It's fast, fun, and full of action but that's about it....

Rating: 6/10 (4 May 2007)

At 2 hours and 20 minutes Spider-Man 3 is a bit long but even at this length, there isn't enough time to fully realize all the stories. The film is a bit bloated and it feels like 3 different films lumped into one. Some of the story elements work well while others fall absolutely flat. The one glaring mistake is how the character of Eddie Brock/Venom is handled. This is a villain worthy of his own film. For fans of the comic book, Venom is probably one of the greatest Spidey villains in the comic book's history. His popularity resulted in his own comic book and when the films began to come out, many fans longed for the addition of Venom. I'm going to assume most hardcore fans, and perhaps the casual moviegoer are going to be disappointed with how the character is represented. The main issue is a lack of screen time. Eddie Brock isn't given any time to form into a real character so when he is transformed, you feel very little sympathy. When he finally becomes Venom, he is rendered with wonderful special effects, but he isn't given enough to do. I won't even speak of his demise which is anti-climatic at best. This is a major misfire and the fact that such a major villain was lumped into a film that was already overloaded, is a shame.
The best story involves the one that has been establishing since the first film. The conflict between Peter/Harry/Mary Jane is actually handled very well and I think it works more than the other stories because we're actually connected to all of the primary players involved. They've spent three films developing the characters and we've grown to care about each of them. The biggest success of the first two films is how it handles the human stories of love and lost. This is a classic example of why the comic book and films have been so well received. They touch on something very real in all of us and even though its presented against a very unrealistic backdrop, the emotions are still very much real. James Franco is especially effective in this film and I believe he's mostly the reason why this aspect of the story works so well. His character goes through the best arc and he manages to make Harry conflicted and very interesting. Adding the personality altering aspect of Spider-Man's new "black personna" offers some great parallels between the two characters. Peter's thirst for revenge against Flint Marko mirrors Harry's thirst for revenge against Peter/Spider-Man. The change in personality also offers some interesting darker elements to the story. The scene in the jazz club with Peter, Mary Jane, and Gwen Stacey is equal parts funny and disturbing as it escalates to violence. This element of the story isn't given enough time to shine but when it does, the movie becomes much more interesting.
The action is very good, even though this another case of quick edits substituting for "true action". The first action sequence with Harry and Peter is effective and well handled and all the CGI scenes with Sandman are a wonder to behold. Sam Raimi is definitely utilizing every penny of the budget and you can tell it was money well spent. The action only takes a wrong turn during the final battle because everything sort of ends on a rather anti-climatic note. All the action sequences that come before it are more compelling.
The acting is top notch, even though the cheesiness of the script sometimes threatens a few effective performances. Tobey Maguire is at home in this role and he's quite good here. I didn't realize this until now but this guy can cry with the best of them. The break-up scene between he and Mary Jane on the bridge is heartbreaking mainly because his emotion feels so genuine and intense. He also handles the transition into more aggressive material quite well. At first I thought he wouldn't be able to play mean, but he does it very well. Kirsten Dunst is effective as well but the script cheats her the most. The script makes her character rather unlikable and it's a testament of Dunst's talent that she can make you feel sorry for her despite the way the character is written. She also handles her emotional scenes quite well and she has a very good chemistry with Maguire. Franco and Church were already mentioned for their good turns and newer additions like Topher Grace and Bryce Dallas Howard are good, but vastly underused. This is especially a shame for Grace because he's really good in his scenes but the movie doesn't develop him enough at all, even though he's being set up to be a big villain. Noward is suitably likable and sexy as Gwen Stacey and she offers a cute performance but in the end, she isn't given enough to do. I will say that whenever she was on screen I wished Peter would drop Mary Jane and focus on her.
I really think that people are going to come out of this film feeling the same way they did when they saw X3. That film was a fun popcorn movie but lacked the emotional depth of the first two films. It was also rather bloated and tried to add too much within the story. Spider-Man 3 is a decent way to start off the Summer movie season and it's still a worth companion piece to the other films but I do hope that the other major blockbusters to be released this summer just give us a little bit more than this film did.