The Ambitious Spider-man 3

Rating: 9/10 (6 May 2007)

Spider-Man 3 tells an ambitious number of stories in a 140 minute film. The story/character conflicts are:
(1) Spider-man vs. himself: Peter has begun to succumb to Spidey stardom in New York and as any nerdy unpopular teen, he begins to become self-centered.
(2) Peter Parker - Mary Jane Romance: As Spidey's fan base increases, Mary Jane's luck as an actor hits the skids. This creates tension between Mary Jane who needs Peter to be there for her, but where Peter is mostly wrapped up in his star status to understand. Mary Jane eventually turns to Harry Osborn for comfort.
(3) Peter/Spider-man vs. Harry Osborn/ New Goblin: Harry, living to avenge his father's death, whom he believes was felled by Spider-man, attacks Peter just as he is about to propose to Mary Jane. Peter still believes Harry is a friend and desperately tries to rebuild a friendship.
(4) Peter/Spider-man vs. Sandman: Peter and Aunt May are told that the Sandman is the real criminal that shot and murdered Uncle Ben. So Peter is also consumed by revenge, like Harry, to kill Sandman.
(5) Peter/Spider-man vs. himself/Venom vs. Brock/Venom: The symbiotic black entity Venom catalyzes Peter's vengeance and aggression, leading him toward the darker nature of man. Eventually Venom takes over Brock, a discredited photographer unmasked by Peter, and Venom catalyzes Brock's vengeance to destroy Peter.
From a writer's perspective, five story/character conflict dimensions are ambitious for any film, especially for a Summer blockbuster that must include $250 million dollars of special effect action sequences.
However, there are so many brainless, plot-less, stupid Summer blockbusters, I cannot help but be impressed by Spider-man 3's ambition to be more. After all, this has been the triumph of the prior films -- dare to have characters and story in addition to terrific action sequences. This is also the triumph the Spider-man comic hero that has endeared him to so many. Spider-man is more than a comic book hero. He is a hero that bleeds, makes mistakes, and fights his personal demons.
Sam Rami and veteran screenwriter Alvin Sargent have always been talented observers of humanity and the need to create real characters on screen. The character of Venom, actually did not appeal to Sam Rami, because of Venom's pure evil nature, until he was convinced how useful Venom worked as a catalyst to display the darkness in even the most human of characters, such as Peter Parker.
It was this ambitious need to explore humanity that led to a film that tells too many stories. It is hard enough to create a film that delves into two or three levels of character conflict let alone five levels.
I will give Mr. Rami and Mr. Sargent credit though. Along with the extremely talented cast, they almost pull the whole thing off -- almost, which is amazing. Not everyone can create an epic and almost pull it off. And, it is because of this, that I recommend Spider-man 3.
I think the well-known critics that have chosen to tell film goers to stay away from this film do them a disservice. It is better to dare to accomplish too much, than to accomplish too little. Mr. Rami showed heroic courage even to attempt this story.
In the end, I believe history will judge Spider-man 3 as a modern epic of glorious proportions. I, personally, don't agree with the tying up of all of the lose ends so neatly, but I understand why Mr. Rami did; he wanted to complete a great trilogy, comparable to Star Wars and Lord of the Rings.
In summary, ignore any critic who says this film has no plot -- they are incompetent, and understand what critics mean that this film maybe over-ambitious because it is. However, see the glass as overflowing and drink it in, because Spider-man 3 will fill you with a film experience unlike most blockbusters will this year.