Spider-Man Vs Venom

Rating: 10/10 (4 December 2007)

This time Raimi goes Gothic, incorporating the Spider-Man~Venom battle in the bell tower as seen in the Amazing Spider-Man comics ~ Spider-Man first took the venom costume in Secret Wars # 8 (1984), when his own red-and-blue costume was damaged. He discovered the symbiote costume in a facility in the world where a whole host of Marvel heroes and villains had been sent by the Beyonder to battle.
In Raimi's film, the costume finds its way into Parker's bedroom, the alien substance attaching itself to Parker (Tobey Maguire), lending him a new costume which in turn lends him a far greater  albeit more dangerous  power. The costume also changes his characteristics, making him more confident, arrogant and at times  aggressive. It is at the bell tower scene where he loses the costume to reporter Eddie Brock (Topher Grace). Parker realizes the costume is vulnerable to high pitched sounds. Brock has been humiliated by Parker, while Parker is under the influence of the black costume, and follows him to the church. Brock becomes venom, one of Spider-Man's most deadly foes.
The second villain to appear in Spider-Man is the Sandman (Thomas Haden Church), a criminal who is caught in an experiment gone wrong; his physical state is that of a malleable sand-like substance that can be shaped according to the Sandman's will.
The third is the return of the Green Goblin, the character this time taken by Harry Osborne (James Franco) after his father (Willem Dafoe) died in the first movie.
Villains aside, the other storyline is the ongoing troubles between Peter and Mary Jane (Kirsten Dunst), their relationship still on the slide here, and not eased by Parker's new-found powers born out of the symbiote~alien costume. Even the villains claim some small shred of empathy in Spider-Man 3, their own personal lives being as troubled as Parker's, or else their lives affected by the symbiote~webslinger.
As a bonus there is the Gwen Stacy~Captain Stacy (James Cromwell) storyline, Gwen being the girl who attempts to steal Spider-Man's affections from MJ ~ Too many villains, some say? I thought this was almost as good as the first movie (the origin). The scene from the bell tower  taken frame-by-frame from the original comic  was as well-made as the 'Spider-Man No More' sequence in 'Spider-Man 2'.
Action-packed yet dark and Gothic in places, Spider-Man 3 is another triumph for Sam 'Evil Dead' Raimi.
Also stars Bill Nunn (Robbie Robertson), J K Simmons (an amazing transformation as J Jonah Jameson), Bruce Campbell (Maître d'), Teddy Raimi, Emma Raimi, Lorne Raimi and Henry Raimi.
Matthew J Lee-Williams, Review.