I'm going to be blunt. This movie was terrible.

Rating: 3/10 (9 May 2007)

I want to be perfectly clear here: I didn't read a single review before seeing this movie, and I walked into the theater wanting it to be great. As a comic book fan, (I had subscriptions to "Web of Spider-man" and "The Spectacular Spider-man" for 6 years, and I used to wait for them to arrive in the mail so I could read them cover to cover) of course I wanted this to be an enjoyable movie! The first two installments, especially Spider-man 2 (I know, I know, some of you are tired of hearing this) were excellent and after seeing the trailers, and finding out that this movie was loosely based on one of my favorite story lines...I was dying to see this movie.
I just want to say that in the half hour that I've now spent reading other's opinions on this board, I've noticed a few users seem to be taking any praise or criticism of this film as a personal attack. I respect the opinion of all whose differ from mine and I am not trying to disrespect anyone with this post. Anyways on with the review REVIEW I'm going to be blunt. This movie was terrible. Believe me it hurts me to admit this more than it probably hurts many of you. What started off with what seemed like a good deal of potential, this film lost its steam, somewhere around an hour in (I'm being generous) and ended in an absurd mess of unbelievable plot twists. Being a fan of the comic book character Spider-man, the first two movies and of Sam Riami, the first question I asked myself was; "Was it really that Bad?" The answer, tragically, is yes. The few memorable scenes (the crane out of control, the first fight scene between Spidey and Green Goblin) are eclipsed by the scenes I wish I could have permanently removed from my memory.
Looking back, one of my complaints about the first Spider-man was that some of the scenes felt like they were unfocused or purposeless. Spider-man 2 felt like the direct result of that criticism. The film seemed very tightly cut and the scenes felt like logical progressions in the storyline. But, if Spider-man 2 was a step in the right direction, Spider-man 3 was an equal step in the opposite direction.
There were some truly disastrous scenes in this film. I've seen the other threads so I will simply address the one that really bothered me. The scene where the butler confesses to Harry, at the last minute, that Spider-man didn't kill his fatherdirectly. As bad as things were up until this point, I was still holding out hope, but this scene really sobered me up to just how bad this movie was. Had I not seen it for myself I really wouldn't have believed such a painfully blatant plot hole patch up had been written into the script, much less actually been filmed and released.
And this film sells itself out in more ways than one. The first two films involved realistic characters with emotions you relate to and understand. In this film there is an absence of any believable feelings or emotions and it seems a more physical, visible emotion tries to fill the gap. But it doesn't succeed and it only makes the film feel more hollow. I know some of you will suggest that I'm looking for something that doesn't exist in a "comic book movie" or a movie that "doesn't take itself that seriously", but you're wrong. Being serious and being believable are two different things.
In closing, I had every reason in the world to like this film, and even in my doubts that it would live up to the last entry, I couldn't have imagined a failure of this magnitude. To those of you who liked it: You're completely entitled to your opinion. More power to you. But I'm a movie fan with standards, and this doesn't measure up.