Spider-Man 3

***Spider-Man 3*** is a 2007 superhero film and is the third and final film in Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy. It starred Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Thomas Haden Church, Topher Grace, J.K. Simmons, Bryce Dallas Howard, and Rosemary Harris.

## Plot

Peter Parker becomes one with a symbiotic alien that bolsters his Spider-Man avatar and affects his psyche. He also has to deal with Sandman and maintain a fragmented relationship with Mary Jane.

## Why It's Great

1. It's nice to see that Peter Parker has finally managed to find a balance between having a normal life and fighting crime as Spider-Man. He's happy in his relationship with Mary Jane Watson while also receiving the praise he deserves as New York's masked crime-fighter.
2. The movie does an amazing job at juggling its villains. They all get plenty of screen-time, and they're as developed as they need to be, plus they're all connected to Peter in meaningful ways.
3. Peter and Mary Jane have a better, more mature chemistry here than the previous films, as the latter begins to wonder if her relationship with Peter is the best thing for her.
4. The scenes with Emo Peter are delightfully wild and funny, and totally fit with this Peter Parker's goofy characterization.
5. It has strong themes of redemption and loyalty.
6. Venom's suit is well-designed, even if it looked more like Carnage.
7. There are some good funny moments here and there.
8. While Peter being an arrogant jerk because of the black suit is heartbreaking, it is quite satisfying to watch him stand up to those who gave him such a hard time in the previous films.
9. The action scenes and special effects are decent, especially for the final battle scene.
10. Touching moments such as Sandman's backstory and Harry's death.
11. The plot twist of what actually happened to Uncle Ben was nicely handled.
12. The fight between Harry and Peter at Harry's house is one of the main highlights of the film. This fight advances the story, works with the characters and it's really well choreographed in terms of fighting, camerawork, comedy, harshness and music.
13. Cameos from Stan Lee and Bruce Campbell are a nice touch.
14. Kirsten Dunst's portrayal as Mary Jane finally has some progression.
15. Despite Gwen being pointless, she feels more like Mary Jane than the one we actually got in the Raimi films.
16. Christopher Young's score is still passable, with tons of suspense, darker, and almost like horror-style music, making the almost the darkest *Spider-Man* movie than the first two movies, especially the original theme composed by Danny Elfman. The alternate score on the Editor's Cut and the 4K Ultra HD is also enjoyable.
17. The Sandman is a decent villain that has a nice and touching motivation.
18. Just like the previous films, Tobey *still* does a good job as Peter Parker.
19. Topher Grace was the perfect foil for Tobey Maguire.

## Bad Qualities

1. **Executive meddling**: Although Sam Raimi wanted Sandman to be the main antagonist, Sony insisted on using Venom as he was more popular.
2. As with its predecessors, Mary Jane serves as a damsel-in-distress.
3. While he does give a great performance, Topher Grace wasn't a very good choice for Eddie Brock since he bears little to no resemblance to his comic book counterpart. In fact, he looked more like Tobey Maguire. He even lacked the imposing size and presence for the role.
4. The betrayal of Harry to Peter so he could follow his father's footsteps as well as blaming Peter for his father's death.
5. Venom gets a small amount of screen-time. Even when he does appear, his face is peeled back most of the time.
6. Venom looks more like Carnage, and was not big and hulky like his comic book counterpart.
7. Venom refers to himself as "I" instead of "we", which is what the character uses in the comics to symbolize the duality of Brock and the symbiote.
8. Mary Jane breaking up with Peter again because Harry forces her to makes no sense as Mary Jane could have just warned Peter about Harry instead.
9. This movie can get a bit flat, as in the dance scene in the Nightclub, Peter hits Mary Jane in the face (although that was an accident due to the suit controlling Peter). Another example is Harry's butler, Bernard, telling him the truth about his father's death after taking a bomb in the face by Peter.
10. This film effectively killed Raimi's *Spider-Man* trilogy, which was supposed to have a spin-off focusing on Venom and two more sequels, although Raimi admitted he didn't understand Venom as a character.

## Reception

The film holds a 63% "Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 262 reviews

## Box Office

*Spider-Man 3* opened up at #1 on its opening weekend grossing $59,841,919 domestically and made a total domestic gross of $336,530,303. In foreign territories, the film made $554,341,323. Overall, the film grossed $890,871,626 against its $258 million budget making it a success.

## External links

* ***Spider-Man 3*** on IMDB
* ***Spider-Man 3*** on Rotten Tomatoes