Spider-Man's Not A Woosie!

Rating: 5/10 (8 November 2007)

Sam Raimi's SPIDER-MAN films are something of legend amongst the comic-book-to-film fans. The first two were excellent and helped, perhaps, pull more people toward the comic book world. Number 2, in particular, was astonishingly good in that we got to see how much Spidey had to give up in order to be the man he had to be. And with the mondo-budget given to this third film (something like $250 million, I believe, which was only recently eclipsed by the $300 million PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: AT WORLD'S END), one would suspect that it would hold onto its previous successes by following a somewhat similar format.
But no...
Although loaded with action and some top-notch special effects, the film is overloaded with too many characters and some unwontedly bad scenes that were in need of excision.
This time Spider-Man (Tobey Maguire, THE GOOD German) is up against not one, not two, not three, but four evil forces. Although this sounds enticing, there's no way (NO WAY!) anything approaching cohesion could happen for this 139 minute film: an evil, outerspace symbiote that attaches itself to Spidey's suit; Green Goblin Jr./Harry Osborn, played by the returning James Franco (TRISTAN & ISOLDE); Sandman/Flint Marko played by Thomas Haden Church (CHARLOTTE'S WEB); and, eventually, Venom/Eddie Brock, played by Topher Grace.
I'm not sure what Mr. Raimi was thinking, but more is not necessarily "more," if you catch my meaning. Audiences don't need impossible odds to enjoy a hero's journey into darkness and back; we just need a good story that holds together.
Oh, and we definitely don't need a woosie Spider-Man crying in every other scene. The guy's a superhero, make him act like one for crying out loud! It's still nice to see the beautiful Kirsten Dunst (ELIZABETHTOWN) in her role as Mary Jane the love interest. She can act well and she's believable in every scene, it just that she gets lost amongst the overly crowded cast, too, just like the Sandman and Venom do.
Too many questions about what's happening plague the middle of the film but are wrapped up in slipshod fashion at the very rushed ending.
It isn't all bad, though. The scenes with Spider-Man and Sandman together are shot well, with the special effects taking center-stage more than the story or the actors themselves. The death of a pivotal character is handled well but, again, the tears are overdone and make Spidey look wimpish.
Perhaps the next Spider-Man film will help put this one behind us as "the bad one." We can all hope that Mr. Raimi gets back to doing character shots that help strengthen our superhero rather than making him appear like a crybaby.