Enjoyable, but nothing special

Rating: 7/10 (11 May 2007)

~Plot/Writing/Direction~ Under this heading comes our first, and biggest problem: There are too many story lines going on at once. I mean, you've got 3 villains, plus each of their backgrounds, MJ's troubles, Harry's numerous changes of heart, 2 different Spidermans, competition between Parker and Eddie Brock at the newspaper, Gwen Stacy, and more. What was great about Spiderman 2, was that the plot was much more visible and focused; all you had to deal with was Parker's inner struggle, and his relationship with MJ, and his fight against the villain, Doc Ock. Additionally, I thought the writing was a tad flat and uninspired; perhaps a surprise considering it was written by veteran, Alvin Sargent (although he wrote Spiderman 2 alone, but co-wrote 3 with Sam and Ivan Raimi - so maybe that had something to do with it).
~Cast~ Really, no stand-out performances among the main cast. The character of MJ is a bit of a useless brat in this film, and I never much liked Kirsten Dunst, who doesn't make any of her feelings in the film look genuine. Tobey Maguire was competent, but was painful to watch during Peter Parker's eye-liner-clad bad boy scenes (yeah, what was that all about anyway? Talk about losing the plot!). Franco was annoying as he was in the previous two; but that's mainly due to the kind of character he had to work with. Still, he didn't make a convincing villain, and the same can be said for Topher Grace, who was irritating before he became the vastly under-written Venom. Much better were Thomas Haden Church, who succeeded in bringing us a villain for whom we had an ounce of sympathy. Bryce Dallas Howard played her part well, as did J.K Simmons (yet again). The highlight of the film, however, had to be Bruce Campbell as the Maître d'. Hilarious.
~Music~ Bit of a mish-mash score here. Danny Elfman was hired, as he was for the previous two, but had a falling out with Sam Raimi and left the project. Christopher Young was brought in to score the film, but film chiefs thought he did a poor job and replaced some of his work with snippets of music recycled from previous Spiderman/Danny Elfman films. Still, the sentimental moments worked, and Christopher Young did a decent enough job. Even so, I think Elfman's scores, while they do the trick, have never been phenomenal in any respect.
~Other~ For a film with a $260 million dollar budget, the effects didn't blow me away as I had much expected them to. The visuals in both the first two films weren't overly impressive either, so it didn't bother me all that much. The best parts (with regard to visual effects) were undoubtedly the Sandman's scenes.
~Summary~ Well it kept me entertained for its lengthy running time. Solid cast, a plot that was overcrowded but enjoyable enough, and a lot of polish, owed to it's huge-ass budget. Should certainly appeal to the masses, and is likely to go on to be one of the most financially successful films of all-time. But after the great Spiderman 2, I can't help but think Raimi has let the side down a little.