A beast of a blockbuster

Rating: 10/10 (4 May 2007)

This one's a LOT more ambitious than the first two. Three villains, a new girl, a walk on the dark side for our hero, not to mention massive action scenes: one thing's for sure, you get your money's worth.
OK, so Peter and Mary Jane's relationship is approaching Rhett Butler/Scarlett O'Hara levels in terms of will they, won't they, on/off fickleness. So there's enough characters here for five movies. And Aunt May's given little to do except spout wisdom. And the alien organism just "happens" to choose Peter Parker. Heck, these are nit-picks next to what Raimi and his team have delivered here.
It's a dark, muscular beast of a movie, and I loved it. My favourite parts were: The Sandman - brilliantly done, especially the magical rebirth sequence (Raimi and Church work wonders here).
Gwen Stacy - Howard looks stunning and can act. Oh, and are we really supposed to pity Peter for having to choose between her and...
Mary Jane Watson - excellent as always. Kirsten Dunst is a great beauty, but I also liked the identity crisis she goes through; it felt very real to me.
The action - jaw-dropping stuff. I thought the Doc Ock fights were terrific in Spidey 2, but these are bigger, longer and nastier. All of them are top notch.
I've heard gripes about the length, but I could happily watch these movies all day. Superheroes are really cooking at the moment, but Spider-man remains the best of the lot. Brilliant!