Three's a Crowd

Rating: 1/10 (28 May 2008)

I love comic books and there are many comic book movies I have liked, including the first 2 Spidey films. But 'Spider-Man 3' is pretty terrible. I think the major problems with this film come from 3 big mistakes: 1) Trying to outdo the first 2 Spidey films. I.e., Spidey #1 had 1 super-villain, #2 had 2 super-villains, therefore #3 should have 3 villains. This doesn't work because these villains are clearly too much for Spidey, thus necessitating some extremely unbelievable and stupid plot twists. And it doesn't work because there isn't enough time to develop any emotional interest in the hero-villain conflict.
2) It's obvious that this movie was created to produce maximum video/computer game spinoffs. The menu screen of the DVD features video game versions of Spidey and other characters moving about in video game style and a couple of the 'special features' are video game promos. The creative decision to go this way has led to fight scenes that are way too long, break too many laws of physics too often, shatter all sense of believability, and feel downfight oppressive and exhausting. My guess is that for those of us over 35, at least those of us who don't play computer games daily, our eyes are simply not geared fast enough to really follow this kind of action.
3) Over-reliance on Computer Generated Images (CGI). The fight scenes all look like either cartoons or video games, and so you just don't have the kind of dramatic involvement required to suspend disbelief. In the old days, directors had to rely on tricks of editing, camera position, stuntmen, harnesses, etc. to create exciting and believable fight scenes. Now that those gimmicks aren't necessary, directors seem to think we'll just buy into anything. Not so: the old school fight scenes, where you had stunt men doing what was vaguely possible intercut with close ups of the actors' faces, looking angry, exasperated, sweaty, etc., had much more dramatic impact. Sean Connery, Errol Flynn, Johnny Weismuller, Steve McQueen and Clint Eastwood never needed CGI. Hollywood seems to think that CGI solves all problems of special effects and fight scenes. Not so: CGI looks fake, just in a new way.
Overall, Spider-Man 3 is bad because it follows the conventions and formulae of most modern action films: more, harder, bigger, badder, etc. and full-speed ahead with the games and merchandising. This movie is all about the paycheck, there is neither heart nor soul.