Spider-Man takes a Venomous turn!

Rating: 6/10 (5 May 2007)

First of all, this was a very entertaining movie. Not without its problems but surely this is quite definitely the popcorn entertainment movie of the year. Upon immediate completion of the movie I was torn because I was aware that what I had just watched was indeed a great entertainment movie but I was ever so slightly disappointed because of the inevitable comparison to the second movie of the series which remains the best of the bunch by far.
First lets start with the acting. Tobey Maguire is quite clearly having fun with the character this time around. He gets to delve a little more with Peter Parker's negative sides. We see a more confident (bordering on complacent) Peter Parker and Maguire suits this change in the character. Maguire gives great credibility to the character despite some very foul overacting when Peter turns 'bad'. However, Maguire still looks and sounds incredibly like Peter Parker. Kirsten Dunst does a rehash of the character from the first two movies. J.K. Simmons is as always hilarious and all the scenes with him are loaded with charm and humor and he truly steals every scene he is in. James Franco returns as Harry Osborn and this movie is truly his swan-song. He produces the greatest acting I have seen from him yet and he makes his character truly interesting to watch and his personal enigmas are at the very least as interesting as Parker's. Thomas Haden Church is one of the new additions to the cast. He is Sandman a lowly thug who by mere chance gets powers that make him almost unbeatable. Unfortunately he doesn't get that much character to work with and Sandman becomes just a reason to show off some admittedly awesome special effects. He only shows his talent by the very end of the movie (you'll know when you see it). Topher Grace gets the honor of playing the arguably most beloved villain in the entire Marvel universe, Venom and surprisingly he's very good. I was a little worried when I heard he had been hired to play Venom because of his history of comedic parts but he turns out to have dramatic flair as well. I have to admire Sam Raimi's guts for hiring such a new name for the part. Grace works hard and it shows. Eddie Brock Jr. becomes a very likable character and that is almost to his credit alone.
Story wise the film is solid if a bit uneven. The pace is like in the previous movies well structured and there are very few slow points. The films primary strength is the central conflict with Peter, Mary-Jane and Harry Osborn because this part is very well told and filled with tension and emotion. The dialog is like in the previous movies not always completely believable but that hardly matters taking the source material into consideration. The new characters are introduced well enough if a bit hastily and this is the films primary flaw. There are simply too many characters to keep track of and unfortunately this means we do not get nearly as much of Venom and Sandman as we should have. And since we are on the subject of villains I should say that Venom is every bit as menacing as he should be. He proves to be more than a match for Spider-Man and that is the way it was in the comics so kudos to Mr. Raimi for that. However, my primary grudge with the entire movie is that Venom simply isn't enough in it. Had it been up to me I would have split the movie in two. By that we would have gotten more screen time for Sandman who would then have become a much better villain. Also it would have given us the opportunity to get Venom as a primary villain in a possible fourth movie.
Effects wise the movie is of course breath taking. We see some of the most spectacular action sequences ever committed to celluloid and taking the film's budget into account that is hardly surprising. The action and effects in the previous movies were spectacular but in this one they go completely over the top and I for one enjoy this development. It somehow brings the movie closer to the source material and I have always claimed that this is what the series needed to do to attract the hard core fans. The end sequence is simply stunning and indeed a very worthy finale. Comparing the effects to the other big summer movie event, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, I would say that Spider-Man comes out on top as the effects are nothing short of groundbreaking.
Christopher Young was chosen to compose a score instead of Danny Elfman after Elfman and Sam Raimi had a falling out at some point while making the score for the second film and while he did produce a decent score it is by no means memorable like the scores from the previous movies. However, credit must be given where credit is due for Danny Elfman casts quite a shadow and the score is adequately bombastic and grand for a super hero movie of this kind of scale.
Spider-Man 3 is a great summer movie but try not to judge it by the standards set by the second movie because it does not add up. All in all, however, Spider-Man 3 is a fantastic movie loaded with special effects and a good story. I know that the Spider-Man movies have generated a lot of money and there will in all probability be a fourth Spider-Man movie and I for one welcome the prospect because I believe that there are a lot more stories from the Spider-Man universe that deserves a chance to be seen on the big screen. I do hope, however, that in the fourth movie they try to simplify the story somewhat.
8/10