Well, there's one in every franchise....

Rating: 7/10 (6 May 2007)

SPIDER-MAN 3 spars no major expense in flexing muscle: bigger villains, more action, longer storyline. Let it be said that it rarely fails in the areas where'd you want the best - this film features the best fight scenes out of the three film in the Spidey franchise. What we're left with in between is a somewhat smooth, somewhat disjointed mismash.
We finally reach the heart of darkness in the Peter Parker saga: as New York embraces the web-slinger to the same degree of the Yankees and ridiculous living expenses, Parker buys the hype and allows a vulnerable Mary Jane Watson to slip through his fingers and into the arms of the misguided Harry Osborn, reborn at New Goblin and bent on revenge towards Spider-Man/Peter. As the hubris begins to pile-up, Peter is greeted by an alien symbiont that gives him a new black suit, better strength, and a big anger management issue. Add to the mix Eddie Brock, an opportunistic leech photojournalist turned Venom; The Sandman re- imagined as Uncle Ben's killer; and Gwen Stacy, Stan Lee's personification of tragic love, also re-imagined as one part smoking model and another part romantic foil, and you have a veritable comic geek smörgåsbord... and a filmmaker's headache.
Does 3 deliver when it needs to? Yes. Is it fun? Yes. Is too self-serious? Unfortunately, yes. Sam Raimi has made it no secret that he prefers Golden Age Spider-Man to the darker elements that developed as the comic's material matured in the 70s, 80s, and 90s. There are parts in this film where he tries too hard to grapple material that he's obviously uncomfortable with, and other parts where he seemed to give up. To his credit, when the film soars, it is still endeared with the warmth and everyman appeal that made SPIDER-MAN and SPIDER-MAN 2 big hits. But you can also tell he feels a bit in over his head. Instead of letting us get lost in the film's dark theatrics, he seems reserved and would rather only let us dip our toes in - trying to assure us that everything will be okay in the end. The story's third act especially has a few awkward transitions (Aunt May's deus ex machina appearance at Peter's apartment, anyone?) and there're parts of the screenplay where I found myself saying "THAT'S the best they can do?" By the end, there's a feeling of being bludgeoned with sentimentality where the two previous films would've just trusted to subtlety.
But it would be unfair to say that this is all Raimi's fault - the film is still enjoyable. Bruce Campbell, Raimi's patron saint of all things tongue-in-cheek, is hilarious in his cameo, the developing tension between Peter and Eddie is seething, and the eventual explosion of Peter and Harry's friendship is tragic, pounding, and really what the story's all about: giving into a dark side for personal gain. What is off-putting is watching Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst hit the wall. Maguire has made a career out of low-key character portrayals that carry a lot of emotional baggage... so why, at the first sign of big trouble, does he reduce Peter to a blubbering wimp on a foot bridge in Central Park? There are many moments, like this one, where you know Maguire can do better. Plus, watching him dance in the film (yes, DANCE) must've gotten Bob Fosse's corpse spinning a couple of revolutions six feet under. Dunst, who's already made MJ into a strong-willed survivalist, seems content to confine her character to a two-dimensional archetype instead of letting us see what's really bothering her: a world without Peter Parker means a world without anyone to save her from herself.
The ante up of three villains versus one is clear: they present character parallels for Peter, but the script seems so one-sided towards a character study rather than a superhero movie, that we're left feeling a little robbed and unconcerned for Venom and Sandman- which is a shame because Topher Grace is a casting director's dream as Brock/Venom. Thomas Haden Church's Sandman seems to only show-up when he needs to. His own story takes minor note and as we get to the end, you hope he can at least go out on a high note - a consolation prize for being a decent plot device. The addition of Gwen Stacy (Bryce Dallas Howard doing her best to find footing somewhere) is also troublesome: she's a straight-A physics major with the hots for Peter, who also freelance models while her dad is Chief of the NYPD... wasn't MJ the glam girlfriend and Gwen was the down-to-earth girl next door? Where the script wants her to compete for Peter's affections, she's left to be swept off her feet and then quickly removed to refocus on the Peter-MJ issue.
All in all, SPIDER-MAN 3 isn't terrible. By the film's end, you are left to wonder where Peter, MJ, and Harry will go to now that all hell has broken loose. The issue really remains with a production team that has maybe run it's course. Though you'd like a little more out of 3, I think it's safe to say Spidey isn't done for yet.