Definitely a Surprise Disappointment

Rating: 6/10 (4 May 2007)

Alright, I will admit that seeing it in IMAX at midnight was definitely worth the $16 I paid for it because the CGI and fight scenes were just amazing. So I guess this movie is worth seeing once on the big screen. But I am not going to buy it.
Why? Because Spider-Man 2 was an amazing film and although it had those random cheesy scenes of slow-motion and stuff, it still was amazing and had wonderful plot and Alfred Molina really brought some depth to his character. But in the end, Spider-Man 3 lacks those qualities. It lacks strong plot that really brings this movie together cohesively. Instead, the film is really just a mess of stuff happening. It was overkill in every region of the film: too many characters, too many villains, too many dramatic shifts, too many unexplained scenes that didn't fit into what was going on, and by far, too much weird creepy stuff.
What I mean is that Tobey Maguire's character is supposed to be influenced by the symbiote like it influences Brock to become Venom, but in the end, Tobey Maguire can't play evil or bad so much as just creepy. And although the film really seemed to be going for realistic unlike the first two (less campy comic stuff and more dramatic feeling), it still ended up with the one sequence in the middle of the film which was just UNNECESSARY!!!! You will know what it is when you see it.
Furthermore, as far as the acting goes, Tobey Maguire didn't do much for me. He seemed to finally show the fact that he really just wasn't right for the role in the end. Surely he fills the costume out right, but when he's walking around as Peter Parker, he really doesn't fit the role. In this film, James Franco is truly the scene-stealer and best actor of the film! They finally gave him screen time as he is in it quite a bit. I loved him and he definitely made the movie worthwhile in the end. Kirsten Dunst also surprised by playing MJ as a much more mature MJ and less like a damsel in distress all the time. She really did a good job. And she sings, and she actually sings well!!! It was a shock, I thought it was someone else but you can tell that it's her voice! It's a total shock! And also, Thomas Haden Church as Sandman was a very good choice, but unfortunately he just totally was not given enough screen time. Again, too many villains to focus on so Sandman and Eddie Brock as Venom become little more than appearances for the ending battle. Venom was done well and Topher Grace really did a good job, but again, lack of screen time. Also, Bryce Dallas Howard appears for about ten minutes and does a decent job with what little she was given. Unfortunately, although I think she's going to be an amazing actress in the future, her role in this film made me angry because all it did was make Spider-Man/Peter Parker very unlikable.
All in all, this film lacks direction and story and is just a webbing of random connected scenes and events and ideas that were thrown together. Extreme deviation from the comics is present in this film and I think the deviation is definitely bad because it makes the film too predictable and too sentimental and gooey. Oh, and this is perhaps the most pro-United States propaganda film I have seen in recent years! Beware the scene when Spider-Man is seen in front of a giant American flag: you will laugh your butt off it is so obnoxious.