Disappointing

Rating: 4/10 (6 May 2007)

I've never been a fan of comic books, and so I was surprised to find that the first Spiderman film was charming, entertaining and very watchable. I found the second Spiderman film to be not only better on every level than the first, but also a very fine film in its own right.
The third film premiered here in Japan and, having enjoyed the first two installments, I was reasonably excited about getting my advance ticket and waiting to see it. Unfortunately, after the screening, the strongest feeling I had was that of disappointment. It seems that this film is plagued with numerous, and more to the point *noticeable*, problems.
It appears that these problems all stem from two root problems. Namely, there is too much happening for just one screenplay and, the quality of writing is low.
As there is too much happening for just one screenplay, we have to keep track of multiple villains and civilians, each of whom has had only the bare minimum of introduction. This severely affects the action scenes because we don't know the characters well enough to get emotionally involved in the scene. In short, we don't even *care* about the characters. Another side-effect of this crowded screenplay is that we get a lot of very short scenes. Even the more dramatic scenes cut almost as soon as they've started. All of this makes for a very confusing, disjointed and dizzying experience.
The quality of writing is low. This means we have to suffer such lines as "Wicked cool!" from a young boy in awe of Spiderman. Do young boys say "Wicked cool!" nowadays? Actually, have young boys *ever* said "Wicked cool!"? The screenplay has clearly been rushed. The screenplay possibly explains why we get some sub-par acting from most actors involved. The scenes with the male and female news reporters are embarrassingly awful. Even the stars are unaffected. Verily, Tobey Maquire's "lip quiver" will go down in cinema history.
There are, of course, some saving graces. The first half of the film provides more than a few genuinely funny, laugh-out-loud moments (although a lot of the humour in the second half feels out of place). Also, because of the quick cuts, you're never very far away from an action scene - if that's what you're looking for.
This is certainly not the worst film ever made, but it is easily one of the most disappointing.