Spider-Man 3 (3 out of 5 unicorns)

So on Thursday night, myself along with several friends got up to the movie theatre nearby three hours early to see the premiere of the highly-anticipated Spider-Man 3. The first Spider-Man obviously was fantastic. The second blew the first one away in virtually every regard. As such, Sam Raimi set himself up with huge expectations for this (possibly) last Spider-Man film with this director and cast. And those high expectations haven’t served this new one well from the looks of it. SM3′s reviews have hovered mostly around mediocre to flat-out negative. This isn’t the masterpiece that Spider-Man 2 was. SM2 was just so well balanced in its humor, action, romance, and downright cheesyness. For a film with with the same director, creative team, and actors, SM3 feels very distant from the first two installments. It’s a much slower pace. And for a film with more villians than the first two movies combined, I was surprised at how little action there is in this one.

Beware some spoilers below if you haven’t seen it yet.

What Didn’t Work

a) Venom. From what I’ve heard, Sam Raimi never liked the character of Venom but was forced by the producers to throw him in there, seeing as how he’s a fan favorite. I don’t know if that’s true, but it certainly makes sense. I’m not saying I didn’t enjoy seeing Venom on screen, but they should have saved him for later. He’s absolutely wasted in this one. He doesn’t appear until the last 20 minutes or so, seems thrown in, and is killed off really lame-ily (new word).

b) Gwen Stacy. Yup, that’s the blind girl from The Village. Looks completely different. I liked her in the movie, but her role was not at all necessary.

c) Peter/Mary Jane romance. The first two movies really just boil down to one thing: Peter and Mary Jane’s relationship. And it worked great. Ironically, I feel that this is Spider-Man 3′s greatest weakness. If one thing makes this film subpar to the first two, it’s the mishandling of the very thing that made the first two so great. The main reason for this I guess is that Mary Jane is depressed pretty much throughout the entire movie. Many will blame Kirsten Dunst for this, but they shouldn’t. It’s just how they wrote her character into this one. This negative vibe kills the optimism that used to characterize the relationship. In the first two, we knew that Peter and Mary Jane SHOULD be together, and they longed for eachother and hated that they weren’t together. In SM3, they’re finally together…and they’re miserable. Now that’s a gross overstatement. They love eachother but external circumstances have strained the relationship. But still…they’re no longer young, giddy twenty-somethings who relish every second together but seem instead to be almost burdened by eachother. And what got me was that things get so bad between the two in this one that it’s hard to believe that things can ever go back to the way they once were between them, and that’s really sad. They get back together at the end in a very bittersweet reunion and the film ends there. I guess we’re to assume that things eventually get better for them and they’re more in love than ever, but we don’t see it here.

d) Those freaking news reporters. The final, epic battle scene is interspersed with news anchors covering the scene. This just seemed like a really odd choice, and I feel that it took away from the momentum of the battle.

e) The Flint Marko/Uncle Ben storyline. I liked Sandman a lot in the film (see below), but the whole Flint Marko killing (accidently it turns out) Peter’s Uncle Ben is a bad choice. The reason being that Spider-Man’s origin story, as heavily emphasized in the first two movies is all about his Uncle dying due to Peter’s irresponsibility, and his vow to never make that mistake again. By making Mr. Bleached Receeding Hairline man NOT the killer, it can really ruin the first two movies if you think about it enough.

What Worked Well

a) Sandman/Flint Marko. I LOVED Sandman in this movie, both as a character and as an actor. Thomas Haden Church did a fantastic job, and I loved every minute of him. Sadly, it’s a complaint of mine that perhaps worked best in the movie was not utilized more. I wish he’d been given a much bigger role.

b) Harry Osborne. Harry’s always been great in these movies, and it’s nice to see the conclusion of his character arc.

c) Aunt May. Always a hottie. I love her character with all her kindness and wisdom.

d) Bruce Campbell. He’s been a wrestling announcer and an annoying usher in the first two movies, and this time around he shows up as a French waiter. Always hilarious.

When all is said and done, Spider-Man 3 is not at all a bad film. It’s still entertaining, and I will probably be seeing it again in a few days. But it’s definitely the weakest of the trilogy. Having two earlier installments that were as good as they were truly does accentuate the flaws that are in this film. This was initially said to be the last Spider-Man film with Sam Raimi and Tobey Maguire. But now the idea of a Spider-Man 4 is not completely gone, as Raimi and Maguire have expressed possible interest in doing another one. And Kirsten Dunst said that if those two came back, she would too. So here’s hoping to another one.