Too many crooks spoil the broth

Rating: 5/10 (8 May 2007)

This was very, very disappointing. I am a Marvel zombie and unashamed nerd, so whilst in some ways I am the hardest to please when it comes to comic book adaptations, at the same time I am always eager to enjoy, and am also enough of a cinephile to accept that changes need to be made when adapting material for a different medium. What I am trying to say is that I was disappointed in a balanced way, and I'm not about to start whining about Sandman shooting Ben Parker.
OK, so, what was wrong? Things that could have been shown quickly were endlessly belaboured (did Kirsten Dunst get contractual screen-time?), things that deserved screen-time were rushed over (Topher Grace and Bryce Howard should get Dunst's agent!) and things that were utterly pointless (Sandman) were shoved into an already unwieldy plot. Whilst no one person was always guilty, much of the acting was very hammy, and the whole film was uneven. The biggest disappointment was that the dark Spidey storyline was interesting and the love triangle had potential, but it was all too much stuffed into too little.
However, yes, Bruce Campbell's performance was amazing!