|
|
After the creation of Spider-Man in 2002 and Spider-Man 2 in 2004, we get Spider-Man 3 in 2007. However, it is not the movie it was supposed to be. It was advertised as being dark and gritty and make it look like the best of the Spider-Man films. Is the movie darker than the previous two? To a point, yes. Is it as dark as the trailers make it out to be? No, far from it.
Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Tobey Maguire) has finally managed to find a balance in his double life. All seems well...or so it seems. He plans to propose to his girlfriend, Mary Jane (Kristen Dunst), but his overconfidence of being Spider-Man has made him careless in his relationship with her. Mary Jane is being faced with a crisis in her career as an actress, and is soon fired. Meanwhile, Harry Osborn (James Franco), Peter's former best friend, now knowing that Peter is Spider-Man and believing that he killed his father, Norman Osborn (Willem Dafoe), hunts Peter down as the New Goblin, using equipment different from his father's, but is knocked out and suffers amnesia after an ambush on Peter. Peter also takes a liking to Gwen Stacy (Bryce Dallas Howard), a fellow classmate.
While on a date in the beginning, a small meteorite crashes, with a black symbiote coming out of it. It gets to Peter Parker without him knowing it. Elsewhere, criminal Flint Marko (Thomas Haden Church), has recently escaped from prison and is stealing money that he plans to use in a desperate attempt to pay for an operation to cure his dying daughter. He soon falls into a particle accelerator and becomes the Sandman.
A photographer named Eddie Brock Jr. (Topher Grace) is also trying to steal Peter's thunder at the Daily Bugle, run by J. Jonah Jameson (J.K. Simmons). The symbiote soon bonds to Peter, making his suit turn black and enhancing his powers, but turning his personality for the worse. He goes on a vendetta against Sandman, whom he recently found out had killed his Uncle Ben in the first movie. But soon, he will have to face the darkness in his heart, overcome the symbiote, and face a new enemy: Venom.
The movie starts off good, but by the time that Gwen Stacy and Eddie Brock are introduced, the movie starts to go downhill. Gwen, despite making some good eye candy, should never have been in the movie. Gwen Stacy is known for being Peter's first girlfriend until she was killed in a battle against the Green Goblin. The scene in the first film in which Spider-Man fights against Green Goblin while saving Mary Jane at the bridge was quite similar to that same event. If Gwen was to be in the movies, it should have been from the beginning.
But the most disappointing aspect of the movie was easily how Venom was treated. Eddie Brock was a serious miscast for the role and should never have left That 70s Show for it. He doesn't become Venom until the last half hour of the movie and his personality is not like the Venom we know. The only real positive about Venom was the special effects done on him. Sam Raimi has said that he was never fond of the Venom character, and it really shows. He didn't want him in a movie, but only did so to appease the many fans who wanted Venom in a movie. So what happened with Venom I wouldn't say was completely his fault. And not just Venom, but the symbiote story itself. The symbiote is supposed to make you corrupt, not an emo. We want a movie that makes Peter into a darker character, not to do dance numbers.
The movie's biggest flaw was having too many storylines within an over 2 hour long movie. While the first two Spider-Mans were kept simple, this one decides to go complex. It would have been great if it had just Sandman, Eddie Brock having a lesser role and becoming Venom only at the end of the movie, the symbiote taking over Peter, and Harry's vendetta against Spider-Man.
But despite the movie's numerous problems, Spider-Man 3 is brilliant on a technical level and is also at least mildly entertaining. The movie cost $258 million to produce. Judging by the product, it's pretty clear that most of that money was spent on the special effects. We get to see the birth of Sandman, the symbiote, and Venom in action. The action is also very good. The fist fight between a symbiote influenced Peter and Harry at his mansion in particular was a good watch.
With the exception of Thomas Haden Church, who does really good with what he has to work with, the acting is not as good as it was in the previous films. Tobey Maguire as the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man and the nerdy Peter Parker is brought down by his emoness when under the symbiote's influence and is whiny during the more dramatic scenes, especially the break-up scene. Kristen Dunst is a little pale this time around as she plays love interest MJ. James Franco is fine as the delusional Harry, but when Harry is under amnesia, his performance can be a cheesy at times. Bryce Dallas Howard is both good eye candy and bears physical resemblance to the Gwen from the comics, but is only the "other girl" of Peter's life and does very little to contribute to the actual plot. Rosemary Harris gives a good performance as Peter's Aunt May, but she has little to do except for teaching the importance of forgiveness. J.K. Simmons is still good as Jonah Jameson, who provides some comic relief in the movie. Topher Grace was the biggest mistake of the movie for the choice of one of the comics most infamous villains. While Venom does look cool, it can't move past Topher's performance and the way he was written. Topher Grace is better off sticking to comedies, like he did in That 70's Show.
While it is mildly entertaining when not shoving plotholes down our throat, it's a letdown compared to the previous two.
|
Rachel H. on 2/17/11 at 06:57 PM
i liked this, but the three things i could barely tolerate were emo peter, that goddamn dance scene, and the cock-tease romance between MJ and Peter (but that sort of counts for all the movies). Topher Grace was also an incredibly weird choice to play venom, but i didn't think he did that badly. great review by the way, sorry, I got a little long winded.
