couple of action scenes were very well played, Harry attacking Petey for example was pretty cool. But by the time it came to the finale where everyone was just about throwing every trick in the book, it fell flat despite the grand toss ups of rumbles.

Another thing I have against the film is the cast. Tobey Macguire has his good points, beleive me. He was adorable at many points in the three films as nerdy Peter Parker. And when he tried to be a baddie in this pic, we were all laughing out. I think Sam wanted him to look that ridiculous cuz if not, that was just waaay off the Cool-o-meter. Kirsten Dunst looked ravishing in the 1st movie, but as the movies went one she seemed to have been slowly belittled to girl-pawn, a crying face to show the crowd and the feisty MJ we all love is absent for the entire film. Dunst is also looking less and less pretty. I don't know if its the stress or what, or maybe she forgot her make-up... maybe....

Overall, I only wish that Sam could have come up with something better since a third part is usually the final one people would watch before finally getting pissed off and tired of the whole damn charade. Let's face it, how many Part 4's are there that were actually any good? Still, if Sam was crazy enough to attempt another one, well we wish him all the best because as far as I'm concerned this part 3 already embodies the spirit of that long-forgotten overhyped and overstayed 4th movie. Good Day.

6.5 out of 10