Spider-Man 3 Reviews

Poor In the Extreme

It appears the budget was solely for Special effects. The Story line was contrived at the last moment as an after thought.

Poor doesnt quite cover it.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Spider-Man 3

The first two Spider-Man films, taken together, play like the first two acts of a longer film with an overarching story about Peter, MJ, Harry and how they grow and change because of that spider bite. This film should be the dénouement, the payoff for all that intricate setup. That is there, but sadly it’s buried in an overstuffed, overlong movie that tries to do far too much far too quickly.

We’ve had about 4 hours to get to know the main characters and through deft storytelling and a sensible decision to set a 1 per-movie limit the villains of the films have also been filled in rounded characters. That goes out the window with Spider-Man 3.

Perhaps the film’s biggest problem (of, sad to say, many) is a glut of new characters in what is, for a story so dense, a very brief running time. This time there are three villains to contend with. Harry Osborn’s character has been one of the most interesting in the series and James Franco’s performance has grown film to film and shown Harry’s transition from a high school kid striving to be normal to a man consumed by hate and vengeance admirably. Here we finally get Harry suiting up as the new Green Goblin… well, sort of. Again the design is botched and there’s little to identify Harry with any persona, he looks more like he’s suiting up for extreme sports than anything. The battle itself though, some effects wobbles aside, is excellent. It’s punchy, mobile and exciting and the personal conflict is strongly felt because both Harry and Peter are unmasked for the duration. It arrives only about 12 minutes into the film and it’s something the rest of the action struggles to meet

The major villain is Thomas Haden Church’s Sandman. The character’s look and powers remain faithful to his comic book origins but the alteration of the backstory surrounding Uncle Ben rings completely false and though it doesn’t quite make bobbins of the first film it comes dangerously close. Church is pretty good and he gives Sandman heart as well as menace but he doesn’t really have enough screen time to engender audience sympathy the way Alfred Molina did as Dr Octopus. It’s well worth mentioning though a fine performance in a one scene cameo from Theresa Russell as Sandman’s wife.

Finally there’s Venom. The fan favourite was included in the film at the last minute thanks to constant badgering of Sam Raimi by exec producer Avi Arad. You can tell. Eddie Brock is a laughably thin character; his motivations lack any weight and his appearance as Venom happens only in the final half hour of the film. I’m with Sam Raimi on this one; I’m not a fan of Venom but if you ARE going to use a character so iconic you should treat him better than as a third string villain with ten minutes screentime.

This, however, is not the end of slate of new characters. There’s Bryce Dallas Howard as Gwen Stacy. Gwen, in the comics Peter’s college girlfriend, who died in the single greatest comic book ever written (Amazing Spider-Man 121) has been included here as… I give up… I don’t know what purpose she serves that couldn’t have been served by an existing character. She’s there to make MJ jealous, but really, rather than use another fan favourite character so poorly why not call more extensively on Mageina Tovah, whose turn as Ursula is a small joy in both sequels?

Then there’s James Cromwell as Captain Stacy who, if possible, is even more pointless than his screen daughter.

With character having been a particular strong point of the first two films it really saddens me to note how botched some of the characterisation here is. MJ has gone from melancholy to out and out depressed and Dunst just doesn’t seem to be trying. Yes she belts out the songs she has to sing with gusto but otherwise she seems rather bored and disengaged.

This is but naught compared to the problems with Peter’s character. The symbiote that creates the Black Spider-Man, and later Venom, accentuates its wearer’s worst qualities. That was established in the comic and it’s stuck to here. Except that here the script makes Peter a prick well before he puts the black suit on. Worse; they make him stupid. He’s been with MJ for a while, in love with her even longer and he’s a smart guy, why can’t he read her? It’s as if writers Sam and Ivan Raimi and Alvin Sargeant decided there was a storyline to be stuck to and the hell with whether it fit the characters established. Worse still is the character Peter becomes when he puts the black suit on. Online reviewers have dubbed him ‘Emo Parker’ and it’s a fair tag. Maguire’s hairdo is nicked from Hitler and he’s clearly stolen MJ’s eyeliner. It’s utterly laughable and yet the attempt to play it for laughs falls flat, hard, because the comedy just isn’t as funny as looking at Peter made up like he’s auditioning to join My Chemical Romance.

