Betrays what went before

Rating: 2/10 (18 May 2007)

It is surprising that Spiderman 3 was directed by Sam Raimi, who directed the first two movies - as Spiderman 3 betrays the major flaw of sequels directed by someone else. Namely betraying what we learnt in previous movies for the sake of a lazy plot.
*** Spoilers follow - if you still care ***
In the case of this movies, these are serious betrayals. We learn that Spiderman did NOT kill the first green goblin, and we learn that the guy that killed Peter Parker's uncle in the first movie - well actually it was some other guy who turns into the Sandman in this movie (and it ain't the Gothic Niel Gaiman Sandman.) And what we get for this betrayal isn't something exciting or clever. It just feels like they made it up each day as they arrived on the set.
Then you've got the special effects. So damn lazy. "Hey - I know - let's take something that's formless and give it the form of a person and some other things". This hasn't really wowed this viewer since Terminator 2. Has the big multi-million blockbuster SFX movie really not moved on from this in the last 15 odd years? TWO formless substances (sand and mysterious black goo) that can take on lots of different forms isn't really twice as exciting. OK - it is a bit more refined in delivery, but hardly jaw dropping. Surely special effects people can come up with something a bit more exciting for the dough.
Then we get this camera work that is almost unwatchable. The action moves so fast you can't really tell what is going on - shame, since the first two flicks were fast but clear. Did they forget what worked. The chase scenes would work well in a computer game, but not a movie.
Don't get me started on the plot. Really. It shouldn't matter, but it is so boring it detracts from the fun.
For me, this movie follows in the footsteps of X-Men 3. The end of the superhero movie. Time to move on folks.