Looks good but nothing like the first two.

Rating: 4/10 (26 September 2007)

I enjoyed the first one. The second one was probably the best film based on a comic book character ever made. This one: I think the word is over the top. Don't get me wrong it's a fun night out but half way through the film new threads of the plot line were opening up and I was wondering how long it would take to tie up all the loose ends. I remember feeling that way three ours into Return of the King but that was after some 11 hours of film and character and story development. And to be honest Spidey is not worth the complexity.
If it wasn't because by the end of Spider-Man 2 I had come to admire this franchise so much, my rating would not be so negative. This time though I felt that the writers were too worried they would not manage to sign up the main actors to make three more films so they squeezed three major plot lines into one film. This is Spider 3-4-5 and none of them are very good.
They look fantastic though.
And no one screams like Kirsten Dunst. Even if Peter Parker's eyes may wander sometimes, his ears are hooked for good.
There was a high-brow filmic tribute in the film. The crucial turning of the story when Peter Parker realises he needs to tear himself away from the alien symbion stuck to him that is bringing out his dark side, makes him a great jazz/tango dancer and hit his girlfriend across her pretty face. He's helped by coincidence. It is fortunate that he happens to be on top of a church tower when he literally stumbles on the knowledge that the resonance of the ringing bell annoys the symbion stuck to him. The view down from the tower (and the view up from the bottom as seen by one of Spidey's many nemeses) is not too vaguely reminiscent of the church tower in Hitchcock's Hispanic church tower in Vertigo. Looks good too.
The real tribute in the film is given in the other cameo appearance: the one by Stan Lee, the creator of this most real of comic book super heroes.
Well Sam Raimi seems to have been overwhelmed by the oft repeated line: 'with great power comes great responsibility'. The end of Spider-Man 2 gave Raimi the responsibility of delivering yet again the 'best comic book movie ever made' and sadly the aim was so high overshooting was almost inevitable.