Great way to start the summer movie season

Rating: 7/10 (7 May 2007)

Spider-Man 3 is far from perfect, and neither are most comic book films, with the exception of Batman Begins in my opinion. There will always be things in comic book sources that don't really function or translate well onto screen, and vice-versa. Without a doubt, the Spider-Man film franchise, as well as the new Batman franchise and X-Men trilogy, are the greatest comic book films ever. V for Vendetta, 300, and Sin City don't count as they were based on graphic novels, not comic books. Yes there is a difference. But let's talk Spider-Man 3.
As mentioned before, Spider-Man 3 is not perfect. There are parts that don't feel like they really advance the story or simply don't flow very well. The major flaw of Spider-Man 3 is it's attempt to do too many things at once. There are three villains, Harry Osborn, Sandman, and Venom. Additionally, there is of course the love story, which now is back to a love triangle involving Peter, Mary Jane, and Harry. ALSO, Spider-Man must deal with the power-responsibility catch after acquiring his new black suit, compliments of a symbiote from space, AND, Peter has a new potential love interest, Gwen Stacy. Phew...talk about a lot of ground to cover.
Whereas in most comic book films, the story will cover the hero, or heroes' struggles with identity and purpose, they only focus on one to two villains at a time. But Spider-Man 3 gives us three, and in some ways four, noting on how Spidey becomes somewhat of an arse after getting the black suit. This causes the story to become so divided as the creative teams attempts to give each story an equal amount of screen time, that they become very shallow and not deep enough to touch on the human side that the other two films, specifically the flawless second installment, really connected on.
But even with it's big flaw of being bloated, Spider-Man 3 does have many great things going for it that show why the web-slinger's outings have always been simply great. First and foremost, the film doesn't take itself too seriously, though there are a lot of tears shed. It remains one of the most fun experiences you will have watching a movie. I would highly advise seeing it on the big screen, because like the first two installments, as well as other epics, it just doesn't translate into a TV as well. The visual effects in this latest film do the impossible and top the second one. The action is simply fantastic and will not leave viewers disappointed. Also, fans will love the designs on Venom and the more hardcore fans will be drooling over the simply amazing visuals on both Venom, Sandman, and pretty much the whole movie.
All in all, Spider-Man 3 is one hell of a way to start the summer movie season of 2007, one that promise to bring in a whole plethora f fantastic movies to come. Also, it's a great way to conclude the current trilogy.
8.9/10