Possibly the best!

Rating: 8/10 (12 May 2007)

Well folks, summer is now officially here! The first summer blockbuster has been released, and it has broken six box office records. And rightly so, "Spider-Man 3" is easily the most entertaining, if not the best of trilogy. It is darker, more action-packed, and funnier than either of the first two. Though I thought it was the best, I still have way more quibbles with this one than the first two Spidey's combined. I will get to that later, but first, I will gush about it.
First off, there isn't just one villain, or even two, there are four villains in "Spider-Man 3". Some may say it's overwhelming, I say it was flippin' awesome. In the last battle sequence, Spider-Man battles all of them in one of the coolest super-hero fight scenes ever made, a major geek-out for fans. And the actors who play the villains are equally great. Thomas Haden Church as the Sandman does very well, though sometimes his performance seems a bit stiff and forced. Topher Grace as Eddie Brock/Venom was perfectly cast; he does brilliantly as a cocky reporter, then amazingly creepy as Venom. I will also say this, the way director Sam Raimi portrayed Venom was right on, since he is my favorite villain, I would know. He will definitely send chills down your spine. James Franco returns as the New Goblin/Harry Osborn and does very well as a comic relief for some of the film, and a troubled, downright evil villain the rest of it.
All the other original cast members are back, with Tobey Maguire doing spectacular showing a darker side of Spider-Man. And once you see it, you'll know what I'm talking about. Kirsten Dunst is nothing special, in two scenes she sings and it is the worst lip synching I've ever seen. There is no expression in her eyes, most of the time she seems wooden. Of course J.K. Simmons as Peter Parker's boss, J. Jonah Jameson, is hilarious as always. A new addition to the cast, one I really enjoyed, was Bryce Dallas Howard as Peter's new love interest, Gwen Stacy. One addition I didn't enjoy was a random butler for Harry Osborn, who just popped out of nowhere, like he'd been there all along. OK, now to get down to the nitty gritty.
The CG was absolutely spectacular. A reported 258 million dollars was spent on this film, a record high for a movie, which means, great CG. The score was not as great as the other two, since Danny Elfman opted to do "Charlotte's Web" instead. The music did its job though, and moved the film along. My major nitpick for this film is the scriptwriting. One too many scenes felt like a soap opera as almost every character cried at least once. Another problem was the corny dialogue, which never was a problem in the first two "Spider-Man's". It's one of those things where you sit there and think, "Just give me a pen and paper, and I'll write that scene a million times better, please!" The runtime is another minor quibble, the film clocks in at 150 minutes, the longest "Spider-Man" yet.
Still, as I said before, it is such an entertaining film. You will laugh, cry, jump out of your seat, and all that fun stuff that always accompany blockbusters. So just be prepared to have a good time, and not expect some deep, emotionally moving, thought-provoking film, because you'd be sorely disappointed. You will have fun, I guarantee it.