It's not bad. There's too much going on, but it's still entertaining

Rating: 7/10 (2 July 2012)

After two wildly success movies, Sony's "Spider-Man" franchise led by director Sam Raimi seemed as if it could do no wrong. My, how spoiled we were by "Spider-Man" and "Spider- Man 2" that we could be so naive.
"Spider-Man 3" isn't bad, just ambitious and convoluted. Like its predecessors, the story and screenplay's primary focus remains on Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Tobey Maguire), the man trying to balance being a student, a boyfriend and New York's No. 1 crime-fighter, and how his new journey will change his perspective on playing all those parts. It's the smallest juggling act of all, however, compared to the plot of this movie.
"Spider-Man 3" features three villains and four romances between five people. The numbers pretty much say it all there as far as the notion of "too much going on" is concerned. There's no reason a similar core story couldn't be told with half as many subplots, and as such the resulting story reeks of studio interference.
The first big-screen appearance of Venom is certainly the big selling point, but if the core of the story is the sun, the story of Venom and Eddie Brock (Topher Grace) is Saturn. The symbiote arrives via meteor shower early on, but doesn't latch on to Peter until an hour into the film (nearly halfway). Venom doesn't rear his sinister head until the 100-minute mark (that's all the time most films get). So ... did anyone really want to include Venom in this film?
You don't get the sense that Raimi did. Sure, he and fellow writers Ivan Raimi (his brother) and Alvin Sargent find a way to genuinely connect the symbiote subplot to Peter's journey in the film and make it seem as if Venom's appearance is essential to this story, but it has no weight or power — just a lot of great visual effects work.
The character of Flint Marko a.k.a. Sandman (Thomas Haden Church) comes off more like a Raimi kind of character. Like Dr. Octopus, and even in a sense Green Goblin before him, Sandman is a sympathetic villain as his motivation is to find the money to make his ill young daughter well again. But as with the film's many parts that show promise, the juggling act stunts it almost completely. Church's character and performance comes across as one- dimensional, especially after he disappears for the entire middle act.
The other reason he would've been a fine choice as a solo villain is the way he's linked into the murder of Uncle Ben. To Raimi, Peter has never been able to get over the guilt of incidentally bringing about his uncle's death, and Marko's role in it complicates things for Peter emotionally. This story line provides the one true sense of continuity between the three films and could have potentially put a rounded punctuation mark and emotional note on Raimi's trilogy, but rather than have two characters who badly misunderstand each other duking it out, Venom has to join the party.
Oh, have I not mentioned the third villain yet? As suggested in the second film's conclusion, Harry Osborn (James Franco) takes on the mantle of the New Goblin to avenge his father's death and kill Spider-Man, who he knows is Peter. Rather than talk it out with his best friend, he finds him on the street and tries to kill him. This whole subplot — despite being a thrilling action sequence — feels like unfinished business from the second film rather than an integral part of the third. In fact, it results in Harry suffering amnesia, at least as long as it takes to focus on developing the other subplots in the film before vengeful Harry becomes necessary again.
Pause from the criticism to praise how high the action and visual effects bar is raised between "Spider-Man 2" and "Spider-Man 3." The CGI looks excellent and the early action scenes showcase Spider-Man doing aerial stunts like we'd never imagined.
The other crowning achievement of the franchise has been the romance. We knew the fact that Peter and Mary Jane (Kirsten Dunst) finally came together at the second film's end wouldn't be so happily ever after, but now suddenly they are out of touch with each other's feelings and afraid to tell each other the truth despite MJ knowing Peter's biggest secret.
After getting fired from her new show, MJ devolves into a needy and jealous character and Peter has let the fame of being Spider-Man get to his head. These qualities didn't exist before in these characters, but suddenly they do. To complicate matters, Gwen Stacy (Bryce Dallas Howard) comes between them as well. The story of the symbiote is meant to exacerbate their relationship problems, just as it does all the other subplots of the film. Actually, that is about as connected as it all ever gets. The symbiote suit is Peter's choice, and it has consequences throughout each element of the movie.
This is Emo Peter's cue. The symbiote naturally has a negative influence on Peter, but rather than simply amplifying aggression or other emotions, it makes him cocky. Raimi gives Maguire this emo look and films him walking down the street handing out catcalls land doing a dance routine in the jazz club where MJ works to make her jealous. Raimi has never shied away from humor, but these scenes are tonally light years away from the rest of the film not to mention the franchise, and they sour nearly the whole movie experience.
It's easy to deconstruct the problems of "Spider-Man 3," however, and harder to admit that it's an engaging film with good intentions. Minus the emo sequences, it's just a disappointment, though it didn't have to be. If only there weren't an impossible amount going on, or at least someone told any of the film's creative minds that obvious fact beforehand.
~Steven C
Thanks for reading! Visit moviemusereviews.com