less would have been more

Rating: 5/10 (7 May 2007)

After an average 1st outing and a pretty good 2nd film Spiderman returns for a 3rd time. I have never been a massive fan of the films but loved the comics and wanted to see Venom on the big screen sadly I should have waited for the film to rent the film.
The 3rd movie can be tricky in a series: X men 3 was in too much of a rush to finish, Batman Forever too light weight but sometimes they can be good with the last crusade being better than temple of doom and giving raiders a run for its money. But sadly this film is too cramped with villains and pointless characters and too many ideas for it's still too long running time to cope.
The Sandman with his back story linking him to Peter and powers, Venom with his powers and menace could have both had their own Spiderman film to fully explore their characters. Alas they are forced into this film which still focuses on the Green Goblin now Harry. As a result none of the villains are developed enough with Venom suffering most. In the comics he was a complex villain: Eddie Brock is what Peter might have been yet in this he just a bog standard villain. He may look cool but shows little of what made him such a popular character in the first place. This is probably due to his little screen time.
Thomas Hayden Church struggles to play Sandman's motivation in this film which calls for him to be a villain one minute and a misunderstood hero the next. His effects at times brilliant at other times they felt like footage from the Mummy.
Sam Raimi after cutting loose his bag of camera tricks in the 2nd film plays it safe here. One or two style moments but most of the time it is standard. Until an action scene comes along and the camera spins around in such a way that you cannot make head or tails of what is going one.
I have always liked the casting of Tobey Maguire as Peter and he once again carries the movie with a good performance. His rage over Uncle Ben's killer is particularly well done. The trouble is his fall from grace by the symbiote is played too tongue in cheek by Raimi never really emotionally engaging the audience. James Franco's complex and charismatic turn makes Harry into Spidey's most interesting villain in the film. Kirsten Dunst struggles with the script that does no favours for Mary Jane. It starts well but then the plot asks her too lose her fire and spark making her once again scream for her life.
As for the rest of the characters in many cases it is the same problem with too much going on meaning some are wasted. Bryce Dallas Howard's Gwen Stacy is hot adds nothing more than eye candy for the movie. Bruce Campbell and J. K. Simmons steal all their scenes while James Cromwell is wasted as Gwen's father getting nothing to do.
In the end Spiderman has its moments but should have gone with less is more way of movie-making.