The worst of the three movies, Spider-man 3 fails in almost every way

Rating: 6/10 (5 May 2007)

Spider-Man was released in 2002 to much fan fare and excitement. One of the biggest movies of that year, it couldn't help but create a sequel which was just as popular if not more so. Spider-Man became the latest of a series of movie sequels where ticket sales were driven up by excitement over every planned sequel. Spider-Man 3, rumored to be the last in the series, will most likely make as much, if not more, then the last movie because of die hard movie fans who enjoy seeing the same hero in a new movie.
However, the problem that movie series face is that eventually the series will run out of creativity and direction. Spider-Man 3 is the latest series to end not so much with a bang but with a whimper. Directors and writers can only carry an idea so far before any series becomes dry. Villains, CGI effects, and special effects overall do not entertain if there is no solid story or plot. Spider-Man 3 shows what happens when too much is placed on eye candy and nothing else substantial.
Spider-Man 3 opens up with the exact opposite of Spider-Man 2. Peter Parker (Toby Maguire) is enjoying the fame that Spider-Man now enjoys from New York as well as high grades at university. Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst), however, is finding her acting dreams tarnished after being removed from play. Her jealousy over Peter's fame as Spider-Man only makes it worse as Peter begins to let such fame go to his head.
Harry Osborn (James Franco) plans his revenge against Peter and eventually confronts him as the New Goblin in a blurry CGI battle that ends with Harry losing his short-term memory and his hatred for Peter. Peter himself takes advantage of this and even though he saves Harry's life he has no plans on reminding him of the past hatred Harry had for him. It almost seems, for a moment, as if his old friend from high school has suddenly returned.
In the background is the rise of Sandman, aka Flint Marko (Thomas Haden Church), a petty criminal who finds himself altered after a particle experiment. Driven to find money that would cure his daughter, Flint is later discovered to be the man responsible for the death of Uncle Ben (Cliff Robertson) and thus drives Peter on a mission of to avenge his uncle's death. Discovering that Flint now has powers of his own makes that mission even more difficult.
As if there wasn't enough conflict already, the arrival of a strange meteor releases an alien life form that later adheres to Peter during sleep one night. Peter finds both his powers, and personality, changed by the life form as he goes from a mild manner individual and hero to one who is more emotionally driven and aggressive in almost every way. Peter's later rejection of the alien leads to it's takeover of Eddie Brock (Toper Grace) who was once a rival at the Daily Bugle until Peter exposes a series of false pictures that ends his short lived journalist career. Using the hatred he has for Peter, the alien transforms Eddie until Venom who as we all know is perhaps the most famous of all Spider-Man villains and one who many wished to see in this movie.
The problem that Spider-Man 3 faces is trying to get all of these sub-plots to end in a quick and nice way. Often it feels rushed and lacks the tension and drama that the last Spider-Man movies had. Peter bounces from one conflict to the next but there is no real satisfactory ending to them. Sandman gives the sob story about his sick daughter before Peter forgives him for his uncle's death, Harry dies after a melodramatic scene that was almost amusing in it's absurdity, and Venom is only in the last half hour in the movie before his death which makes me ask why he was even included. These characters have so much depth built into them that the let down is in the end where we have no real answer to the conflicts they create. Oh, Peter and Mary Jane's relationship appears to heal at the end of the movie though we have no real way of knowing if this is true.
Spider-Man 3 tries too much at once and suffers because of it. The humor of Peter dancing and trying to hit on women only adds to an air of desperation/bad writing and directing. Too much time is wasted on so many sub-plots that no real stand out plot on it's own is created. Again, resting on villains and CGI is not an excuse to ignore stable plot creation. Unfortunately, Spider-Man 3 learns this lesson too late.
6/10