The best of the three (where it counts)

Rating: 9/10 (5 May 2007)

I had read plenty of reviews before going to see Spiderman 3. Not that I actually consider any reviewer's opinion before deciding whether or not to go watch a flick, I was simply curious. Most reviews say the same thing in a nutshell: they tried to cram too much into the movie (3 villains?? insane!), the effects were great but the story was poor.
No arguments as far as the effects go. They truly are spectacular, particularly several scenes with the Sandman. They're not the most polished effects I've seen, but they've got remarkable ingenuity - it's a pleasure to watch them.
And now to what counts: The story. This is, without a doubt, the best movie in the trilogy when it comes to the story. It's powerful, smart, and retains all of the elements which made the previous films so amazing. As I've mentioned, some people seem to have serious issues with the three villains, and are understandably aggravated by the relatively short screen time Venom received. But unlike Spidey 1 and 2, the villains in this film are much stronger plot elements, rather than 'reasons to have a flashy action scene'. In the previous 2, the villains, while awesome, were replaceable. Perhaps the Goblin had a more important role considering the story arch that Harry goes through, but Doc. Oc had little to do with Peter Parker's character development. He was there as a catalyst for what Pete had to go through, but it could have easily been some other bad guy. It could have been Connors' Lizard (which is what I thought it'd be at first).
In this one, however, with the brilliant story they've written, the villains are integral to what happens to Peter and what he does. Which is why, in this film more than any other in the series, I would prefer to not even address them as 'villains'. They each have strong reasons for doing what they do, which are explained in the film, and they each have their shot at Pete. The exception would have to be Harry, who doesn't get much of a back-story to how he behaves. That is understandable, however, and means that one would have to watch the previous two films to fully comprehend what is going on between the two best-friends, Harry and Pete. And then we have Venom. I will obviously not say much about him, except that I believe he was brilliantly portrayed in the film and like everything else in it, his reason for being there is a direct result of the story and it feels right and not pushed in. And as for his screen time - I like to call that the 'Darth Maul' factor. I'll explain. I guess anyone reading this probably knows who Darth Maul is so I'll refrain from providing information about him and get right to the point. When Episode One came out there was the same kind of uproar about Darth Maul's part in the film, which was similarly small as Venom's. But what they failed to realize was that it's that same element that made him such an amazing villain. It added a level of mystery to what he was. The same goes for Venom. I don't believe Venom could pull off an entire movie as the main villain. Just because it works in the comics doesn't mean it would work on screen, and we have several unfortunate examples of this in other comic-book adaptations. Sam Raimi was brilliant in knowing Venom's part in the story and knowing to give him just enough time in the film to knock you off your seat and provide the elements the story required. It was brilliant.
The downside to all of this? The action. Let's face it, people cry and cry for more story in their blockbusters but what they really want is flashy action, and the downside to having this wonderful, fleshed-out story is that the action sequences in it are shorter. In Spidey 2 there were pretty much 3 serious action scenes in the entire movie, and they were long and brilliant. In this one there are more but they're over just when you get sucked into them. In that respect the previous film was better. But, like the title suggests, this movie is the best one where it counts. You might need to watch the movie twice before you can really appreciate the action (as I plan to do), but as far as everything else goes, it's just perfect and you will not want to miss seeing it on the big screen.