Probably Could Have Been Better, But...

Rating: 7/10 (20 May 2007)

This film was an interesting departure from the previous two Spider-Man movies... that is, if you follow the Joss Whedon definition of "interesting"-- meaning something similar to "Oh God, oh God! We're all going to die!" It was painful to watch Venom being misused in several scenes (I, personally, missed his constant self-referencing "me"). Moreover, it was painful to watch the emotive restyling of the symbiote-suited Spidey. To restate what at least one commentator has already pointed out, Maguire is simply not good at playing the bad guy.
But hey, at least they nailed Sandman's storyline. While straddling the line of actual, hardcore super villain and not-really-evil nuisance for Maguire is often a point of criticism, I thought that this establishment was brilliant and quite true to Sandman's personality in the old comic books (let us not forget that, at least by the "Maximum Carnage" saga, he's not entirely evil). Thomas Haden Church was a good choice for portraying this oft-misunderstood (and very neat) character, and the way in which he is manifest in the film was fabulous.
Speaking of "Maximum Carnage", this movie was lacking the full symbiote storyline and it hurt the integrity of the film. I do hope that they at least touch on Carnage, but to do the Maximum Carnage saga would take multiple movies (or one very long one-- thank you, random walk-on characters). And Topher Grace probably would have been a better choice for Kasady than Brock.
Green Goblin 2 was relatively well-done (the upgrade in technology was a very contemporary but also quaint change). For once, I'm actually convinced that James Franco is capable of acting.
So perhaps it wasn't entirely awful (though Venom probably should have been better cast and should have had his own film)-- Church and Franco's performances are certainly the redemption song for this piece, and the effects on Venom were dazzling.
7/10 Overall.