Spidey Goes Splat

Rating: 5/10 (5 May 2007)

After thoroughly enjoying the first two Spider-man movies, I was very much looking forward to this third one. I'm sorry to say that it didn't deliver on most levels.
The story drags this time around and the warmth of the first two films is sorely lacking, leaving nothing to propel it through the long, long build-up toward the climactic battle scene. The chemistry between the main characters seems to have evaporated in between the second and third installments. There's a coldness and distance to this movie that wasn't there before, and in a movie about superheroes there needs to be a strongly human element. We just don't get that here.
Perhaps the most disappointing effort in this movie is the re-writing of the death of Uncle Ben from the first film. To introduce this new element seems dishonest, a contrived plot device that really doesn't work. It also makes the ending of the film make no sense, as Spider-man lets one of the villains  the very one who killed his uncle  escape. Why? The bad guy gets away to rob and kill another day. It's a very poor note upon which to end the three-film saga.
There are also some very silly moments, even for a movie based on comic books. What happened to the writing this time around? You don't have a physicist point out, for example, that "I'm not a biologist" and in almost the very next line have him declare that an organism never before seen on earth "has the traits of a symbiont." That's just bad writing, nothing else. Later on, this "just a physicist" also suddenly has detailed knowledge of meteorites that fell 30 years prior. Huh? Also disappointing was the character of Venom. He turned out to be a one-dimensional caricature who occupies far too little of the film after all the build-up to his appearance. That being said, Topher Grace does an excellent job in his portrayal of Eddie Brock/Venom, and it's nice to see him taking on a new sort of role.
Tobey Maguire seems to have phoned in much of his performance on this film. He's stated publicly that he doesn't intend to do anymore Spider-man movies, and perhaps he'd already gotten tired of playing the character. His performance lacks anything distinguishing this time around. In the first two flicks, there was a certain charm about Peter Parker. In this one, the portrayal bounces back and forth between extremes of self-centered cockiness and whiny geekery. It's definitely time for Maguire to move on! Lastly, the ending of this film attempts to be a multiple tearjerker in such a clichéd and self-conscious way that it doesn't work at all. We get such a schmaltzy ending this time around that there wasn't a wet eye in the house. It couldn't have been done in a more heavy-handed manner if Mary Jane had walked back and forth across the screen in a sandwich board painted with the words "Cry now!" Nobody at the showing I saw did so; in fact, audible groaning was the most notable sound in the theater.
It's sad to see what was arguably the best series of comic-inspired movies yet brought to the screen end on such a mediocre note. Perhaps Sam Raimi gave all he had already, or perhaps the cast has just gotten bored. I wish I could end this comment by saying that I hoped for a fourth installment, but nothing in the third makes me feel that way.
Rest in peace, Spidey. You had a good run.