Needed more Venom

Rating: 7/10 (30 June 2009)

Spider-man 3 is the weakest of the Spiderman films, but it is still an entertaining superhero film.
Set a few years after Spider-man 2, Peter Parker's life is on the right track, he is doing well in University, he is going out with Mary-Jane who is starting in a Broadway Show and Spiderman is loved by New Yorkers. But they are problems on the horizon, Harry Osborn had found out that Peter was Spiderman and blames him for his father's death. He takes his father's formula and found his equipment to make him the Green Goblin Jr.. Flint Marko (Thomas Haden Church), a petty theft, has escaped from prison and after running onto a scientific base he becomes the powerful villain the Sandman. As well an meteorite clashes into Central Park, releasing the symbiote, that gives Spiderman extra power but makes him explore his dark side. In Peter's personal life they are also problems. He has a new rival at the Daily Bugle, Eddie Brock (Topher Grace), who has eyes on Peter's job. Peter himself becomes more self-centred and thinks more about himself then Mary-Jane, who herself is depress after loosing her role in the show.
The Sandman turns out to be the man who really killed Peter's Uncle Ben, and as Spiderman sets out to gain revenge. Harry Osborn wants revenge against Spiderman for his father's death and after being unable to match Spidey physically, takes him on emotionally. Eddie Brock ends wanting revenge against Peter after he looses his job and girlfriend, blaming Peter.
Spider-man 3 lacks the emotional depth and character development the first two films did, but they still is some, and in tone to the previous films, compared to another superhero threequel, X-Men: the Last Stand. The cast do they best, James Franco has more to do then he did in the previous films. Thomas Haden Church made a good Sandman. Topher Grace was sadly miscasted as Eddie Brock, but he does his best. Bryce Dallas Howard is pretty hot as Gwan Stacey. They are good action sequences and so was the CGI, the best in the series. There are excellent fights between Spidey and Green Goblin Jr., Spidey and the Sandman in the subway and the final fight scene. Venom and Sandman looked impressive. Also, James Cromwell, an excellent actor has a small role in the film.
The two big problems are they are too many villains and the characterisation was just all wrong. By have 3 (4 if you count the inter-demon), make the audience lost at times. They should have been one or two villains just to make the film more manageable for be the makers and the audience. The Sandman was portrayed also to the point that he was a sympathetic character, ruining the character. Venom, one of the most popular villains in Marvel Comics is cruelly underused. He should have been saved for the next film, being set up at the end of Spider-man 3. But the director Sam Raimi, disliked the character, hating his lack of morality, but that's why he is such a great villain. In the comics they is more to Venom, Eddie Brock blames Spiderman for the lost of his journalist career and he was committed Catholic, hating killing and even protected a young family. Raimi shouldn't have been forced to use Venom in the film.
Other minor problems are that the film is a little two long and they seems to be a small continuity problem, how could Mary-Jane be doing well as a stage-actress in plays, then go to Broadway and then just become a singing waitress. Finally, the symbiote just happens to crash in the middle of Central Park. It would have been more realistic if the film shown the symbotic crashing to Earth in the Space Shuttler like in the cartoon in the 90s or being studied at the University as another opinion.
Overall, Spidey 3 is a decent, but not a great film. I personally hope the Kingpin is used as a villain in Spider-man 4 and that Venom is done properly after Raimi's reign in the director's chair is over.