Love, Morals, and Some SPecial Effects

Rating: 6/10 (20 May 2007)

High Budget super hero movies tend to be chock full of special effects, but often times have very little human interaction or story line. It is obvious that this movie has grand ambitions, it wants to give it all to us.
So this movie should be titled Spiderman A Jack of All Trades. We have a love triangle, and a plethora of nasty villains, all rolled up in a nice casing of morality. I left the theater comfortable in knowing that I always have choices that I can make.
This isn't a bad movie. However it simply isn't a great movie. You can get good food at the buffet, but there is rarely anything at the buffet that is the best you ever had. The love triangle and conflict isn't terrible, but it isn't especially compelling. The action scenes are fast and furious, but they seem to have little or no closure. Not terrible, but not really satisfying either. I want a roller coaster ride where I say "wow", and I never really felt "wowed".
At least the Peter PArker character is maturing. Finally we are seeing this character come out of his shell, as you would expect the influence of Spiderman to carry over to Peter. Kirsten Dunst's Mary Jane Watson character could use a little more assertiveness, that character really hasn't grown very much now through three movies.
This movie left me wanting more. The potentiall of this sandman character left me wanting more. What exactly can this guy do and no do? What are his weaknesses? CAn he be killed? I guess the lack of closure here gives us a basis for Spiderman 4.
Where are movies heading? There are soma man sequels coming out this summer. Is it simply enough to spend some big bucks on special effects, come up with a few cute lines of dialoge, and not really have much of a story? I guess maybe it is.