A Big Departure...

Rating: 9/10 (3 May 2007)

Spider-man 3 was a big departure from the series, and especially from the whole comic book-movie genre.
From the beginning, they did an excellent job of recapping the entire series, hardly done by sequels. The music, as well, was different; it was a goodbye to the rock songs that fill up the entire soundtrack, as they relied on more of a score, and a very emotional one indeed.
This movie departed from the normal profile of a superhero movie, by adding the internal conflicts and emotional struggles, with a theme you can somewhat get out of a Paulo Coelho book. It showed a different side of Peter Parker (with some outrageous performances from Tobey Maguire), Harry Osborn and their friendship/rivalry (a much better acting job by James Franco, when I once thought his acting level was pretty much like Hayden Christensen; he didn't act like a rich brat in this one, but a more sensitive fellow), Mary Jane and their love story (coming from a superb script and acting), as well as a different kind of bad guy in Flint Marko - the Sandman. I think this is the first film I've seen with a not-so-bad-guy, a somewhat understandable "villain."
Topher Grace's performance as Venom was good, but it could have been much better. His character, Eddie Brock Jr., received a considerable amount of airtime, especially when leading to his becoming Venom. They developed his character somewhat, but I just think that the character could have "grown" more, as well as showing Venom to be as cool as some would have expected.
Something similar goes for Gwen Stacy, played by Bryce Dallas Howard, where her only "big" part was at the jazz bar. Oh well, what more can you make her do, when her character was actually supposed to have died by the hand of the Green Goblin somewhere during the first film, where Gwen, according to the comic, was held captive by the Green Goblin on top of a bridge, then Norman Osborn, or the Green Goblin, threw her off it. Spiderman was able to catch her with a web, but eventually realizing that Gwen was already dead, with her neck broken. It may have been an effect of falling on the web or suffered at the hands of the Green Goblin beforehand, but Peter blamed himself all the same.
Too bad they killed a main character off in a similar manner to another in the first movie, but at least this one had more meaning. Despite all the seemingly tragic moments in the film, it ends with a high note, a happy ending, albeit without a hint to a possible next film, as they did with the second. They could have made it a 3-hour movie or longer, but that's just me.
Overall, I guess they made the choice to make it something different, as I believe they did want this movie to be something bigger or better than the others. The choice makes us who we are, as Peter says in the end.
A very good job done by Sam Raimi, Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst and James Franco, as well as the scriptwriters who actually put very valuable morals in a superhero film about love, choices, revenge and forgiveness.