What happened?! How did the franchise fall so far?!

Rating: 6/10 (21 September 2008)

The first Spider-Man film was great fun and ground-breaking in the world of superhero films for Marvel. The second film is still one of my favorite comic book adaptations. So, how do we go from two awesome films to this?! I was beyond disappointed by the third film in the Spider-Man franchise, and I realize I'm not the only one. In this installment, life is finally going well for Peter Parker...Spider-Man is a celebrity in New York City, he's doing well in school, and he's ready to propose to Mary Jane Watson. Everything begins to fall apart when Harry (who is now aware of Peter's alter ego) becomes the "New Goblin" to destroy Spider-Man, Mary Jane's career begins a downward spiral, and the police admit to Peter that the man who really killed his uncle has escaped from prison. And all of this is just the tip of the iceberg. I realize that sounds like a lot to fit into a single film, and it IS.
One of the most admirable aspects of Raimi's Spider-Man films is his ability to balance story with action. A lot of superhero films tend to lean towards one over the other but Raimi had managed to find the perfect balance between the two. Somewhere between the second and third film, he lost the ability. The movie feels as if it's all exposition, with a few action sequences thrown in. Granted, the action sequences in the film are amazing, just as they'd been in the first two. It just feels as if it's forever between them. As for the exposition, it wouldn't be so bad if Raimi wasn't trying to fit so much story into a single film; I personally feel this movie would've been better if split into two parts. There are at least two love triangles, three villains, the black suit/symbiote, the introduction of a handful of new characters...the list goes on. As a result, each of these aspects feels under-developed and some even feel wasted (Poor Venom...). Bouncing around between so many subplots gives the movie a disjointed feeling throughout.
In addition to the story problems, we get a movie filled with some "what in the world were they thinking?" moments. I'm sure you've heard about these moments in countless other discussions of the movie: the symbiote giving Peter Parker an emo/goth-style, the Peter Parker jazz club dance scene (second only to Reed Richards' dance number in the Fantastic 4 sequel when it comes to embarrassing moments in Marvel films), the decision to create the New Goblin's style along the lines of an extreme ninja snowboarder, the decision to use the Venom character (one of THE most popular comic characters/villains) for a mere 40 minutes of the movie, and the Sandman/Spider-Man therapy session. With all of these problems combined, it's easy to see why so many people were disillusioned with the latest film. Has Sam Raimi lost touch with the franchise? I seriously hope not.
All of the key players return for the newest film, though I find myself losing faith in them. Tobey Maguire gives his usual great performance in the title role. Kirsten Dunst did the best she could with terrible writing; honestly, Mary Jane had become seriously unlikable in this film due to what I perceived as incredible jealousy against Parker/Spider-Man's newfound fame. James Franco has done well as Harry Osborn in the previous films but this time, I've come to a realization. The man cannot play a villain. He's far from threatening and comes off as a fool in some scenes. His attempts to be sadistic or evil as the New Goblin fall flat (with the exception of the fight scenes). Of all the returning performances in the movie, I think the only ones that didn't degenerate were those of Maguire, Rosemary Harris, and J.K. Simmons (who's a riot, as always). The film introduces a handful of new characters to the franchise as well, and most turned out well with what little screen time was given. Thomas Haden Church and Topher Grace were great additions to the cast and I hope to see more of them in the future (well, at least of Church...). Bryce Dallas Howard debuts the character of Gwen Stacy; she did great, but I felt it was sort of late to be bringing in her character from the comics.
To make it simple: the third Spider-Man film has it's entertaining moments, but they're scattered through the nearly 2.5 hour runtime. The CGI has continued to evolve and the fight scenes are only getting better. I'm just hoping that this cluttered mess of a film was just a result of Raimi's uncertainty over whether the franchise will continue urging him to fit in as much as possible before it possibly ends. Maybe this was just a fluke and future installments will return to the glory of the first two films.