Stuffed Spider

Before the release of Spider-Man 3, I thought the film series was among the most consistent in the comic book genre. Does this latest chapter continue with that trend? Read On...



As the film opens, Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire), finds life finally going his way His relationship with girlfriend Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst) is so great, in fact, that he's ready to ask her to marry him. And as superhero,--Spider-Man, he is much beloved by the city of New York, for all of his daring doo...

But the celebration is short-lived. The webslinger soon finds himself facing multiple threats...Former pal Harry Osborn (James Franco) still blames Spidey for the death of his father and wants revenge; After a small meteor falls to earth, an alien organism attaches itself to his costume enhancing his powers, transforming our hero as well bringing out the vengeful side of his personality. Under the influence of the suit, Peter becomes overconfident and starts to neglect the people who care for him most. Forced to choose between the seductive power and the compassionate hero he used to be, Peter must overcome his personal demons in order to defeat two new enemies: Sandman (Thomas Haden Church) and Venom (Topher Grace)



As the final credits for the film began to roll--I couldn't help but think of last summer's Superman Returns... While I think Spider-Man 3 is a better movie overall, I think some of the same issues that hampered SR, also plagued this film...Specifics in a bit..

Under Sam Raimi's direction, Spidey 3 offers us a lot to like: Some of the best battle scenes of the series. My favorite though, is by far, the face off between Harry as the new Goblin, and Peter. Wow! Great Stuff. Speaking of Harry, I thought Franco had the film's best performance, coming a long way since the first film. More visual high points include the birth of the Sandman and most of the Venom stuff... After 3 films, Maguire is quite comfy in the dual role, but obviously had a lot of fun exploring his dark side. Dunst spends most of her arc either bemoaning her character's stalled career or her relationship with a superhero...

As to those issues: The screenplay by Raimi, his brother Ivan, and Alvin Sargent (Spider-Man 2) has so much going on in it, that the film seems to go all over the place at times-juggling one too many plot lines really affecting the narrative. There's also a scene between Harry and his butler that left me saying--that should have happened in the the second film... With all of this going on--some of the characters really get short-changed. I love Rosemary Harris as Aunt May and J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson--but both really don't have that much screen time here--I also wanted to find out more about Grace's Eddie Brock and Church's Sandman-who formed a villain alliance after a 30 second encounter in an alley...Since there are so many arcs to service the editing of the film is quite uneven--rushed in some spots, yet somehow long in others. Some of this stuff could have waited until the next installment...



The final battle is a spectacular piece of filmmaking--That said, the emotional impact of the ending is lost in a sea of predictability.

I liked Spidey 3 a lot--it's a must see--all of those "issues" aside...But in my opinion, the sequel would have been better served by cuttong the fat.