Like a sandwich with good bread and sand in the middle

Rating: 4/10 (9 May 2007)

Being a Spiderman fan (the 90's cartoon series, too cheap for the comics), I enjoyed the second film and looked forward to the third.
The beginning wasn't bad but once it got to the middle, everything that made the movie series so great went down the terlet.
Now I have a theory - Joel Schumacher kidnapped Sam Raimi and took over after the beginning. It's the only logical reasoning I can think of for the bloated mess in the middle.
First of all, when did Mary-Jane become a singer? And when did she get decidedly dumber and sorry to add on here, but at some point, you gotta stop with all the kidnappings. I mean if I was kidnapped as much as MJ was in the film, I would probably take a nap in that cab. Makes you wish for a Guild of Calamitous Intent to provide spacing.
Sorry.
Anywho, Gwen Stacy - completely unnecessary, one-dimensional, should have been in the first film if they really wanted her in this.
The montage sequence was WAY too long, WAY overdone, it was unintentional comedy at its most bloated. With all the eye shadow and black clothing, I thought Parker would have locked himself in his room and listened to the Cure for 15 hours. Would have fit in better than the most ridiculous dance since the Batousi.
Another problem - too many supervillians. If they wanted more than one, they should have kept Doc Oc alive in the second film and start up the Sinister Syndicate or whatever it was called. Venom is good enough by himself with out any need for the Goblin or Sandman.
Speaking of the Goblin, did the audience really want another Goblin appearance? Couldn't Harry have played no role and then make a grand appearance in the fourth one? Stop the losing the damn mask! I swear, what is the point of the costume if the guy keeps losing his mask? Do you see Batman having this problem? How about comic book Wolverine? My main gripe though is the middle which as stated before, contained not only the overdone montage but an instance of assault which helped lead to one of the more ridiculous endings I have seen. They hug and that's that...what now everything is just hunky-dory? In condensed form: the beginning was good, the middle sucked and dragged the ending with it.
For the next three films, they need to streamline the story, rediscover Spiderman's witty banter and have him keep his mask on.