Too many villains, too many pale plot strands, too many romantic misunderstandings, too many conversations, too many street crowds looking high into the air and shouting "oooh!" this way, then swiveling and shouting "aaah!" that way.
Spider-Man 3 (2007)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:42
Fresh:18
Rotten:24
Average Rating:5.5/10
Consensus: Though there are more characters and plotlines, and the action sequences still dazzle, Spider-Man 3 nonetheless isn't quite as refined as the first two.
Rated: PG-13 [See Full Rating] for sequences of intense action violence
Runtime: 2 hrs 20 mins
Genre: Action/Adventure
Theatrical Release:May 4, 2007 Wide
Box Office: $336,530,303
Synopsis: The Marvel comics hero returns for more high-flying fun in this third installment in the series. Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) is up to his usual Spidey tricks, attending university classes as an... The Marvel comics hero returns for more high-flying fun in this third installment in the series. Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) is up to his usual Spidey tricks, attending university classes as an awkward geek, then quickly slipping into his red-and-blue suit to save New York City from various villains. And there are villains aplenty. Thomas Hayden Church blows in as the Sandman, an escaped convict whose molecular structure is destroyed in a particle accelerator. The freak accident gives him the ability to form and reform from piles of dust. While the Sandman sifts through the city streets robbing banks, Spidey must also contend with his onetime friend, Harry (James Franco), who has taken up where his father, the Green Goblin, left off. Harry chases Spider-Man down on his goblin glider, hurling pumpkin bombs. But Spider-Man's biggest battle is perhaps within himself, when he is taken over by meteorite ooze--a substance that gives him great power, but also turns him into a vengeful, selfish jerk. Throw into the mix Peter's new competition at the Daily Bugle--the ambitious, sneaky Eddie Brock (Topher Grace)--and Peter's relationship troubles with Mary Jane (Kirsten Dunst), and SPIDER-MAN 3 weaves a tangled web indeed. Director Sam Raimi's playful style and his delightfully campy screenplay hold true to the spirit of the Stan Lee comics, and he does an excellent job of hitting all the right superhero notes. Raimi has created an action film that is a feast for the eyes, but comes with fully rounded characters and a moving moral lesson to boot. The special effects are astounding, but Raimi makes sure the film isn't all action and no talk--he makes Peter's struggle a human one, and one that we can all relate to, regardless of our web-spinning ability. [More]
Starring: Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, Thomas Haden Church, Topher Grace
Starring: Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, Thomas Haden Church, Topher Grace, James Franco, James Cromwell, Bryce Dallas Howard, Dylan Baker, Rosemary Harris, J.K. Simmons
Director: Sam Raimi
Director: Sam Raimi
Screenwriter: Alvin Sargent, Ivan Raimi
Producer: Laura Ziskin, Avi Arad, Grant Curtis
Composer: Christopher Young
Studio: Columbia Pictures
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Reviews for Spider-Man 3
After two epic successes that deserved their success, the latest installment swings between intense action sequences and unaccountably flat dramatic interludes.
One has to consider that the film's problems -- and they are numerous -- may be the product of the franchise's runaway popularity.
If there's a moral to be gleaned from Spider-Man 3 -- aside from the fact that heavily promoted franchise movies tend to rake in megabucks -- it's this: Movies don't necessarily need to hit grand slams to score.
Aesthetically and conceptually wrung out, fizzled rather than fizzy, this latest installment in the spider-bites-boy adventure story shoots high, swings low and every so often hits the sweet spot, but mostly just plods and plods along.
An extravagant three-ring circus of a movie from director Sam Raimi, but it's not without a struggle.
It's mostly enjoyable. But it's a limping effort compared with the first two. The trilogy hobbles to a finish when it should have soared.
In an apparent effort to put a stake in the heart of the franchise that threatens to define his career, director Sam Raimi has delivered an overlong, visually incoherent, mean-spirited and often just plain awful Spider-Man 3.
Spider-Man 3 offers a touching portrait of the need for humility in the face of great success. It's a lesson the creators of this oversized blockbuster-in-waiting might have taken a little more to heart.
At 140 minutes, it's not a difficult movie to sit through. It's just difficult to enjoy.
My guess is that when the summer blockbuster season finishes pummeling us with formula, Spider-Man 3 is going to look like one of the few that was touched by human hands.
I liked it. To place a sensitive story in a male-epic genre -- to dramatize feelings of angst and personal betrayal worthy of an Ingmar Bergman film, and then to dress them up in gaudy comic-book colors -- is to pull off a smartly subversive drag show.
What's with all the crying? Both heroes and villains shed tears so readily, you almost want to stand up mid-screening and ask director Sam Raimi to stop the projector so everybody can have a group hug.
The script is busy with so many supporting characters and plot detours that the series' charming idiosyncrasy is sometimes lost in the noise. Fortunately, it's entertaining noise.
The result? Predictably, by the time of the big, swinging-through-the-concrete-canyons climax, we've pretty much lost interest.
The combat showstoppers, though still too CG to be felt as much as they're admired, should thrill fanboys to no end.
As last year's Bond reboot Casino Royale made obvious, less is the new more. Spider-Man, stop your engines.
What's worse is that after a fairly pedestrian opening, director Sam Raimi loses all control of the film as it rambles from storyline to storyline in search of a center.
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