So. Is Spider-Man 3 as unmitigated a disaster as 2 was a triumph? Not quite.

It starts very well indeed. The title sequences gets you pumped up, using black webbing to foreshadow Venom and silent clips of the first two films to give a flavour of the story so far. Danny Elfman’s theme stirs the blood again and you’re left ready and eager to re-enter this world. It’s a solid entry too. The strands of the story are deftly set in motion with short scenes focusing on Peter, Harry, and MJ and then on Sandman and there’s that excellent first fight.

JK Simmons is as much fun as ever as J Jonah Jameson and he gets his best scene in the whole series in the first half hour of the film, it’s a one joke scene but I couldn’t stop chuckling.

Then comes the other truly great set piece, an out of control crane puts Gwen Stacy in peril. The sequence of her falling from a skyscraper set my nerves jangling, and not only because I suffer terrible vertigo.

There’s other nice moments too; an ending that refuses to tie things in a neat bow, a callback of the upside down kiss that works much better than the one in Spider-Man 2, the scenes between Peter and Ursula, a lovely scene for MJ and Harry. It just can’t be enough though. A disappointing final fight is the last nail in the coffin of Spider-Man 3. Packed with incident it may be but when most of it is a letdown (and the middle 45 minutes quite literally toe-curlingly dreadful) that just isn’t going to pass muster, particularly from the series that previously delivered blockbusters of rare intelligence and emotional engagement.

It seems that the cast and crew have fallen out of love with Spider-Man and there must be a changing of the guard for the next instalment or the audience may well do the same.

Not so amazing now!

Was a big fan of the first two films and therefore made sure I saw spidey 3 on release day 4/5/07.

Okay the film is a typical summer movie, big set action pieces and the hero having to come through a sticky patch.

Personally thought the webslinging through the city scapes was to fast to appreciate and felt like asking for a slow mo.

Cast spot on as ever franco delivering a very good turn, disappointed by sand man as he didn't seem to have much to play with in terms of script.

a few real dody things that had people around me gasping, Tobey Macguire dancing in the bar and the worst actress in history the english news reporter at the final battle.

too many villains for my liking would have preferred perhaps just venom and saved sandamn and the new golbin until 4.

if you liked the first two films you won;t be overly disappointed but will feel this has come up a bit short.

Venom on the eyes

we laughed - it was that bad, we cried - it was that bad, we cringed - it was that bad and we fell asleep - yes it really was that bad!!! biggest load of rubbish ive ever seen, i cant believe people are raving about how good this film is. what an anti climax! the whole harry v spiderman was a let down and as for the new villians nothing like they were in the comics, wanted to see a violent, agressive venom and got nothing but Eric Forman in a black suit with sharp teeth...... and as for the sandman there isnt a single point from beginning to end to include him in the story, it was like there were 4 plots and they couldnt decide between them so used them all and brought it all together for the last five mins. absolutly pointless. it was longgg what a waste of 2 odd hours. see it if you want but dont say you werent warned!!!!!.........P.S sam raimi what were you thinking with emo peter parkers jive walk, in fact what were you thinking full stop.

Zzzzzzzzzz

What a boring pretentious film. Too many plot lines non of which expanded into enough detail leading the viewer to have no connection with any of the irritating characters. Only good thing about this film is Bruce Campbell and he is in it for a very short time but adds some much needed humour to this dour film. I could rant on for a few hours about how dull this film really was but i wont bore you with my review like the film bored me!

More is less

I loved the first two Spiderman movies and am an absolute sucker for a blockbuster but my word is this a dreadful film. It's a masterclass in how franchises eat themselves. Liked Dr Octavius' CGI limbs in Spiderman 2? Lets construct the whole film around CGI until we've removed any trace of humanity! Liked having two enemies? Lets make it three! Ooh, what about four! So what if it dilutes the narrative or makes it impossible to care about any of them - it's size that matters! Like Toby Maguire's cute ineptness? Let's give it more so he becomes totally irritating and unloveable! And if the stars feel they're fading into the background alongside all this bloated assortment of villains and graphics, lets give them some singing and dancing to do! Don't worry that they can't actually sing or dance and watching them is marginally more embarrassing than watching a deluded auditionee on Pop Idol - it'll be charming, no? No? Oh.

