Third time's a charm! (slight spoilers)

Rating: 8/10 (9 May 2007)

So Spiderman 3 has broken all of the records Pirates of the Caribbean 2 set last year. Is it a worthy successor? Yes and no: It's no secret that I'm not a fan of Sam Raimi's take on Spiderman. The biggest problem I see here is casting: Tobey Maguire is too soft- even for Peter Parker. I would have cast Jake Gyllenhal or someone of that ilk in the role. Parker is supposed to be vulnerable to some degree, but he also has the confidence to throw quips in addition to webs at villains as he battles them. I've also been disappointed with some rather problematic departures from the comic. Since when has Doctor Octopus been anything but a sociopath? Since when are Spiderman's webshooters a part of his mutation? These may seem insignificant, but as someone who grew up with Spiderman, they introduce issues of believability.
When I heard that Topher Grace had been cast as Venom (?), I prepared for the worst.
It would appear that the third time is the charm, as Raimi and co. managed to do far better than the worst. In fact, Spiderman 3 is a great action movie marred only by some more frustrating departures from the comics. Let's start with the problems: 1. Gwen Stacy- In the comics, Stacy is a girl Peter dates before MJ. The Green Goblin kills her. That's her significance...she dies. Since the Green Goblin isn't in the film, you know from day one that this, at least, can't happen. So why was she thrown into the film? While Howard is beautiful as Gwen, using the name Gwen Stacy was a poor choice.
2. Slight Spoilers here- once Peter gets the suit, he goes on an ego boost. There's about a minute of film where he's dancing on the street...in terribly flamboyant fashion. I'm not sure if I was supposed to be laughing, but I was. It seemed out of place. Also, during the costume phase, the director decided to change Peter's hair and dye it black. He ends up looking textbook emo...it REALLY doesn't work.
3. Topher Grace managed to pull off Venom, but I can't shake the feeling that someone with a larger build should have filled the role.
4. There's a tad of artificial plotting; in several cases, the characters display losses of reason that stretch the bounds of credibility- particularly Mary Jane.
BUT the good far outweighs the bad...
Action: FINALLY, someone tapped into the truly fluid movement Spiderman should be capable of. The fighting choreography is truly imaginative and some of the best I've ever seen. The action scenes are so fast that I'll need a second viewing to understand every twist and turn, but I love that they trust the audience to unwind them. Plus, the level of suspense they create is tangible. I will say, though, that the first real action scene turns out to be the best.
Score: Elfman turns out some really memorable cues here. All of the old themes are back, but the new ones for Sandman, especially, help audiences to really feel Sandman's subplot.
Plotting: While I've mentioned a few problems above, I have to admit that the movie largely drew me in. As I so rarely do, I realized halfway through the movie that I was having fun and didn't want it to end. The story is engaging, and Maguire does come across a bit less whiney than he did in past iterations. Some critics have argued that tossing in so many villains made the film less cohesive, but they must have watched a different movie. Raimi uses each of the villains at different points to develop the couple of themes he promotes. It all comes together rather nicely at the end, though I will say that I found the FINAL scene just a tad too short.
Even with it's problems, Spiderman 3 still ranks as one of the best superhero movies ever made. While it isn't as good as Batman Begins or Blade 2, it's easily as good as the best of the X-men franchise. So, for the first time with the Spiderman films, I'm really hoping for a sequel.