Hey folks,
I know it's been a while. And there are reasons (some good, some superfluous)...but I'll get to them a bit later...
I'm here to kick off the summer movie season with my review of Spider-Man 3.
I did have the opportunity to rewatch the first two films before trekking down to the theater for the latest one. They still hold up very well with the second film being just a smidge better than the first. Unfortunately, the new entry is not up to the same levels as the first two. Don't get me wrong, it's not X-Men 3 bad, but its not as good as the first two. You could put it on par with Fantastic Four in the sense that its a fun film to watch, but there are enough silly problems that could have been avoided to make it a GREAT film.
The "plot" is kind of all over the place as Peter Parker has decided to marry Mary Jane but several things get in his way. First, his best friend Harry Osbourne is trying to kill him (as revenge for killing his father), next an escaped criminal is terrorizing the city now that he has the power of manipulate sand, there's a new photographer trying to replace him at the Daily Bugle (with a girlfriend who Mary Jane's having issues with) and finally an alien from space bonds with Peter and brings out all the worst in him. Three villains, two girls and a split personality is a LOT to cram into two hours and twenty minutes (plus you've got to add Aunt May, the landlord and his daughter, the staff of the Daily Bugle, a new chief of police, a family to humanize the Sandman and the requisite Bruce Campbell cameo). Most of this is accomplised by a huge amount of coincidence.
The worst example comes towards the end when Sandman and Venom (the alien symbiote that eventually bonds with Peter's rival Eddie Brock...though nowhere is he called Venom in the film) decide to team up to destroy Spider-Man. It's a conversation that runs "You want to kill him, I want to kill him, together we're unstoppable". "Ok" and then we move on. It makes no sense from either character's standpoint (Sandman actually has a twinge of sympathy in his backstory). Add to that things like Gwen happens to be Peter's new lab partner, Eddie happens out of nowhere to a disaster scene to take pictures and walks right up to Chief Stacey who happens to be Gwen's father. And Gwen's the one in trouble at this disaster scene. Eddie happens to be in the same church where Peter finally rids himself of the alien. Flint Marko happens to fall into some scientific experiment when evading the police (which is what turns him into Sandman in the first place) and he also happens to be Uncle Ben's real killer (although this actually works by the end of the film). Harry gets injured in the opening battle and conveniently forgets a lot of things until he needs to remember it all later in the film?
That's a lot to have to swallow.
The action scenes are really well done. Whether its the first battle between Harry & Peter, the rescue of Gwen, the battles with the Sandman or the final four way battle between Harry, Peter, Sandman & Venom, all of the action scenes are edge-of-your-seat amazing.
As far as the acting goes, Kirsten Dunst seems a bit lost this time out. Tobey Maguire does a good job for the most part but has a couple of scenes (that are essentially musical numbers...don't ask) that ruin the film. James Franco does a great job advancing Harry this round and Thomas Haden Church does a great job humanizing Sandman. J.K. Simmons gets a few good scenes out of J. Jonah Jameson and Rosemary Harris does her best to keep Aunt May from becoming a Yoda clone that just appears to dispense advice.
Bryce Dallas Howard, Topher Grace and James Cromwell are all wasted as Gwen Stacey, Eddie Brock and Chief Stacey. Each has little to do and they all feel crammed in for no real reason.
Again, while the film is fun, it is flawed (and I'm really not sure how well the "musical" number plays...its very goofy and sticks out like a sore thumb). It could have been much better if they had concentrated on what worked best in regards to the villains (Harry and Sandman) and held anything else for a fourth film (Venom...BTW...did I mention I've never been a bit fan of this character).
Wait for the DVD to watch at home (even at a weekday afternoon matinee there were talking idiots and cell phone igniters...more on this subject soon).
I will be back sooner rather than later...
Be seeing you.
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