"Mary Jane Watson & Peter Parker" (wasn't Spider-Man in the title though?)

Rating: 5/10 (5 May 2007)

Spider-Man 3 is worth just about every cent, but those of us who are looking for a plot, or even multiple special-effects filled action scenes may leave the theater unsure.
When you think of Spider-Man 1 & 2, you think of the crazy scientists who somewhere went wrong with their work, whether a lab accident, or a race to keep their funding. Both Norman Osborn and Doc Ock had an agenda, that somehow related to their mutation, and an even deeper and (stressing) continuous plot followed.
But not in Spider-Man 3.
No. Flint Marko escapes from prison and becomes Sandman. Harry Osborn tries to avenge his late father. The symbiote takes over Spider-Man. And a jobless Eddie Brock wants to kill Peter.
Yet then there is Mary Jane. She is disappointed with Peter. He not only says but does STUPID things. Peter misunderstands her. Mary Jane keeps things from Peter. Peter doesn't want Mary Jane's help. Their relationship is failing. Mary Jane is lonely. Peter acts extremely weird (and embarrassing I'm sure for Tobey to act and watch).
Spider-Man and the villains get their very own paragraph. But Mary Jane and Peter's is longer.
This movie needed to be more about Spider-Man (hence the title). Much of the Mary Jane/Peter plot was unnecessary, and though it gave Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst tons of screen time, where was Spider-Man?
Though in a sense in has a less than half decent way of connecting events from previous movies, there is a certain something that sets it apart from Spider-Man 1 & 2. Perhaps it is because for the first time Ivan and Sam Raimi came up with the story, something that the previous Spidey writers needed to be apart of. I personally also found listening to Christopher Young's music to be a less than exciting experience as apposed to listening to a Danny Elfman score.
Aside from a script that needed second thoughts, brief acting issues *sigh*, an annoying emo-looking Tobey Maguire (that's easy to laugh at), and a more than different score, SPIDER-MAN 3 has amazing special effects, designs, cinematography, and villains. Because although you can argue the plot was iffy, you'd have to be pretty crazy to argue that Venom was too.