Fans will weep - Public will love it

Rating: 6/10 (3 May 2007)

The film is the weakest of the series, and shows the strain of too much happening in the 2 hours and 20 minutes of running time. The stories are patched together badly, leaving a very episodic feel to the proceedings. All of the events that take place have their specific chunk of film to play in, and never feel like they are occurring together. The symbiote from the meteorite seems to do nothing for most of the film, despite being in Peter's apartment for a while. No sense that any of the events correlate is felt, and it all feels a bit messy. Some chunks of the film, such as the first fight with the Goblin, could have been taken out completely without damaging the rest of the film. The time saved could have then been put to good use to develop Sandman, or even Gwen Stacy, or Brock. Stacy herself could have been taken out the film completely and you wouldn't notice. Now, consider this for a moment. Gwen Stacy, Peter's first true love, who died in his arms in the comic, who MJ was simply a replacement for  reduced to a minor character with nothing more than a walk-on part! The lack of screen time she offers means that the jealousy that MJ shows towards her is ridiculous! Raimi stated in early interviews on the first film that there were so many villains he liked personally. However, when asked about the fan-boy favorite Venom, he stated his reluctance to use the character as he wasn't a fan and didn't really feel that he was a strong enough role. Seeing how poorly Eddie Brock is portrayed in the film, and how dubious the CGI on Venom himself actually is, you can see that Raimi wasn't all that happy with having to give the 'fans' what they wanted. Sadly the time wasted on Venom takes away from the much stronger, and deeper, Sandman. Not that Sandman is a total loss. Some of the heart of the character is intact, but it is all too fleeting toward the end of the film. As for the new Goblin, well it almost works but plays out in a poor, and unnecessary, direction toward the early half of the film.
Fans of the comic books will be the most disappointed here, as they will know what potential each of these tales had, and given a film each to play out in, well they could have been three amazing films! All three in one means that, sadly, it is too much and not enough at the same time.
The general public, who don't read the comics will get the most out of this as it is a popcorn movie throughout. The CGI is even better than before, and the action sequences are truly amazing throughout! The realization of Sandman works so well, much better than the dubious Venom rendition. Aside from a few cornier elements, particularly during Peter's dark phase (which includes a dance routine in a jazz club  and when did he learn the piano?), this is simple entertainment, and should please the masses.
Kind of ironic that the film in which Raimi gives the fans what they want is also the film that the fans will be most upset with. Even the obligatory Stan Lee cameo, or Bruce Campbell screen hogging does nothing to distract from the fact that this is a seriously missed opportunity. Batman & Robin it ain't, but it certainly isn't what we expect from Raimi.