Another sad example of a trilogy gone bad

Rating: 5/10 (12 May 2007)

It came to pass that in the age of comic books and film, no trilogy could be completed with the same directing team. Tim Burton gave way to Joel Schumacher, Richard Donner was replaced by Richard Lester who was replaced by Sidney J. Furie, and Brian Singer became a name of the past as Brett Ratner stepped into his chair. Then Sam Raimi swooped in to save the day with his Spider-Man movies. This unprecedented continuity should have made it the first superhero series to have a successful third film. It should have, but it did not.
Sure, it is and will continue to be a smashing success at the box office, but from an artistic standpoint, it fails. The principals that made the first two films so delightful are not present anymore. The Spider-Man films have gone from an uplifting and unique experience to an exercise in gorging sensationalism and sliding standards.
Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) has finally found the ideal balance between college, work and his responsibilities as the masked hero of the city. His grades are immaculate and he is ready to propose to his girlfriend Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst). Mary Jane has recently opened her career as a Broadway singer. He is about to receive the key to the city after rescuing Gwen Stacy (Bryce Dallas Howard), the daughter of a police captain (James Cromwell). Life could not be better.
That must change, of course, and this time the problem is threefold. First, Harry Osborn (James Franco) has decided to follow his father's footsteps and become the New Goblin. The second comes from an escaped convict named Flint Marko (Thomas Haden Church) who is zapped by antimatter whilst fleeing from police, turning him into the Sandman. The third is a sticky mass of black spindles from outer space (CGI) that adheres to one of his Spider suits.
The black "creature" is an alien symbiote that amplifies anger and aggression in its host. Parker soon changes into a cruel, self-centered jerk. He wounds Mary Jane's soul deeply and repeatedly until he is at imminent risk of alienating her permanently.
The most conspicuous problem with this film is the inclusion of too many antagonists. As difficult as it is to compress two villains into a movie, not to mention the Man vs. Self conflict that occupies much of the film, it grows more convoluted when Venom (Topher Grace) finally shows his face.
The Green Goblin and Dr. Octopus were complex, carefully-constructed characters and had a large share of the movie to themselves. It was not until midway through the films that they first fought with Spider-Man, and much time and effort had been invested into the characters by then. The three villains here are in constant conflict for more screen time and none of them are given a fair portrayal. Venom in particular is badly cheated. He is probably the most well known Spider-Man adversary after Doctor Octopus, but he is only minimally seen in the waning moments. Even then, the camera never focuses on his face long enough to let the audience drink in the impressive visual it is.
The film wastes no time with its first violent encounter, an aerial chase between Spider-Man and the New Goblin. It contains by far the movie's best action, but is hampered by problem number two; nobody dies once. We are teased and fooled too many times for the fabric of the film not to tear. Various characters are stabbed, drowned and blown up without fatal consequence. One character even hits his head with near decapitating force and falls to the unforgiving pavement yet survives. Perhaps they all received a gift from Wolverine.
Sandman is another mammoth blunder. He is completely invulnerable to damage and grows so big Godzilla would be proud. He is literally twenty stories tall at one point and missiles only cause giant sand splashes. Raimi also rips off The Mummy by granting him the ability to disintegrate into a sandstorm. The special effects are so spectacular the Academy can probably hand the movie the Oscar now, but Sandman was never meant to be Imhotep, and the problem is literally too huge to ignore.
The black Spider-Man segments go too far. We ended Spider-Man 2 elated that Mary Jane and Peter had finally discovered the true romance that had been growing for so long. Instead of a continuation of that element, the fledgling romance is systematically destroyed. The drama is undeniably good, but watching Mary Jane being shoved through the ringer over and over is extremely difficult to watch. The bridge scene is especially tough and had many in the opening night audience in tears, but this element is ill-timed and should have been put off for the fourth film.
Even the action is not right. Most of the time, the camera is zoomed in so closely and travels so quickly that we can hardly take in what is happening and the problem is exacerbated by a plethora of quick cuts. It is confusing.
Every such scene illustrates that Sam Raimi has changed his directing style. The Bond movies, for example, stand in contrast. Terence Young, Guy Hamilton, John Glen and Martin Campbell directed all of their films the same way. Only Lewis Gilbert changed, and the result was Moonraker and his ignominious end in the franchise.
Stalwart regulars as J. Jonah Jameson (J.K. Harris) and Aunt May (Rosemary Harris) are underused, which further distances the movie from its two predecessors. The second film ended with a hanging storyline involving Jameson that held great promise, but it is abandoned. There are strong themes of redemption and forgiveness, which along with the fine acting, particularly from Dunst and Church, help elevate the film, but its mistakes are too critical and numerous for it to rate any higher than a five out of ten.