So....where's Venom?

Rating: 6/10 (10 May 2007)

If you've caught any of the pre-release hype for the third Spiderman movie (and if you haven't, welcome friend to Earth, this little grey box before you is called a Talk-A-Matron and my name is HAL. I'm in charge round here), chances are you've been convinced that it's the dark chapter in the saga. You know, the grim and brooding one with the web-slinger sat on Gargoyles at the top of Cathedrals in the rain. The one which will send the kids home with nightmares, terrified that Venom is hiding in the attic and so forth. Well, Sam Raimi and co lied to you I'm afraid. That's right, they lied! Because this movie is so light and breezy as to make Scooby-Doo look like The Exorcist and the emphasis is on extended action sequences rather than subtle and layered character development.
As such, Peter Parker's much talked about descent amounts to him getting a bit more arrogant than usual, dressing in black, adding a touch of mascara to his face and doing up his hair in a trendy new Indie rock do. If only he'd started listening to The Jesus And Mary Chain in his spare time then maybe Aunt May would have found something more to worry about.
Luckily, when Raimi and co are dishing out the action sequences things step up a gear into pure popcorn munching fun. In many ways, it all plays like a video game: Level One, high speed chase with the new Goblin; Level Two, security van smackdown with the Sandman; Level Three, guide Spidey through angst-ridden interpretive dance in a jazz club...It's all very silly and won't be winning anything at Cannes by any stretch of the imagination, but then you don't exactly go to watch comic book movies for bold, innovative film making do you? With Tobey Maguire going through a difficult phase, it falls to the rest of the cast to spice things up, with this year's "Sympathetic Villain In A Spiderman Movie" award going to Thomas Haden Church's Flint Marco, aka The Sandman. Raimi clearly has a lot of love for the character as reports of the special effects team studying sand for two years will testify and this is channelled into a moving portrayal of wounded masculinity by the best actor in the film. Given that he's labelled as the real killer of Parker's Uncle Ben, the fact that he's able to wring such pathos from those sad, sad eyes is all the more impressive.
If you've seen either of the preceding chapters you'll know what to expect from cast regulars Kirsten Dunst and James Franco, as well as the traditional scene stealing from J. K. Simmons as Parker's boss, so with fanboy speculation driven to breaking point by months of teaser trailers, the bulk of expectation falls on Topher Grace as Eddie Brock, more commonly known as Venom. And aside from the fact that he's not quite imposing enough, Grace does a terrific job. From his first moments on screen, he is delightfully sleazy and just the sort of man who society doesn't want to get hold of super powers. After all, for Parker, great power brings great responsibility whereas for Brock it brings great opportunities for ass-kicking.
Sadly though, despite that long waiting period and plenty of build up, Venom doesn't exactly get a lot of screen time. In fact he's barely shown up before the climactic brawl for all that pitches our hero into a match with all three of his foes at once. It's terrific to see Venom on screen naturally but you can't help wishing he were there longer and it winds up feeling an awful lot like a Wrestling Pay Per View which features the long awaited return of the Rock, only for him to fall off the entrance ramp and get rushed to hospital after four hours of matches between less-interesting grapplers.
Parents needn't be afraid though, the nippers are going to absolutely love this. It's not half as bleak as you might imagine, has wall to wall action and best of all, will keep them entertained for a full two and a half hours. For those of us who are a bit older than the kids and a bit younger than their parents however, it does disappoint somewhat after the near-perfect Spiderman 2, even if it does boast a trio of cameos which are all memorable for different reasons, namely Bruce Campbell (awesome!), Willem Dafoe (sinister) and Stan Lee (really, really stupid). On the slim chance that any of the producers are reading this however, I'd recommend editing out the 'swing in front of the American flag' bit for the overseas market when the DVD comes out.