Rating of
2/4
Spider-Bland 3
goodfellamike - wrote on 10/26/08
Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Tobey Maguire) really has his work cut out for him here. He’s got to get passed his ego and really commit to Mary Jane (Kirsten Dunst), make amends with his old friend Harry Osborne (James Franco) who keeps trying to kill Spidey as alter-ego Hobgoblin, keep his photography job at The Daily Bugle, make his Aunt May (Rosemary Harris) proud, avenge the death of his Uncle Ben by the criminal Flint Marko (Thomas Haden Church) who ends up mutating into a gigantic creature made entirely of sand, contend with an evil substance from a meteorite that overtakes his emotions, and save the city from his photographer rival Eddie Brock (Topher Grace) who turns into the violent creature, Venom.
Spider-Man 3 is a long, lumbering haul that requires a lot of suspension of disbelief, which is fine for a super-hero movie, but not in the development of characters or relationships. Dunst's character never seems to understand Peter, even though he explains himself to her, yet she finds plenty of fault in how he can't understand her despite her own lack of communication. Does she not realize she never tells Peter that she was fired from the Broadway play? The most compelling character is Harry Osborne because he's allowed a lot of depth and complexity to his emotional arc, even if the script can't quite explain some of his actions. There's more emotion than action in this installment, which isn't always welcome in a comic-book adaptation, and here it damages the pacing and makes it feel like it's much longer than 140 minutes. It's also so overcrowded with antagonists I half expected Gargamel from The Smurfs and Snidely Whiplash from Dudley Do-Right to make appearances.
Many characters are thankless here, because there is so much plot involved, and side characters exist only for uneven comic relief (JK Simmons, Bruce Campbell) meaningless, arbitrary dramatic sequences (Bryce Dallas Howard, James Cromwell), or important scientific revelations (Dylan Baker), yet director Sam Raimi manages to find plenty of time for Peter Parker to strut his stuff on the street and the dance floor and allow at least five flashback sequences involving Harry's father (Willem Dafoe) or Uncle Ben (Cliff Robertson) that feel repetitive.
The film's strongest faults come in the character development of Sandman, the unnecessary appearance of Venom and the performance of Topher Grace. Grace is a very likable actor both on television and in movies, but as a slimy villain he is completely miscast. Venom is so popular in the comic book series that it's an insult not to give him his own movie. He is relegated to the final half an hour; it's not even explained where he gets his sharp teeth and gigantic mouth from either, but I digress... Not only is the Sandman character underwritten and tacked onto the film, he isn't even allowed to have a proper ending. Sandman is allowed to appear to be an evil criminal, admit he is a good man, commit more crimes including murder, and simply admit he isn't perfect at the end and allowed to drift away. Is that because the scriptwriters couldn't figure out a way to justify his character even being in the film, or did they realize there was no way to imprison or kill off sand?
Kids will like the visuals, but I doubt they'll care much about the relationships and characters; there's just not enough action to sustain their attention span. Adults will like some of the complexity, but be confounded by the outcomes of the characters and situations. There's a lot to put up with in Spider-Man 3, and it's just not worth the effort in the long run unless you're a die-hard fan. Final Grade: C-
