Spider-Man 3

Rating: 3/10 (9 May 2007)

Spider-Man 3 was supposed to cap off the greatest comic book movie franchise in history. It was supposed to raise the bar for movies of this genre. It was supposed to give us characters that we could cheer for, villains we could root against, and relationships that culminate in trademark upside-down kisses. Unfortunately, Spider-Man 3 gives us none of these things. Peter Parker/Spider-Man, arguably the greatest and most intriguing superhero of the comic book world, is given the hack treatment by Sam Raimi and his collaborators. Instead of a fully realized portrait of a Superhero who deals not only with supervillains, but with relationship issues, family crises, and the unique moral nature of his position, we are given a contrived story in the same vein as the new installments of the Star Wars franchise. Bottom line: there's nothing there. In the first two Spider-Man films, Raimi created a world where the characters were likable, if not always well-portrayed, and at least attempted to create a story with some semblance of originality. With this latest film, he has substituted that originality with some of the most painful and awkward contrivances I've ever seen on film. Expository butlers, convenient cases of amnesia, and a ludicrous villainous alliance only scratch the surface of a badly flawed, poorly written, woefully underdeveloped film. The only character I ended up rooting for was Gwen Stacy. At least she brought a sense of excitement to the scenes she was in, something that can't be said for Mary Jane. And while many have said the film was saved by its "amazing" special effects, I can't help but disagree. While many of them were spectacular, in particular the origin sequence of Sandman, overall they seemed lackluster. There is a lot to be said about this film, mostly negative, but I'm running out of space. Sam Raimi, meet George Lucas, the other notorious destroyer of classic franchises. It's time you two got acquainted.