Followed the down hill path of Batman

Rating: 6/10 (3 May 2007)

This is a strange extension of the Spider-Man series. There were a few arcs created in the previous two Spider-Man movies that were left open. This movie attempts to close them. But for most of the movie I couldn't help but think I was watching the Joel Schumacher vision of a comic book movie. More bad guys doesn't mean more excitement. Crying doesn't mean drama. Reporters telling us how this is the end for Spider-Man doesn't mean the audience feels a sense of dread. Basically what I am saying is that the movie didn't have enough time to connect the audience to the characters. Which may seem like a throw away comment, as by now, after 2 movies, you'd think we'd know them already. However in this installment, the characters of Peter Parker, Harry Osborne and Mary Jane Watson seem to have changed in to different people. Each becoming the extreme of their previous versions. MJ just cries and whines in nearly every scene she is in, which makes you feel pity for her. She was always the damsel in distress, but to watch her go from "Miss Popular in High School" to this version of her, is a major fall from grace. Hard to get to like her. Harry is so confused he doesn't know what face to pull on, so he ends up resembling Two-Face from Batman! Peter Parker does his best Superman 3 impersonation, as well as turning a little Gothic. But again, you never really feel anything towards him. In the previous 2 Spider-Man movies, we felt what he felt. In this movie, we didn't have enough time to get to know Peter Parker. We didn't really get to know any of the characters. We simply got to meet them. Say a quick hello to them, and then see them every now and then crossing the road to wave them an acknowledgment. I counted 4 bad guys in this film, if you count Spider-Man as one, when he turns to the dark side. But why were they all dark. Well, we sort of understand why. But do we care? In the last 2 installments, we certainly do. We know what the Green Goblin was all about. We felt his rage. We also understood the backdrop to Doc Ock. This time around, we start to get there with Sandman, but not quite, because he was fighting for more screen time with Venom, Green Goblin 2 and Black Spider-Man to contend with.
Great action sequences, but the lack of plot development. The confusion of characters, the not so subtle changes of pace in the film, all help to make this Spider-Man, bigger, more explosive, more action packed, but no real point.
Hopefully, this is the last installment of Spider-Man, and they do what Batman did. Wait a while till people forget this one, and start again with a different person at the helm, with a different view of the Spider-man. Because I'd hate to see what Raimi does with Spider-Man 4!!! We'd need Schwarzenegger to come back as Mr Freeze! People seem to get carried away with these comic book movies. They always seem to think its all about violence. They forget that you need a good reason for the violence to happen (it's called a plot) for the audience to get hooked. We need to understand the point of view of the bad guy, but also understand that he is in the wrong, so that we side with the good guy when we watch.
Spider-Man Begins...