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Spider-Man 3

Review by: Zak Santucci

ZakSantucci@TheCinemaSource.com

So far everyone that I've talked to about Spider-Man 3 has been more excited by the simple fact that I saw it a week early then actually wondering if I liked it or not. It worries me, because a movie with this much buzz is guaranteed to do well, so the question becomes will people actually enjoy it more than the original two Spider-Man films? And will it properly round out this highly successful trilogy?

I'll tell you one thing, all three movies have been drastically different from each other. The first movie was a cool introduction and had sort of the campy and fun qualities of an exciting kids movie. The second film, Spider-Man 2 was a little more intense. It was non-stop action, a visual masterpiece, and a bit cheesy (most people seem to love the Spider-Man cheese, me included). The third one, is yet again, a bit of a departure.

Everyone is probably pretty familiar with the plot, but just in case this review is the only surviving piece of Spider-Man memorabilia discovered a thousand years from now, I'll spit it out. Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) is Spider-Man. Bitten by a radioactive Spider as a teen, he now has spider-like powers and protects Manhattan from various criminals. At the start of this film, Parker is experiencing the effects of finally landing the girl of his dreams, Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst). James Franco plays his former best friend, Harry Osborn, who now is still seeking revenge for the death of his father.

Adding to the multi-dimensions of Spidey, are model/love interest Gwen Stacy (Bryce Dallas Howard), rival Bugle photographer Eddie Brock (Topher Grace), and escaped convict Steve Ditko (Thomas Hayden Church) who becomes Sandman. Parker gets overcome by an alien symbiant who gives him more power, but also makes him kind of a dick. Eventually, that symbiant takes over Parker's archenemy, Brock. As a result, Spiderman has a new villain in Venom, in addition to Sandman (who we realize killed Uncle Ben).

Man, what a plot! It's pretty fast-paced, and obviously some of the above things feel under explored; But honestly there's enough going on that despite feeling a bit cheated by a couple characters lack of involvement, the audience is consistently entertained. And I'm gonna say it out right, I was extremely emotionally invested in our top three characters. I thought Maguire and Dunst served their respective purposes in the first film, but really found nothing that relatable in either of them in the second one. Even worse, James Franco seems extremely ill-suited for this role. I like him as an actor

(see Freaks and Geeks), but I can't stand his Hayden Christensen-like "crap intensity". Luckily, the fact that nobody up to that point had seen CGI used to that amazing an extent with that much action, made it so that nobody cared in the second one. In this film, however, the relationships and performances are heavy. And all the action acts as a function of those relationships. It's really cool how every battle and every villain really stands for something else in Peter Parker's life. And James Franco, overall, pulls out a pretty good performance.

The filmmakers knew they couldn't just dazzle people with the special effects like they did in the first one, so they went for quality over quantity with the action. One thing that makes me extremely happy is the skill with which they crafted the characters of Eddie Brock and Venom. It's a departure from the comic book, but everyone knew that as soon as they heard that Topher Grace was cast. Sam Raimi has said before he is not a fan of Venom as a character, and if he was going to put him in the movie, the character was going to come out the way Raimi wanted him to. That worried a lot of people. If you are one of those people, don't be worried. Venom was awesome.

So what did bother me about the movie? NO SPIDEY SENSE!!! What the hell is that? They established it in both of the first movies, and they even make a verbal reference to it in this movie. Then you have Spider-Man get surprised by at least 2 or 3 attacks. Maybe I'm nitpicking, but come on. He didn't use it once, it was completely inconsistent with the other two films. Anything else? Oh yea, when Spidey has the symbiant suit on, he decides to toss his hair in front of his face so he looks like the new keyboardist
for Fall-Out Boy. [Insert clever play on words involving the word "emo" and something Spiderman-ish] I don't wanna give it away, but prepare for a couple other weird things about black suited Spidey. While he's on his "darker" kick, there's a weird play between stuff that's pretty damn funny and just kind of embarrassingly weird.

Well, I think that might actually do it. That is more or less the extent of my criticisms. I could have always used some Gwen Stacy because Clint Howard's niece ended up being ridiculously hot. This is the first movie I've really watched where she's "supposed" to be pretty. She is. Other than that, I enjoyed. I think everyone else is going to enjoy too. Definitely see it. This movie has been shrouded in quite a bit of secret, from the eventual plot progression to each character's involvement. There's even a few surprises

in there that I had previously heard no rumors about. Therefore I've tried to be pretty spoiler cautious with this review. But before I go, I have to say that I think I liked this better then the first Spider-Man, but not the second. Granted, it's hard to be completely certain with that since I've seen those two movies multiple times. Also Sam Raimi is my hero, and the Evil Dead-like hospital scene with Doc Ock is enough to put any movie at the top of my list. But what do you care, you're gonna see this movie no matter what I say.

Movie Grade: A-

Check out a previous interview with Tobey Maguire here!
Check out a previous interview with Kirsten Dunst here!

Synopsis:

Third film in the highly successful Spider-Man series sees several new villains and a new woman enter Peter Parker’s life.

With his secret now revealed to both Mary Jane and Harry, Peter must face the consequences of his actions and his new life together with Mary Jane as they finally form a relationship. Yet their newfound open display of love has yielded some unfortunate results, not the least of which is Peter’s upset boss determined to make his life hell for causing his son emotional distress. Not helping is a young investigative reporter named Eddie Brock who Jameson has hired to find out why Mary Jane dumped his son for Peter – what’s Parker’s secrets?

At the same time an escaped prisoner hiding out on a remote beach is caught in a dreadful accident and finds himself turned into a shape-shifting sand creature. Peter’s investigations into the past of this ‘Sandman’ brings him in contact with two very different things that will inevitably alter his life. The first a young woman named Gwen Stacy, daughter of the city’s new police chief who is developing a soft spot for Peter. The other, a black substance from an accident scene which ‘merges’ with Peter’s costume and gives him new found abilities.

Things come to a head however when Harry Osborn, determined to take revenge against Peter for his father’s death and now equipped with what he needs to pull it off, teams with The Sandman in a new variation of his father’s Green Goblin guise and causes mayhem. In the ensuing chaos lives are lost, including people very close to Peter, whilst the black substance covering his suit separates from him and merges with a distraught Brock to form something else entirely – a creature unlike anything he’s ever faced. A ‘Venom’ that he may not be able to stop.