Mr. Raimi goes to film school.

Rating: 6/10 (9 May 2007)

I am a huge Spider-Man fan and really enjoyed the first two movies, so Spider-Man 3 was a must see for me. Much to my disappointment, it did not live up to my expectations. With all the resources of Marvel Comics and Sony at his command, why couldn't Director Sam Raimi just tell a good cohesive story? This movie truly suffered from Hollywood excess, big on budget and special effects, light on real content. Apparently the powers that be tried to cram in as much of Spider-Man's 40+ year history using the cut and paste method, without understanding any of its significance. The formula for the movie seemed to go something like this: Take villains from different eras of Spider-Man comics, Peter Parker's original first love Gwen Stacey, the black Spidey costume, mix together with themes of revenge, angst, pathos, redemption, multiple love triangles, sprinkle with minimal dialog to explain anything if at all and plenty of action to move it along.
Sam Raimi should have known better, having proclaimed how much of a fan he has been since childhood and producing two successful Spider-Man movies with clear linear story telling. Trying to resolve every storyline from the first two movies and introducing three new villains, plus a new love interest was just too much for a 2½ hour film. As a result, all character development was given short shrift in favor of moving on to the action scenes.
The introduction of the alien symbiotic organism that will become Venom was truly laughable. Crashing to earth inside a meteorite that barely makes a sound, conveniently landing near Peter Parker and Mary Jane who are relaxing in a giant web and don't even notice. Raimi could have had the perfect back story to use here, instead of the B- Movie coincidence that we are given. Having already established John Jameson, J. Jonah's Son, from the second movie as an astronaut, the symbiont could have been brought back from a space mission tying in the previous storyline.
In the next scene Harry Osborn swoops down on an unsuspecting Peter Parker to avenge his Father Norman's death, dressed as the New Goblin. This is definitely a highlight of the film featuring a knock down, drag out fight showing off the New Goblin's technology and Peter's ingenuity on the fly to defeat a superiorly armed foe. More exposition would have helped characterization in this regard; in fact Raimi could have used this scene as a springboard to explore all the relationships in the movie and created a Father/Son bookend format for the trilogy. He had access to decades of Spider-Man/Green Goblin stories to draw from but alas, only the basics were incorporated.
We are then "treated" to the origin of Flint Marco alias The Sandman, with alterations from his comic book roots of course. Not just a common criminal who gets turned into living sand by a science experiment, now he is also the man behind the gun that killed Peter's Uncle Ben. Did the writers and director watch Tim Burton's first Batman movie one too many times? I made you! No! You made me! The poignancy of Uncle Ben's death is that Peter, through his inaction, does not stop the man that later shoots his Uncle, which he blames himself for the rest of his life. Retroactively changing this story point was totally unnecessary and undercut the emotional impact of the first movie. I would go so far as to say that even having Sandman in this movie just convoluted things and the character could have been left out altogether.
Peter Parker's possession by the alien symbiont is technically very well done and appropriately creepy, looking like oozing animated black oil. Once again however, deviating from the original comic book source material, it forms a new costume that affects Spider-Man only when he wears it instead of becoming part of his body. What is strange about this is that later in the film that is exactly what happens to the character of Eddie Brock who becomes Venom. He is directly bonded with the symbiont; not just his clothing is affected. Maybe this could be explained away by the fact that Brock willingly accepted the creature whereas Parker fought against its influence. In any case we are never really given a reason. The visuals for the Venom character were excellent and spot on to the comic book version.
Lest we not forget the soap opera elements of Spider-Man 3. Peter loves Mary Jane, Mary Jane loves herself, Harry has unrequited love for MJ, Eddie Brock loves himself but dates Gwen Stacey, Gwen Stacey takes a liking to Spider-Man/Peter Parker but dumps him after one date when he acts like a jerk in his "altered" state and finally Peter and MJ are reunited at the end of the film. This is literally the amount of depth presented on screen, a few lines of dialog to show each relationship and very little time to show it. Aunt May is back to give advice to Peter and be the voice of reason and wisdom, a bright spot in all of these movies.
Overall I would rate Spider-Man 3 the least enjoyable of the series but of course it will brake records and make unheard of amounts of money anyways due to the popularity of the character. My suggestion to Marvel and Sony would be to get a new Director and cast for the inevitable Spider-Man 4. I think this particular crew has done what they could do with the material, time to give others a chance to make a truly great Spider-Man film.