Could've been spectacular but ended up being a bloated mess

Rating: 5/10 (18 October 2008)

My Rating: ** out of ****.
Maybe Spider-Man 3 is the product of huge expectations, maybe even unreasonably so, but it is a massive disappointment. Sam Raimi was crafting one of the better super hero franchises, the first one was solid and the second one was one was outstanding. The trailers for the third film showed promise and there was a ton of potential, hardly any of which was realized in the final product.
The biggest problem with the film was Sam Raimi was just attempting way too much with the storyline. Not only is the film about Peter and MJ's relationship, which is in full blown soap opera mode, but it's also about Peter's conflicts with Harry, Peter/Spider-Man's "dark side", which is introduced by some mysterious black goo from outer space, and two other villains are thrown in for good measure. Needless to say Spider-Man 3 is a bloated mess.
One of the trademarks of the previous two film were the quality of the villains. Willem Defoe was very effective as the Green Goblin and Alred Molina was outstanding as Doc Ock, both were menacing and, even if they had there complexities, you had no problem rooting against them. That is a problem here. If you're counting all the vaillains in the film there is three: Harry, Sandman, and Venom. The fight scenes between Peter/Spidey and Harry are energetic and some of the most effective in the film, but James Franco is not intimidating enough to be a good villain, and by the end of the film he is no longer a villain.
The other two villains are both failures for different reasons. Thomas Haden Church plays Sandman, who we learn was responsible for the death of Peter's Uncle Ben in the first films, and he ends up being the most sympathetic character in the film. Give credit to Church for making us feel for the character but that doesn't make him a very good villain. Sandman's name is Flint Marko and he shows to regret his past actions and wants to help his sick daughter. Not everything he does is right but it's hard to hate him.
The biggest failure is how Raimi just decides to trash Venom. Not only is Topher Grace seriously miscast as Eddie Brock/Venom but the character is unforgivably shortchanged. The character has only 20-30 minutes of screen time and Brock doesn't become Venom till the very end. This is one of the most popular villains in the comics and cartoons and the filmmakers hardly use him? I'm baffled by their apporach. At least you can say he looks good but there's no doubt Venom deserved to be a stand alone villain in another film.
The trailers showed that the film was going to focus on the dark side of Peter and Spider-Man. This potentially fascinating element is, with a few eceptions, executed poorly. The black goo that was previously mentioned attaches itself to Peter and changes his mood,appearance and creates a black Spidey suit. His appearance is ridiculously emo with black hair and an angsty facial expression. He also acts like a fool dancing on the streets, I know Raimi likes to add humor to these films but a lot of these scenes turn the film into a self-parody. This is supposed to be dark? More like ridiculous. The only time this works is when Peter fights Harry and the black Spidey encounters Sandman in the subway, but other than that, this element was a wasted opportunity.
Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst are also disappointments. The chemistry isn't as strong here and both their performances are weaker. Dunst comes off as whiny and Maguire has several moments where is frighteningly awful. One scene that takes place on a bridge bewtween him and Dunst where he is expected to be emotional is painfully embarrassing. His performance doesn't ring true playing the darker side as well, though that's partly bad writing too.
In short, the film is just an all-round disappointment. The climactic action scene at the end even lacks the energy of the previous films. If Spider-Man 4 is going to come out in 2011, Sam Raimi better have a solid storyline that's not biting off more then he can chew or I'll be officially done with this franchise.