Movie Review - “Spiderman 3″
** STARS
“Spiderman” and “Spiderman 2″ are both widely considered to be the best comic book to big screen adaptations ever made by Hollywood. Critic’s and fans alike applauded the authentic comic book recreations and loyal interpretations of the source material. The first two films had the state of the art special effects that hold up to multiple viewings. All three movies in the “Spiderman” franchise have broken all box office records before it. It is one of the most popular series in movie history. After going over all of these facts, it pains me to say this movie wasn’t very good. It wasn’t bad, it just didn’t rock like the other films did. And this is very sad to report.
The first hour of this movie is swift, exciting and your typical Spidey fair. But then the second half of the movie starts and you start to feel a sense of failure in your gut as things go sour. The problems are all over the place. First is the “Sandman”, played by Thomas Hayden Church. His villain is weak, and his inclusion into the trilogy and it’s history is just too un-believable even for a comic book movie. The Sandman’s powers are just lame, he is a pile of sand that can form into a huge sand mass….SCARY!? But don’t get him wet! That whole premise is ridiculous and his character should have just been left out completely.
Secondly, “Venom” isn’t fleshed out as a villain that well. He comes into the movie much too late and as the best part of this new movie, doesn’t have enough screen time. The “alien goo” from which Venom comes from has a brief appearance in the beginning of the film, but then vanishes. We don’t get to see the action with Venom until much later. We even get a silly “Saturday Night Fever” montage with Peter Parker as “Venom” which just doesn’t feel right at all. In the meantime we are forced to watch one convoluted plot line evolve after another. Topher Grace’s character is annoying and has no real purpose in this movie other than the last half hour. All of these new characters including Bryce Dallas Howard are superfluous, we didn’t need them basically.
It is a real shame that the second half of this movie didn’t gel well with the other half. This movie does stick out amongst the other two films. It’s pretty obvious actually. I will recommend that people who are fans of Spidey go see “Spiderman 3″. “Spiderman 3″ is a fun enough summer movie, it just doesn’t compare to it’s predecessors. We used to love the romance of Peter and M.J. but now it is old and a bit soap opera-ish. And poor Harry has become the movie’s whipping boy, and his involvement as the “Hob-Goblin” is schizophrenic and ridiculous. Sam Raimi who has directed classics like the “Evil Dead” movies has lost his way in this film too. Check out “Spiderman 3″ to see what the hype is about, just be warned you may be very disappointed.
May 9th, 2007 at 3:42 pm
I can’t wait to see �Spiderman 3!� I really dig the effects that I have seen so far in clips. Technology has come a long way since morphing on “The Abyss.� Add to that the fact that Tobey Maguire now has an evil side should make it a much better viewing, almost like Michael Keaton’s rendition of Batman. Although sequels never tend to be equal,I figure that if I made it through the first two, I definitely want to see Peter Parker’s alter ego in this one.
May 9th, 2007 at 4:11 pm
i’m a comic book sequel fan (or prequel as the case may be). But, I was pretty disappointed with SM3. The effects were dazzling and worth the $11 on their own. And, the major plot (Harry and Peter’s relationship) was AWESOME. But, I feel like Sam Raimi included The Sandman because of the great sand effects and to have a 2 on 2 finale. I think that they should have excliuded the sandman, brought in venom WAY earlier and still had the opportunity for Harry and Peter to do what they do… not a terrible movie, just not the brilliance that was SM and SM2… Bring on The Bourne Ultimatum!!!!