Entertaining but the least impressive in terms of storytelling in the series so far.

Rating: 8/10 (17 September 2008)

Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) has everything going well in his life. He has wonderful if struggling actress/singer/girlfriend Mary Jane Waston (Kristen Dunst), loving great-mother (Rosemary Harris), doing extremely well at college, still working at the newspaper job posing pictures of himself as Spider-Man but he has problems with Harry Osborn (James Franco)... his former best friend. Which Harry still believes that Peter/Spider-Man killed him. But now Peter faces new problems, when an escape convict (Thomas Haden Chruch) is molecularly transformed into The Sandman, an ambitious photographer named Eddie Brock (Topher Grace)... who's after Peter's job and Peter finds himself addicted to an alien fungus that turns Peter/Spider-Man to the dark side.
Directed by Sam Raimi (Evil Dead Trilogy, The Gift, A Simple Plan) made an entertaining if plot-heavy sequel to the ever popular "Spider-Man Series". The cast are good here... especially Dunst, Chruch, Grace and Bryce Dallas Howard (Who appears in a memorable small supporting role). Director Raimi has fun making Peter Parker an insensitive jerk half of the time... especially when Peter turns into a sleazy (Probably Emo) stud muffin. The main problem with "Spider-Man 3" is the screenplay by the director, his brother Ivan Raimi (Army of Darkness) and Two Time Oscar-Winner:Alvin Sergent (Nuts, Ordinary People, What About Bob ?). There's too many storyline, some are never truly satisfying (Like the Eddie Brock or Venom character), the film could have been better written or fleshing out the new supporting characters even more... so the movie could be longer.
DVD has an sharp anamorphic Widescreen (2.35:1) transfer and an strong Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. DVD has two enjoyable commentary tracks. Commentary one is by the director and cast members:Maguire, Dunst, Franco, Chruch, Grace & Howard. Commentary two is by the filmmakers as in producers, editor and special effects supervisor. DVD also includes an music video, bloopers (some are extremely funny) and an photo gallery. "Super-Man 3" is the least entertaining of the three movies so far but i have to admit, it does improve after repeated viewings. It was the highest grossing film of 2007... especially considering the $259 million budget! "Spider-Man 3" is still worthwhile. But i think "Army of Darkness" also known as "Evil Dead 3" is better than "Spider-Man 3". B-Movie Cult Star:Bruce Campbell has an terrific small bit in his cameo as the Maitre 'D. Super 35. (****/*****).