Spiderman, Spiderman…Spiderman

Spiderman 3

Just like my review of Vacancy, this review comes with optional mood music. If you click on the button below this paragraph you will be treated to the dulcet tones of Joey Ramone warbling The Ramones’ version of the original sixties Spiderman theme. Enjoy!

Three, they say, is a magic number but in the case of Spiderman 3, clocking in at two and a half hours with three, no, four villains and at least three romantic subplots it’s more like 3 and 4 are magic numbers. An unfortunate tendency in comic book movies since 1992’s Batman Returns is to over-cram the films with bad guys when really only one good villain is necessary. I had hoped the Spiderman franchise was breaking away from that unfocused tendency as the first two Spiderman films had one strong solid villain each.

Spiderman 3

Not this time. Spiderman 3 is awash in bad guys. There’s the escaped convict, Flint Marko, the most sympathetic of the baddies, who becomes the towering Sandman by falling into the kind of top secret government experiment in, and I quote “de-molecularization” that’s always carried out in a large open-air pit just right for a prison escapee to stumble into. Just incase the character was too easy to deal with, Flint’s part is complicated up a bit by having him possibly be the guy who shot Peter’s beloved Uncle Ben. There’s Harry Osborne, Peter Parker’s very much ex-best friend, now taking on the Goblin role of his father Norman with a wickedly evil leer and some cool new toys. Most importantly, and most evilly, there’s the film’s creepiest special effect, an alien symbiote that enhances rage which first attaches itself to Parker and forms what’s known as “the black suit” and then gets on morally challenged photographer Eddie Brock to form the pointy toothed entity known as Venom.

Spiderman 3

Peter Parker and his love Mary Jane Watson are once again the star-crossed lovers. Won’t anything ever go right for these kids? They’re so nice! In a movie as tear filled as this one I suppose it’s only natural that the two will end up sobbing away at the same time but it just doesn’t work that well. Cutting from one quivvering lip to the other engenders laughter in the audience when the film clearly wants to create pathos.
If director Sam Rami’s hand is unsteady with emotional content it’s as rock solid as ever with action. Rami is almost certainly the best American action director currently alive and Spiderman 3 proves it. So the film has enough characters and plot for two movies and enough tears for two also, not to worry, it has enough action for two movies as well.
The theme of Spiderman was “responsibility” and the theme of Spiderman 2 was “sacrifice”. Spiderman 3’s theme is revenge and forgiveness.
“Revenge is like a poison” Aunt May opines, delivering the film’s moral almost without it seeming like she has a big blinking sign over her head that says “I hope you children are paying attention!” Nearly every interpersonal relationship in the movie goes through the revenge to forgiveness story arc. Of course, forgiveness wins out in the reasonably happy ending. Peter forgives Sandman, Harry forgives Peter, Peter and Mary Jane forgive each other. Man, I’m starting to get a bit weepy myself here.

Spiderman 3

The long and the short is that Spiderman 3, being less focused than either Spiderman or Spiderman 2 is not as succesful as either. But, being the weakest film in a series as strong as this one still leaves a pretty strong flick. The action and effects, which, to be honest, are why you’re going, are absolutely top notch and deserve to be viewed in all their big screen jaw-dropping glory. Raimi delivers and delivers and delivers and then just for a change of pace he delivers some more. You will not be disappointed.
VERDICT: The first great “Summer” movie of the year.

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Posted on May 5, 2007

Comments

8 Responses to “Spiderman, Spiderman…Spiderman”

Charbarred on May 5th, 2007 3:42 pm

I totally agree. Good good fun. The action was amazing, but the whole romance was a bit heavy handed. Plot wise they already covered the Peter Parker Mary Jane thing, I don’t see why they had to revisit it. I watched in a cinema full of children who were cheering on for the action scenes but really lost interest during the dialogs…
I had a great time, but Spiderman 2 was better.

DThompson on May 5th, 2007 5:07 pm

The obvious choice for villain in #3 was Harry Osborne, but I think the feeling was it would be too much like the first Spiderman (and it probably would have been) so the decision was made to add another villain, which turned into adding two more villains, which was one villain too many (IMHO). But the action was stellar, as good as action gets. We got a trailer for the next Bourne film which had me daydreaming about what it would be like if Rami directed The Bourne Ultimatum.

MG Siegler on May 6th, 2007 12:22 am

Cool. Can’t wait to see it tomorrow. The thing is making SO much money.

ipodwheels @ Auto Parts Place on May 6th, 2007 7:14 am

Spiderman 2 was a hard one to topple. I enjoyed the movie (this third one) especially for the parts that stayed true to the comic book. I imagined Peter in the church tower removing the symbiote as is when I read it from the comics as a boy. There are some minor editing improvements that will definitely make the movie more cohesive as the first two and the cast have evidently gone older with Spiderman sporting some gut in some shots.

All in all, though I liked the movie. Sam Raimi made a good job of resolving the past concerns and questions from the two previous movies making this third installment really finish the trilogy. What this makes is a fresh start for another batch and new struggles for peter and MJ.

Too bad I had this kid behind me who keeps saying “die you bastards” whenever Spidey is battling out with the bad guys. Made me want to give him some webbing to shut his little trap. Still, I love this movie. Can’t wait to see it in IMAX.

mozzer on May 6th, 2007 10:25 pm

Spidey 3 let me down. Raimi tried to do too much at once. I couldn’t believe that MJ was once again the damsel in distress. She’s got to be the unluckiest woman on earth.

Topher Grace was great as Venom! However, the Eddie Brock storyline should’ve been scrapped, or treated as a teaser for a possible spidey 4.

It was still a good film, with lots of great action sequences. Even so, I agree with you DThompson, it is the weaker of the three.

DThompson on May 7th, 2007 2:27 am

Absolutely Mozzer, I felt like there was so much story in 3, it was so stuffed with romantic angst and one villain after another, you really already have watched Spiderman 4. Or at least Spiderman 3 and 4 crammed together into one enormous blow out of a film.
And I’ll take this opportunity to repeat that 3 villains is WAY more than a good movie needs. The original Batman had the Joker, and it was great. Spiderman 2 had Doc Oc, and it was the best of the three. ONE strong villain is all a good action movie needs.
Still, Rami rules the roost where action is concerned, some of those sequences were simply phenomenal.

geekgasmic.com on May 7th, 2007 10:30 am

Spiderman, Spiderman…Spiderman - The Plugg

The esteemed DThompson gives a level-headed review of Spiderman 3.