Good, but not great...

Rating: 7/10 (15 May 2007)

The first Spider-man was simply great. But I felt the second one slacked off a bit. So, I was not sure if this one would deliver like the original or flop or the second one. It's neither horrible nor great. Here's why.
The Good: For starters, I was again impressed by Tobey McGuire's acting talent as Peter Parker/Spider-man. It was even more exciting to see a "darker" look at Spider-man, from the mysterious "black suit". I honestly thought Tobey would not be able to pull off being bad, but he filled it in; despite the fact it felt slightly awkward for such a hero to turn evil, even if it was temporarily.
-I never really thought of James Franco as a good actor. To me, he was like a bland, three-dimensional individual. But in this film, he redeems himself not only as being a better actor, but also shows a villainous side of Harry Osborne, henceforth, the New Goblin. The fight between both Parker and Osborne was a strong point to the film that was quite satisfying.
-Thomas Hayden Church (who reminds me of Lee Marvin junior) was a very good villain as the ill-tempered Sandman. There's a sense of feeling for his character, which he delivers as a quite ambivalent individual who is stuck between right and wrong, but is given an unlikely power. Basically, he's not a stereotype villain; he's not all evil or all good.
-The CGI is triumphant over the first two films. I haven't seen such good visual effects since Peter Jackson's King Kong! It was not stylized like the previous Spidey films, but more on the cooler and a bit on the realistic side. It did not look fake at all. With the help of such great visuals, it broadened the action sequences very well, making them intense and glamorous to watch on the big screen.
-In the mix of the film, there was some good humor put forth extremely well by J.K. Simmons. He was flat-out hysterical, once again as J. Jonah Johnson.
The Bad: The damaging flaw to this film is the story lines. Yes, it holds to Spider-man fighting "the evil within", but the film leaves plenty of plot holes as to where the "black suit" came from. There's no explanation to this mystery. Even more so agonizing was that the screenwriters and the director tried to cram so much into the film, including: Sandman, Harry Osborne/the New Goblin, the "black suit", Parker's strained relationship with MJ, Gwen Stacey, and Venom. It all grew very tiresome after the first hour. It did not mesh together at the end in an organized fashion.
-Added to this, the film had the tendency of not only dragging, but also choppy, jumping from one side story to another. It was a headache, and to a disappointment, the action sequences were relatively few, making the pace even slower. The two hour and twenty minute film felt like a three hour film. Even if the director wanted to make a four movie of this, it still would not have turned out right. It needed to be two separate films all together (some of which could have been added to the second Spidey).
-Topher Grace right off the bat was a wrong choice for Venom/ Eddie Brock. Instead of being a vicious character, he was an annoying laugh riot. Every time I saw him on the screen, I wanted to laugh, because his acting was so lame. Even worse was some of the most important aspects of the film were rather corny and poorly done (which I will not mention), while other scenes, particularly at the end were left hanging and needed to wrap-up the film.
Overall: I liked this Spider-man. It had a potential, but it was nothing spectacular. It lacked the knots needed to tie all the plot(s). It's a good popcorn-loving film. But Spider-man fans, don't expect a triumph like the first one.
7/10