A Tale of Two Spideys: Review of Spider-Man 3

Rating: 6/10 (4 May 2007)

Life is perfect for Peter Parker. He has the woman of his dreams (who is making her debut on Broadway by the way); his freelance photographer job has him getting paid with some consistency, and there are even rumblings that a staff position could be open soon; and on top of all that, when he wears his pajamas in public, everyone adores him. Spider-Man 3 starts out all rainbows and lollipops for Peter and his friendly neighborhood alter-ego, but anyone who is a long time fan of Spider-Man knows the good times never last. Complicating Peter's moving-towards-perfect life are a former best friend who wants him dead, a grease ball of a photographer gunning for his job, and a little alien glob looking for a good time. Unfortunately for director Sam Raimi and co-writers Ivan Raimi and Alan Sargent, the problems with the script far out weigh any troubles Spidey is about to encounter.
Spider-Man 3 suffers from the same problem that many comic book sequels do  trying so hard to out-do your predecessors that you feel the need to add more villains, rather than focusing on the story-telling that made the original so good. In this movie we get Sandman, Venom, New Goblin (VERY creative) as well as Dark Spidey himself. The charm of the original story was that we got to know our hero and villain as people before we saw them with powers. With this many new characters, that evolution is lost, necessitating quick set-ups that turn the aggressors into cardboard cut outs and stereotypes. On top of that, while trying to force the action and origins of the villains, we get contrived set ups that bend our imagination to the limits. I'm all for "Suspension of Disbelief" when seeing a movie, but don't try to get me to suspend my intelligence and just accept what you're offering no questions asked. And therein lies the biggest flaw of Spider-Man 3.
The storytellers expect you to take enormous leaps of faith with the story, asking you to blindly accept some major coincidences and convenient timing to keep the story moving forward. In example (and don't worry  no spoilers here), we're expected to believe that the experiment that eventually turns Flint Marko into Sandman is happening at a very insecure location close to New York, that it is not being visually monitored, and even when a scientist notices an abnormality before the experiment begins his report is ignored. The movie is riddled with inconsistencies like that, which makes the experience less enjoyable.
What IS enjoyable about Spider-Man 3 are select performances, and the humor Sam Raimi weaves throughout the picture to break the tension. Tobey Maguire is allowed to have a lot more fun as Peter Parker, first allowing the city's love of his alter ego to go to his head. Then when that alien glob connects itself to Peter and starts playing upon some of his less admirable traits, Maguire shines. He's lovably out of place as a nerd with an attitude, then eerily overconfident when showing off to anyone who will pay attention. And it's even better when Spider-Man loses the conscience of Peter Parker.
Topher Grace is a perfect anti-Parker as Eddie Brock. Cocky, uncaring for anyone but himself, and willing to do whatever he can to move his vision of a perfect life forward. You hate this guy almost from the get-go, and that's a good thing. Thomas Hayden Church's turn as Sandman doesn't give him much material to work, and every time they try to get a tear out of us for this unfortunate man, it leaves you rolling your eyes instead. For the lighter moments, J.K. Simmons reprising his role as Daily Bugle editor J. Jonah Jameson is a godsend. He embodies everything Spider-Man fans over the years have loved to hate about J-J-J over the years. And a nice turn by Raimi favorite Bruce Campbell in a small role as the maitre d' at a snooty French restaurant is priceless.
The other thing to love about the movie is the special effects. Marko's transformation into Sandman is really eye popping. The CGI for that character is extremely consistent and very appealing throughout the film. Raimi's direction through the action sequences is good, but it would be nice to start things off a little slow and build up to the quick cutting flights through the cityscape, rather than hitting us with that right out of the box. The first views of Venom left me wanting more, but the real problem is that there was no emotion in the villain's face, so anytime they wanted the creature to have a real conversation, they were forced peel back the costume and let Topher do the talking.
There are a lot of holes in this film with which I had problems. Like where did the Spidey Sense disappear? If Harry's lone obsession is destroying Parker, then why is he going to a play? How does Brock know about Marko's power? And the biggest problem I have with just about every comic book movie  if these characters went 30, 40, even 50 years in print without anyone knowing their secret identities, why are there multiple people in every film that figure it out? But despite all those holes and inconsistencies, I have to say I enjoyed this movie. If you can grind your way through the long lapses in action, you will really enjoy it when you arrive. And for comic fans that have emotional attachments to these characters, some of the moments will have you cheering, and even squirming. Spider-Man 3 pales in comparison to its predecessors, but I still recommend you see it, rating it a 6.5 out of 10