Spider-Man 3 Movie Review

If you are in the mood to see a superhero movie with plenty of thrills and chills, then you will find some enjoyment in the third (and possibly final) installment of the Spider-Man series. Fans that are expecting the delicate genius of Spider-Man 2 will be disappointed. Spider-Man 2 had the unforgettable combination of action, story, and heart. Sam Raimi and his co-writers, Ivan Raimi and Alvin Sargent, adopted 'the more, the better' philosophy when they composed this flick. Spider-Man 3 has more villains, more action, and more romance which leads to underdeveloped characters and a very bloated plot. Spider-Man 3 does not live up to the excitement and romance on the same level of its predecessor.

Spider-Man 3 opens with Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) living the life of his dreams. He has the girl that he had been pining after, Mary Jane (Kirsten Dunst). Parker is at the top of his college class. Spider-Man is beloved by the city and has achieved icon status. It doesn't take spidey sense to figure out that Parker is being pumped up to take a big fall.

All of this success goes straight to Parker's head. He is too self-involved to notice that Mary Jane is having career problems and inevitably gets fired from her Broadway show. When MJ needs someone to whine to, Parker fails to be her sounding board because he is too busy soaking up the copious amounts of adoration lavished upon Spider-Man by the citizens of New York. Adding further stress to this relationship, MJ becomes jealous of Parker's lab partner, Gwen Stacy (Bryce Dallas Howard).

Meanwhile, Harry (James Franco) still craves revenge for his father's death that occurred at the hands of Spider-Man. Following a great chase scene in and out of the streets and alleys, the New Goblin develops a medical condition. Everything seems to be hunky-dory for a while, but predictably, things don't stay that way.
A parasitic black ooze crawls out of a meteor and attaches itself to Peter turning his red and blue Spider-Man suit black. The black goop exaggerates our hero's aggressiveness, hostility, and even attraction to the opposite sex. In one amusing scene, Peter, overcome with his own ego, attempts to strut around like John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever. Then there's the unintentionally hilarious musical number in which Peter sings, plays piano, and dances with his smitten classmate Gwen making MJ jealous.

A new photographer, Eddie Brock, (Topher Grace) is hired at The Daily Bugle and is after Peter's much beloved job. Brock attempts to make his big break at The Daily Bugle when he captures Spider-Man's bad behavior on film. Then the black goo lands on Eddie turning him into Venom, the film's second villain.

Flint Marko (Thomas Haden Church) escapes from prison and is bent on helping his sick daughter. In a rather awkward chain of events, Marko is chased into a particle physics chamber and becomes Sandman. This villain still has a heart. He robs banks just to save his very ill little girl.

Spider-Man 3 wins with its spectacular action sequences. These are the only moments in the film that are on par with the greatness that was Spider-Man 2. Unfortunately, all of the CGI wonders fail to save Spider-Man 3 from having too many bland overtones. For starts, Parker's dark side is grossly underdeveloped and lacks the impact that it is supposed to have in the film. The audience is supposed to believe that Parker has a deep, dark side because his hair is combined forward messily and he harmlessly flirts with other women. Where is the real evil?

A grave disappointment for the movie is the complete lack of chemistry between Maguire and Dunst. Maguire did seem to spark better with Howard, but it does not help the film because Howard's character is severely underdeveloped. It is a toss up as to what was more painful to view - Dunst's scenes with Maguire or her singing.

Spider-Man 3 is a superhero movie that falls very short of being super. The CGI technology saves the film from being a total flop. With a supposed 250 million dollar budget, one would hope that Sam Raimi and company would have taken more care of the storyline to deliver a movie that rivals the greatness of Spider-Man 2.

The bottom line is that Spider-Man 3 will undoubtedly make a ton of cash and audiences will be captivated with the action scenes. The movie fails audiences by having too many mini plots. 140 minutes doesn't do any justice to the film's love triangle, three villains, and Peter Parker's dark side. Diehard fans of the Spider-Man series may actually want Raimi and Maquire to team up for a fourth Spider-Man just to give them another shot at making a movie that is worthy of the series.

Spider-Man 3 is rated PG-13 for sequences of intense action and violence.