I'm glad I let all the bad hype sink in before I saw it

Rating: 7/10 (12 May 2007)

Everyone seems to be griping about how bad this movie is, especially in my circle of friends. I didn't end up seeing it opening weekend, which was plenty of time to take it all the negative hype and imagine every possible way this movie could be as embarrassingly bad as people have claimed. The particular scenes that were the most heavily criticized, surprisingly, did not bother me. The scenes that did, however, weren't mentioned by anybody I know. Here they are.
Betty Brant's buzzer that alerted Jameson about his blood pressure was too comical and over-done. I did, however, find his forced calm demeanor very funny.
When Sandman grew into a huge monster and growled, it took away all of his sympathetic human qualities and made him too over-the-top unbelievable.
The brief shot where Peter brushes his hair down into his forehead with his hand is all that truly sells the "emo teenager" thing that everyone complains about. Without that shot, it would not have come across as such, in my opinion.
I enjoyed the second, out-of-costume fight between Harry and Peter. But the scar that it left Harry with for the rest of the movie looked really fake. It was too small given the damage he sustained, and too bubbly.
I thought the news coverage of the construction site standoff was cheesily done (it came across like a reality show) and unnecessary. The commentary was not needed, and it was a weak way to establish what was happening. They added an extra element of unbelievability by referring to Flint Marko as "the sandman"- the only time in the movie any villain is referred to by name- thus grounding it in the realm of the comic book. And, during the scene where spidey is getting pummeled (which would have been emotional if sandman wasn't a giant monster), the news anchor's commentary stripped the scene of it's intimacy.
There were spectators close to the battle, and during the fight, it would cut to them and some comical moment would ensue. These comical moments took away all suspense, and I found it surprising that none of the people seemed frightened by what they were watching, but more content with spouting one-liners. And during the wide shot with the giant sandman, the spectators were so close to him that it seemed like a staged circus show.
The battle was too big and too public. I understand that it was Venom's intention to "humiliate" Peter Parker, but it was such a personal fight that it didn't need either element.
Harry having a change of heart and joining the battle to help Spidey didn't seem to fit. It was the less 'obvious' thing that could have happened, sure, but it didn't do it for me.
But overall it was really good. Not as good as 1 or 2, but a better 3rd movie than X-Men 3 (which I still liked, but was similarly hated). People are often citing the sillier, more comical and light-hearted moments in the movie as what's wrong, but keep in mind that the first and second movies weren't dead serious either. That said, given spidey's core struggle in the film, this one should have been the most serious of the three.