Last Act Takes a Dive
Latest Spider-Man Isn't Sensational
In the realm of film reviewers, I don't know if there is a bigger comic book fanatic than me. I have been collecting comics for over 20 years, and I have seen every comic book film and television adaptation that I could lay my hands on. The Spider-Man franchise has been one of my favorite, because I felt that the first was near perfect and the second managed to exceed it. With high hopes for Spider-Man 3, I went to see the web slinger fight not one, not two, but three villains. The real villains, however, are the producers who forced too much into one film.
Written by: Sam Raimi & Ivan Raimi and Alvin Sargent, based on the Marvel comic book by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko
Starring: Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Thomas Haden Church, Topher Grace, Bryce Dallas Howard, Rosemary Harris, and J.K. Simmons
Rated
(for
sequences of intense action violence)Running time: 140 min.
FilmGuru's Rating : 7 out of 10.
In Spider-Man 3, it looks as if the pieces of Peter Parker's (Tobey Maguire) life might finally be coming together. He's dating Mary Jane (Kirsten Dunst) -- and she knows all about his secret identity. His grades are up. His job is good. More importantly, Spider-Man is starting to get some good press. Of course, it's all about to fall apart.
The film is a good mix of story and action. It also offers some jaw-dropping special effects. The villains are both fierce and fascinating. The fight sequences are amazing, and when it comes to summer blockbuster potential, this film has action in spades. Sadly, the plot is so bloated with characters and storylines that it becomes a train wreck.
First, Peter's erstwhile friend Harry (James Franco) has taken up the mantel of the Green Goblin to avenge his father's death. Not only does he blame Spider-Man for his father's demise, but he knows that the wall crawler is really Peter.
Then the police inform Peter and his Aunt May (Rosemary Harris) that a convict named Flint Marko (Thomas Haden Church) is the real killer of Uncle Ben. Unfortunately, not only has Marko escaped, but he is victim of a particle accelerator accident that turns him into a super-villain known as The Sandman.
Finally, a strange meteorite crashes nearby Peter and Mary Jane when they are spending some quality alone time. Emerging from the meteor is a black gooey lifeform that hitches a ride home with Peter. Feeding off Peter's anger about Marko, the symbiote attaches himself to Peter in the guise of a black costume -- giving Peter even greater strength and abilities but fueling his anger and hatred as well.
Thrown into the mix is a new photographer at the Daily Bugle named Eddie Brock (Topher Grace), who seems to be trying to supplant Peter as the ace photo-journalist with the Spider-Man exclusives. He's also stalking the daughter of the police chief, but that's hardly worth mentioning.
The result is a film that is so bogged down with multiple stories that it fails to have the cohesive, tight storytelling that made the first two films a success. The editing is all over the place. Some scenes late in the story seem out of order, as if pulled from earlier in the film and plopped down because there was no where else to put them.
The introduction of Gwen Stacey (Bryce Dallas Howard) is a real waste. In the comic book, Gwen is an early love interest who dies when Spider-Man fails to save her. Her death had a major impact on the comic book and fans, but in the film she acts only as a potential rival to Mary Jane. The character has no weight in the film and provides no substance.
The love story with MJ and Peter is besieged by so many different plot complications, I was never clear of MJ's motive for leaving him. Was she tired of being neglected by Peter? Was she jealous of Gwen Stacey? Did she fear Harry? The relationship between Peter and MJ is symptomatic of the entire film. The audience doesn't have time to concentrate on one developing story when another pops up. There is no clear cause of the problem and no clear resolution.
The film suffers from the worst case of fanboy influence in the history of comic book films. Rather than focus on a single villain as he did in the first two films, director Sam Raimi bowed to pressure from producer Avi Arad. In an interview with the SCI FI Wire, Raimi admits "Avi said, 'You're not giving me what I asked you.' ... He said, 'They want Venom. Just give them Venom already!' So I said 'OK.'
While giving fans what they want has a certain appeal, it seems to have backfired in this case. Venom, one of the biggest Spider-Man villains to be introduced in the past twenty years, is reduced to a side note in this film. The story rushes through Peter's struggle with his dark side while spending little time investigating the origin of the symbiote. If Peter's discovery of the suit's true origin had been pushed off to a fourth film, it would have allowed Raimi to better focus on the Sandman as a character.
The worst moments in the film appear to be the result of directorial hubris. In one, Peter Parker (overcome by his dark side) breaks into a song-and-dance routine in the local jazz club. Egad! What is this? Spider-Man: The Musical?! Another is a prolonged gag with J. Jonah Jameson (J.K. Simmons) and his secretary. Every time she buzzed the intercom, she made him jump. I guess this is supposed to be funny, but it made me wonder if the intercom system had been rewired to electrocute the man every time it sounded.
A cameo by Stan Lee had me wanting to applaud even as I cringed. The moment is a wonderful tribute to the work Lee has done for Marvel Comics and Spider-Man in particular. And yet, the scene offers nothing to the film other than the cameo. It doesn't work, and it stands out as a bad scene that -- like one-third of the film -- should have been left on the cutting room floor.
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