Sadly, A Disappointment

Rating: 6/10 (7 May 2008)

I love Spider-Man. He's probably one of the greatest comic heroes in history. The first two films were absolutely amazing. Great pieces of film work. However, Spider-Man 3 fell very short of those standards. I did like it, but I didn't LOVE it as I felt about the first two films. I will first bring up some of the pros, and then the cons.
PROS: Topher Grace was really surprising as Venom. I liked his portrayal of the character, but he was way under-used. I think he should have been the main villain of the film.
The visual effects were the best in the series, except for the cartoony crane scene. Venom looked great, Sandman was cool, and the fight sequences are excellent.
CONS: Tobey Maguire wasn't very good in this film. I liked the way he portrayed red Spider-Man, but once the black suit comes on... he sucks. He just wasn't good at being bad. Oh, and the crying. Come on! And the dancing! What is up with that?
The multiple story lines kept it hard to focus on one thing. In Spider-Man 2, if was perfectly focused. Peter and MJ's relationship, Peter and Harry's relationship, and Spider-Man and Dr. Octopus's relationship. That was it! In this one you get Peter and MJ's relationship, Harry's amnesia, the black suit, problems at the Bugle, Gwen Stacy, Venom, New Goblin, and Sandman. It was just too much for the audience to get in one sitting! My advice would have been to leave out Sandman, Gwen, the amnesia thing, and MJ's whole play thing. It was too much of a serious romance movie rather that a super-hero action thriller.
Venom should have lived. He is my absolute favorite villain in all of Spider-Man's rogue gallery, and he's killed within fifteen minutes after his appearance. He's way too under used and should have been held as a cliffhanger for Spider-Man 4, along with Harry Osborn His part as New Goblin is way too hidden behind Sandman and the romancy garbage that has absolutely no place in a super hero action movie of the summer blockbuster sorts. Sandman looked bad in some of the scenes. At the end, he's that freakin' King Kong of Sand, and I hated that.
Overall, it's an okay entry in the films of Spider-Man, but I don't think it was good enough. I do hope the original cast returns, and that Spider-Man 4 is superior to this inferior film. I did hear of an interview featuring an unnamed actor saying his character appears to die in this film but actually survives somehow. Personally, I hope it's Eddie Brock, but only time will tell. Please don't make it be Harry, don't go all "One More Day" on us. He's dead, it's done. I'd bet money Venom's returning. I'm holding out for Spider-Man 4 to fix this slight mess of a film. However, the effects do aid the movie to my liking.