Spider-Man 3: A Movie Review

I haven't been much into anything related to Spider-Man since I was young, but regardless of this the amazing effects they achieved in the first two Spider-Man movies compelled me to go and see the third one, if nothing else but to get some closure to the series of events it had weaved. For the most part, I thought Spider-Man 3 was a nice conclusion with relation to what the previous two had established. There were a few portions of it, however, that left me a little baffled and sometimes scratching my head wondering how the heck that happened.

Starting first with the parts that confused me, Peter Parker's entire attempt at the Emo-boy look and life was laughable to the point of utter confusion. I understand being depressed, angry, letting it seep into your morals and whatnot, but his entire reaction of dying his hair and acting like a hot shot just confused me beyond comprehension. Admittedly, it was flat out hilarious to see him sing and dance like that in an attempt to make Mary Jane jealous, but everything else related to this temporary state he falls into kind of threw me into a loop. As violent and angry as Harry was at him, it seemed a little out of character for Peter to whip a grenade right back at him and nearly kill him. It seems like Peter goes through the movie feeling hurt that people just don't understand, but in reality he never fully explained to Harry what happened with his father or anything that could have cleared the tensions between them. True he did try at times, but he seemed kind of cold towards Harry's feelings. In Harry's eyes, Peter was the one who killed his father regardless of the factors leading up to it, and Peter doesn't seem to quite understand how much this effected Harry until he's lost someone he cares about too and ends up in the same violent state. In this respect, I see it as a nice touch of irony for the movie, but I think that sometimes Peter's character has some contradictions in itself.

There were definitely elements of the movie that I enjoyed thoroughly; first was the inclusion of Sandman as a villain. He's not as well known as some of Spider-Man's other enemies, and the way they portrayed him was probably the most interesting element of the movie in my opinion. I thought the flashbacks involving him and Uncle Ben were heart wrenching, especially the scene where it's revealed that Uncle Ben's death was actually the result of an accident as opposed to a cold blooded murder. Sandman is also shown as a villain that we can sympathize with, like how Doctor Octopus was portrayed in the second movie as possessed by his newfound power and reeling from the loss of his wife and life's work. Sandman also has these kind of human emotions and motivations in his life, revealed when he visits his ill daughter and vowing to find a way to help her, even if it means bending the law. I found his character far more compelling than I did Venom's or his host's; theirs were more shallow, and destructive without there being a good enough cause for their actions. Venom was by no means not a menacing character, and I think his purely evil nature was a nice contradiction to Sandman's motivations and more obvious humanity.

The fight scenes in this movie are, without a doubt, amongst the best I've seen. As would be expected of a movie of this genre, the computer-generated graphics are entirely out if this world. While watching it in theaters, I felt like I had been transported right into the scenes where the conflicts were taking place. Seeing Harry acting on the remaining darknesses of his father was truly compelling; I found it fascinating how his costume portrayed him still as human, as opposed to his father's original costume which had made him appear almost demonic. I think this difference really shows how Harry ended up different from his father, and this came to its climax in the end where Harry sacrifices himself in helping Peter to defeat Venom. Admittedly I was a bit sad to see Harry go right when it seemed he finally had some light shed onto his father's fate and his own, but of course no action movie is without its tragedy. And as with every super-hero movie, the villains are either dead or retract their evil identities and all seems well when the credits finally roll.

Overall, I give a personal two thumbs up for Spider-Man 3; sure, it had its handful of small faults but everyone ends up having their own opinion, and besides the movie has so many good things going for it that the small things that are a bit bothersome aren't too noticeable. If you haven't gotten the chance to catch this movie yet, I highly recommend you rent or buy it once it comes out on DVD and see for yourself the amazing effects that are achieved in this motion picture.