Rushed and half-baked

Rating: 6/10 (9 May 2007)

This is what happens when you want to cram a bit too much of a plot in too little time.
Spiderman 3 tries to get it all. A love triangle, a family drama, a dark alter-ego story and not one, not two, but THREE major villains. And all that in just over two hours.
Does it work? Well, yes and no. More no then yes, actually.
For me the whole movie seems rushed. Everything happens as quickly as possible to make room for some more things to happen. Relationships between characters change and re-change every five minutes, good guys go bad, bad guys go good... it's basically all a big mess. The action scenes are good, but I must say that by this time I am a bit dumbed down to spectacular CGI action sequences. Gone are the days when one minute of T-Rex roaring into camera made my day - now I want a good story to go with my jumping, exploding, punching and swinging stuff.
Peter Parker got it worst this time around. One minute he's happy, then depressed, then a bit too full of himself, angry, then cocky, then back to sad again... it's all bit irritating, really. Mary Jane is stripped down to a clichéd "girlfriend who feels neglected" character. The Green goblin story basically repeats itself. Sandman is neither here or there - this guy needs psychoteraphy, not superhero clashes. (Note to Sandman: make up your mind already!) And Venom is just tacked on - the black suit story should really have carried on to the next installment instead of getting a ham-fisted treatment.
Is the movie bad? Well, not entirely, you still get your proverbially entertaining Spidey action sequences, and some of the effects are really good. But it all seems.. lacking somehow. One of the true reasons Spiderman was so well accepted as a character was his human side, but the characters in this movie are not human in any aspect, and I'm not really talking about their superhero mutations. They are victims of a relentless plot, which throws them, twists them and turns and leaves them gasping for air. It's hard to sympathize with protagonists who aren't really sure themselves if they are heroes, villains or just plain confused.
And that's it. Just my 2 cents.