2 Replies | Report Abuse
Eldest2005 on 2/17/11 at 07:45 PM
I originally gave this a 7, but went down to 5 since I have grown more open-minded with movie (considering the plot and acting instead of going by visuals and action).
0 Replies | Report Abuse
Jake D. on 8/12/11 at 11:15 AM
I think I maybe the only person on this whole website that actually was entertained by the dance scene.
1 Replies | Report Abuse
Eldest2005 on 8/12/11 at 11:36 AM
I'll admit that I do watch it on YouTube, but only because of the music.
0 Replies | Report Abuse
Wisenheimer on 8/12/11 at 11:09 AM
I didn't hate it, but I wanted it to be much better. Venom is my favorite comic book villain though. Great review Eldest. :)
1 Replies | Report Abuse
Eldest2005 on 8/12/11 at 11:37 AM
Right. It's not a bad movie, it just has a lot of problems.
0 Replies | Report Abuse
Jake D. on 8/12/11 at 11:16 AM
Descent, no where near as good as the first two though.
0 Replies | Report Abuse
Movie Monster on 8/12/11 at 12:53 PM
I founf this to be underrated. It is a forth follow-up to the second film in my opinion. Nice review and its about time you get a profile pic!
0 Replies | Report Abuse
Indiana Jones 79 on 8/12/11 at 03:07 PM
excellent review, this is the only spiderman I haven't seen.
1 Replies | Report Abuse
Eldest2005 on 8/12/11 at 03:53 PM
It's worth a viewing despite the 50%. It has pretty good action and visuals. Those alone make it worth watching.
0 Replies | Report Abuse
Quinn B. on 8/12/11 at 06:30 PM
good review, please check out my latest reviews :)
0 Replies | Report Abuse
adler-s on 8/12/11 at 10:35 PM
needed to focus on a plot line and Peter Parker wasn't as likeable. great review!
0 Replies | Report Abuse
Film Master Thomas on 8/23/11 at 07:58 AM
I havent seen a review of this in a while. Or ever. Excellent review, I thought it was okay but nothing like the two films.
0 Replies | Report Abuse
rottenb on 8/24/11 at 11:12 AM
Really well written review dude. I agree on everything except I think Topher Grace was quite good and his resemblance to Toby aided the awkwardness of their scenes together.
1 Replies | Report Abuse
Eldest2005 on 8/24/11 at 01:32 PM
Topher Grace is a capable actor, as he has shown in That 70's Show. But he just wasn't the best choice. It also had to do with the way his character was written.
1 Replies | Report Abuse
rottenb on 8/24/11 at 03:38 PM
Agreed. Also, the way they threw his face on top of the venom was dumb.
0 Replies | Report Abuse
Austin Williams on 8/24/11 at 01:48 PM
Amen to that, too many storylines they needed to pick between Venom and Sandman, not both. Venom is such a vital villain that he needs his own movie anyway. Plus I still don't understand why Spiderman lets Sandman go at the end. I get that he forgives him for killing his uncle but the sandman still did a lot of bad stuff including stealing lots of money and severely injuring if not killing people in the process. It was rediculous that they just let him off the hook for all that in the end.
0 Replies | Report Abuse
ray on 7/02/12 at 06:18 AM
not as bad as you describe it. effects were amazing, they had a bunch of villains (maybe a bit too many) and Maguire's emo turn in the middle of the film was hilarious. certainly not as bad as everybody seem to see it
1 Replies | Report Abuse
Eldest2005 on 7/02/12 at 08:32 AM
I wasn't saying that the movie was bad, but it was very problamatic. A movie would need to get a 40% or lower for me to consider bad.
0 Replies | Report Abuse
Rostron2 on 7/02/12 at 09:03 AM
It was just oddly put together. Now we get to see it all over with the new version. Yawn.
0 Replies | Report Abuse
Roberto L. on 7/02/12 at 12:44 PM
There's not a doubt in my mind, Spider-Man 3 is a letdown compared to previous films.
0 Replies | Report Abuse
Ken H. on 7/02/12 at 08:42 PM
I love this movie also. I thought all of the characters were well developed and all of the actors were having a good time making it. It also has the best of the three Bruce Campbell cameos in the entire trilogy. I think I like this movie more than most people because I never read the comics and the only knowledge of Spider-Man I have is from the Sam Raimi movies. Good reviews.
1 Replies | Report Abuse
Eldest2005 on 7/02/12 at 09:09 PM
I haven't really read the comics either, but I do know some of their plotlines.
0 Replies | Report Abuse
Gavin the moviejunkie1994 on 7/03/12 at 04:16 AM
My rating for this is a 70, but I really want to put it in the 60% rating. The things that I just couldn't stand was the horrible dance-sequence, the lack of screen-time with the venom and the contrived romance between MJ and Peter.
0 Replies | Report Abuse
scifimark on 7/05/12 at 05:35 PM
Id probably give it a 30. Im not a diehard comic fan but am fairly knowledgeable. This movie is very frustrating for me especially coming off of spiderman 2 which was a brilliant movie. I think the lone bright spot for me is that of the sandman. One thing raimi was great at was giving motivation to his antagonists in his spiderman movies. He also handled the black suit wrong with the whole emo thing and venom shoulld of been left out of this movies but that was a studio powerplay
1 Replies | Report Abuse
scifimark on 7/05/12 at 05:35 PM
Oh and good review
0 Replies | Report Abuse