Not so amazing Spiderman

Rating: 7/10 (4 May 2007)

Spiderman 3 has possibly been one of the most over hyped, over PR'd movie in cinema history. In fact by the time I was sitting comfortably in my seat about to watch the movie I felt I had seen way too much of the movie already, and was actually pretty sick of seeing numerous Spiderman posters dotted around all over the place. However, despite ignoring my slight hesitations, despite realising it was never going to live up to hype over the movie, the ultimate disappointment of this movie is the fact it left me feeling empty. For a two and a half movie boasting three villains, two romances, numerous fight sequences and lots of crying its quite an achievement. In fact the movie seems to be lacking a lot of things. It never seems ambitious, in fact at times it feels like its running in circles rather than movie the story forward. And the only time the story seems to movie forward it eventually goes backwards yet again. I suppose where the movies goes wrong is the fact is decides to introduce three villains, all three interesting enough, but then the director has decided to use them barely at all and just make them add to an already over packed movie. I will give the movie its due, it isn't bad. In fact had this not have been the big summer opening this might have scored a 7/10. However despite its cool action sequences, half decent performances and a final hour that does really work, it never feels as good as it could have been. Spiderman 1 was flawed but was still a well though out movie, Spiderman 2 was absolutely spectacular, but Spiderman 3 is a jumbled mess with moments of brilliance. In terms of sequels this seems to go firmly alongside X3, too much goes on in both of those movies.
Well lets first talk about the performances. First has to be Tobey Maguire as I am about to say something I never thought possible. I have finally excepted him as Spiderman. In the past two movies I found him annoying, here, despite when he decides to go emo on us (excruciatingly awful scenes there), he does a brilliant job. He seems to be well thought out here, his character conveying vast ranges of emotions. My only problem with him were in the "evil-Spidey" sequences, that were very bad in my eyes. Kirsten Dunst here seems sidelined, well not her character, but her performance. She has little to work with here, she seems more prop placement than a character in her own right. Topher Grace is pretty good as Venom and his alter-ego, but his character has far too little screen time so we never really get to see his purpose in the movie. As I've said many times Venom deserves a movie all to himself, not ten minutes of screen time! Sandman, played by Thomas Haden Church perhaps frustrated me the most. Church is a superb actor, yet here he seems pointless. Sandman as a character is never explored, an unnecessary sub-plot about his daughter just adds layers to a story that is way too over packed. My view is that either Sandman or Venom had to be dropped for this movie to ever reach its full potential. Now James Franco does well, he's easily the best thing in the movie. His character is the most complicated and remains the most interesting. Gwen Stacey on the other hand, well lets not even go there. A waste of an opportunity if you ask me.
The action sequences of Spiderman 3 I suppose are its highlights, a shame there are huge gaps between the fights, and not a single one comes even slightly close to the greatness of the train scrap between Doc Ock and Spiderman in the first sequel. The fights here looks amazing, the CGI is very impressive, especially the stuff with Venom and Sandman. And the final fight sequence is something behold. Yet all the fights get a bit repetitive after a while, the stuff with Sandman is instantly forgettable. In fact its only the Goblin and Spiderman sequences that really stick firmly in memory, they're brilliantly edited and they have a power the other fight sequences really seem to lack. As I've said there's not too much action, the movie is padded out to 2 and half hours with annoying romance sequences and lots of crying. The romance goes nowhere once again and seems to be doing another lap of what we've seen before. It now just seems boring and I wish Raimi would get a backbone and give them something daring to deal with.
Overall Spiderman 3 comes out as passable entertainment. But for a movie hyped up to be the best film of the year it just manages to scrape above average. A plodding run time, too much going on and lots of other faults make it a forgettable experience. The action sequences and good performances make the movie do well, and if you're a Spiderman fan you're still likely to enjoy the movie. But don't expect anything amazing, as Spiderman 3 is anything but.