When will Hollywood LEARN?!

Rating: 7/10 (5 May 2007)

*** SPOILERS *** As a die-hard Spider-Man fan, I enjoyed this film. As a film critic, there's a lot to be desired.
The action and effects are easily the best in the series. Some of the most stunning effects I have seen. Unfortunately, the acting and dialogue is probably the worst.
The Good: I appreciate what elements Sam Raimi brings to this film from the comic, specifically, the Venom symbiote. It's a gutsy move to include it, because it's a stretch for the casual Spider-Man fan to digest an alien coming down and taking over Peter Parker (& Brock), but hey, it's true to the comic.
I also loved the Sandman action sequences, good use of his powers. But making him the gunman of Peter's uncle Ben was a little over the top for me, especially given the ending. To Raimi's defense, at least they give you SOME reason to understand the Sandman's motivations. I was really hoping Venom would be better utilized but he was more of a one-hit wonder character than anything substantial. He's more used as a device to demonstrate the alien's power over people.
In the end, the action sequences are wonderful and thrilling and found myself wanting to rewind and watch is slow motion more than once.
The Bad: Much of the dialogue is forced, failing to flow nearly as easily or believably as 1 or 2. Tobey Maguire seems far less comfortable with the character in this film, which is surprising and unfortunate. Too many homage scenes too, where the writers felt they should give EVERY character that's been in any of the first films at least 5-10 minutes of screen time (like the landlord and his daughter.) This was a huge complaint I had about Pirates II...give us substance instead of what you THINK we want to see more of.
Also, there's times where scenes are so unbelievable from a HUMAN standpoint, you almost can't believe the scene was ever approved. Case in point - in one scene, Gwen Stacy barely clings to a damaged building, dangling 30 stories up. Below are her father and boyfriend watching from the street. One would think they would be panic stricken, especially the father. Instead, both as docile as two strangers watching the evening news. They are so blase in fact, that Brock (Stacey's BF) takes the opportunity to tell the her father that he's been dating her. Meanwhile, she's seconds from death. I felt more panic from the extra in Spider-Man 1 where she's waiting to see if her baby is rescued from a burning building.
And my biggest issue should not be news to Hollywood - GOOD MOVIES DO NOT NEED TO BE 2.5 HOURS LONG! This movie could have EASILY dropped 30-40 minutes and been a great film. They spend WAY too long on needless scene after needless scene (the part where Parker shows up with Stacy at the Jazz club could have been a 5 minute scene; instead, it's dragged on for 15 minutes and it's not even a good scene.) What's worse, many of these unnecessary scenes are redundant - how many dramatic scenes do we need to illustrate the tension between Parker and MJ? I didn't count, but it seemed like 20 when there only needed to be maybe 3.
In the end, despite my complaints, I did enjoy the film. It's a must-see on the big screen given its effects and cinematography. If there is a SM4, let's hope for a less contrived and convoluted script.