Spiderman 3

This was an odd one for me. I am a registered geek who loves all of the things that make up this movie however I found myself underwhelmed by it. It seemed that the film tried to hard to be everything to everyone. Trying to shoehorn in 3 villains that could easily each carry a movie can really backfire. Look at how Batman and Robin worked out. And these are three of the more interesting Spiderman villains. From what they had set up in the first two films they were obligated to do the Goblin Jr. storyline. It was expected. And sandman is a natural choice for a movie watching public that loves their special effects. Plus it doesn't hurt that he had a decent story. And the alien suit/venom storyline is one of the better arcs in the comic books. Although the way that it ended up Venom, one of Spiderman's most iconic foes, is almost a footnote to the story. However I really liked the narrative arc that they constructed to tie them all together. The characters have no real connection in the actual comics but here they have a very clear link between them. It was an artful piece of writing.

The black suit should have been one of the most impressive parts of the film. It should have made Spiderman stronger, faster and much more vicious. But the film series has already tried to portray him as incredibly strong and fast so the benefit of the suit really wasn't clear. Also a small nitpick but the suit should grow on and off of him not be a simple piece of clothing that can be tossed in a box. The way it was handled with Venom is much closer to the actual feel of the suit. Also he had to have known what the suit was since he took the sample to Doctor Conners. You'd think he wouldn't act so surprised later on. The suit's effect on his personality was quite amusing though. I liked how they combed his hair slightly differently and suddenly he was evil-emo Peter. Funny.

I think my biggest problem with the movie came from the Mary Jane/Peter storyline. It was incredibly goofy at times and included so many twists and turns that really didn't make allot of sense at times. Especially the entire break up storyline and the love triangle. It just didn't seem to work with the characters as they have been established. Peter being entranced by his fame really didn't work for me either. It seemed like a regression to the time before Uncle Ben died where his fame was all that mattered to him. It felt like a betrayal of the character. Every time that the movie would switch to their story it lost a bit more momentum.

It also included 3 musical numbers and dance productions. Not that these weren't entertaining (esp. the bar one) but they felt out of place. The movie had allot of scenes where you could tell that Sam Rami was stretching his old Evil Dead silliness genes. In another movie I would have been reveling in the silliness but in this one it made it feel uneven.

I also thought that the acting by Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst was a bit weak. There have been some murmurs that they are bored of the characters and want to move on to other rolls. I would almost welcome another actors take on the characters if they decide to continue (which they will). The supporting cast was really quite amazing. Bruce Campbell has an amazing scene and was one of the highlights of the film. Topher Grace continues to grow past his That 70s show past and into one of our better actors. And the entire Daily Bugle staff was great.

OK so after all the bad things I said about the movie I still really recommend seeing it. It was massively entertaining with really good action sequences and quite a few funny scenes. It just could have been so much more.

3 stars (out of five)