No. Just no.

Rating: 3/10 (26 August 2007)

While this movie attempts to depict Good and Evil, it seems that there is no such thing as actual redemption in the Spideyverse. I am speaking, of course, of Harry. Harry is Evil because his father was Evil, and because Harry wants to kill Peter. What the film fails to mention, however, is the fact that Harry is simply having the exact same reaction to the death of a loved one as Peter. While one could argue that the filmmakers are drawing parallels between the two story lines, the difference is that Harry becomes disfigured and finally dies, while Peter lives on unscarred. Why does Harry get redemption only in death? Smeg knows, because good!Harry is a better person than good!Peter.
The other character that supposedly walks the line between Good and Evil is Flint Marko, but it's made clear early on that Flint does what he does for the sake of his daughter, who is terminally ill with some unspecified disease that can only be cured with money. There is absolutely no question as to whether Flint is Good or Evil, so it comes as no surprise when he is finally absolved of the death of Uncle Ben and allowed to go free.
Brock/Venom barely even merits discussion, despite having the coolest look and powers of any of the characters and being one of the best-known Spidey villains. Brock is basically Evil for the sake of Evil. Initially, he seems all right, but he soon fakes a photograph and asks Jesus to kill Peter after Peter exposes him for fraud. He dies at the end because the Spideyverse has no room for real redemption.
The heart of the Spider-Man trilogy is pubescent angst, and watching Peter continue to go through puberty when he's in his twenties is tiresome. Every single one of the movies is about Peter going through a physical change and having social difficulties as a result. Peter is continually hurting MJ and then calling to make up, and it irks me to no end that she always accepts him back despite the fact that he is selfish and pompous at the best of times, and downright Evil at the worst. Of course, MJ is also an incredibly selfish person, who is wholeheartedly jealous of Peter's success. They probably deserve each other.
The film also violated numerous laws of reality, and while I understand that comic book movies are hardly going to be realism, I'd appreciate it if they at least pretended to care about the things they portrayed. I'll accept Flint/Sandman's transformation (his awakening scene after he was fused with silicone was easily one of the best parts of the movie), and I'll accept the idea of a rock from space containing some sort of alien symbiote. Being a Doctor Who fan, I am necessarily willing to accept all sorts of pseudo-scientific macguffins, so I'm not really thrown off by superheroes and supervillains. My biggest complaint about the movie's lack of reality is Peter's ability to multitask. Are we honestly supposed to believe that Peter is capable of being a professional photographer (he must be taking pictures of things other than Spider-Man at least some of the time), going to what is apparently a school for geniuses, keeping all of New York safe as Spider-Man, having a steady relationship with MJ, and getting enough sleep to function on a daily basis? Sorry, but that's just not happening.
The biggest turnoff of all, though, was the film's sloppy pacing and unsatisfactory resolution. The action scenes are (or at least feel) few and far between, as the filmmakers chose to focus instead on Peter and MJ's unhealthy, repulsively whiny romance. I loved the action sequences, but the rest of the movie was boring beyond reason. Cool action sequences are no substitute for a well-rounded movie.
The film tries to recreate the complexity of Batman Returns by loading the movie full of baddies, but in the end there was just too much going on to really get the audience attached to any one character. And, too, Peter was the only character allowed to have any complexity whatsoever, so all the potentially interesting aspects of the other characters were unceremoniously glossed over. Venom is completely wasted on this film, as he only becomes a superperson in the third act and has all of one battle with Spider-Man before being offed. The film's dramatic issues were all but resolved before Brock became Venom, and he was present in the film only because they needed a climactic battle sequence. The battle sequence was all sorts of fun to watch, but in terms of story structure it just felt tacked on.
The resolution between Peter and Flint felt flat, as Flint finally explains what the audience knew all along (that he was really just a nice guy who got caught up in events that were beyond his control), Peter grants his tearful forgiveness, and Flint flies off into the sunset. What is unsatisfactory about this outcome is that Peter never even thinks to apologize for his brutal attempted murder of Flint midway through the film, and Flint still lacks the funds to save his daughter. Presumably, then, Flint will keep on robbing banks and hurting people in the process, despite the fact that hey, Peter is friends with Harry, who is incredibly rich. Harry could easily have provided for Flint's daughter at the endbut Harry is dead and Flint just flies off dramatically. Nothing is solved.
And that, really, is the take-home synopsis of Spider-Man 3: some people whine and complain for several hours, there are a few pretty fight scenes, and in the end, nothing is solved.