A game of two halves...

The credits rolled nearly 2 hours ago and I'm still smiling at Tobey's star turn in this film. He really IS Peter Parker now and I only see a future for this franchise if he comes back to the set. For somebody who really appears quite dull in TV and press interviews he really has become more than adept at creating a complex yet lovable character in Peter. In my opinion it was his performance that rescued this film from the trappings of too many fantasy adaptations when they reach Part 3 (note: Matrix,Batman,X-Men etc.). A bigger budget and more baddies do not always result in a more satisfying movie. Regardless of that fact, Spider-Man 3 followed suit - more budget, more baddies, more special effects - but unlike X-Men 3 which left me feeling a little hollow after all the action set-pieces and grand finale, and Matrix:Revolutions which revolved up its very own butt - the character development of the main characters in Spider-Man 3: Peter, Mary-Jane and Harry, was enough to keep me enthused to a level where I actually hope for a sequel to see what happens next in the Spider-Man story. However I would definitely say 'S-M 3' is a game of two halves as the film really didn't get going for me until the 'black goo' turned Peter into a cocky wise-cracking vengeful 'eye-liner wearing' womaniser and the Peter/Mary-Jane relationship crumbled. By the time Venom arrived I was wide-eyed and thoroughly engaged. Indeed the last hour really raced by (unlike the first). All in all, I think there was enough good stuff here to warrant a 4th release and I hope Sam considers it. To finish off I really would like to congratulate Tobey Maguire once more on his fine performance. This film garnered more laughs, more gasps and more tears than the first two put together - and he was in every scene that did so. A+ for his performance. B+ for the film.

A storyline that a 10 year old could have written

WARNING SPOILERS

If this plot was faithful to the story lines in the comics then perhaps that is an excuse for what I saw as a very lazy plot.

For example:

How can Sandman get his powers.... we'll have him fall into a particle accelerator testing area when running from the police.

How can we introduce the alien parasite.... we'll have a meteorite (with billions of square miles of the earth to choose from) land within feet of Spiderman

How does Eddie Brock become Venom?....... just as Spiderman rids himself of the parasite in a belfry of a church, Eddie Brock just happens to be 100' below him, praying for Spidermans death, to allow him to get infected by it.

There are more but you get the picture. This is just a blatant cashing in on what is a good first film.

A real disappointment

I really liked the first two spidermans, and on my way in, I even bought the plastic spidey 3 cup at the concession stand (I know, how sad). Unfortunately I thought that this one really let the trilogy down.

Some of the scenes were so cheesy, cliched and soppy, I was nearly sick into my plastic cup. I went to see it in a packed cinema, and these so-called 'poignant' scenes were met with a mixture of laughter and groans.

Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst seemed to have lost interest in the films as the acting was poor. Although James Franco did a decent turn as Green Goblin Jr.

Thank God for J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson and Bruce Campbell's cameo to provide some intentionally funny, comic relief!

There are some good fight scenes. Towards the end everybody kept sighing, when it kept going on and on and on, most people then just started talking to each other as they had lost all interest. Finally when the credits rolled the audience (myself included) cheered out of happiness that the torture was finally over.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Marvel...ous, why the bad reviews ?

You know what is likely to happen, you know the characters and you know it is taken from the pages of a comic, so you arent expecting this to be a 'Shawshank Redemption' or etc, but some reviewers think it should be !!!.... It is a fun, pretty exciting piece of adventure escapism, and it is absolutely fantastic at what it sets out to do... Look.. I am no big Spidey or Fantasy fan, and there arent any huge surprises as it follows a formula, but I thought this was a darned good entertaining film.

One thing I did find slightly amusing, why does Peter Parker in his dark side turn into a mix between Trent Reznor (NIN) and/or Billy Joe Armstrong from Greenday, with full black eyeliner to match ???

This movie sold out the whole weekend at our multiplex-cinema all the bank holiday weekend, and to me that can only be good for film, and there must have been something to see ! I didnt see anyone leaving our screening dissapointed.

I would go and see it for yourself and not listen to the Spidey purists or etc, definately one to catch on the big screen with people around, then rent too, as the action is superb and it is well worth a watch. Recommended... you bet !