Spider-Man 3

Okay, I know this review seems a bit late, and of course I saw the movie on opening day, but I waited unti I saw the movie a second time, then a third time (IMAX style) before giving any of my thoughts on the flick. First off: I JUST LOVED HOW BOTH THE SANDMAN & VENOM LOOKED ON THE BIG SCREEN!!!

Overall, I thought the plot and pacing of this third big-screen installment of the Web-slinger was solid and it helped to wrap up older plot lines from the first two films. The usual supporting cast of characters like J. Jonah Jameson, Aunt May, and Joe Robertson appear along with the traditional cameo’s of Bruce Campbell and Stan “The Man” Lee. Though nearly 3 hours long there was plenty of action and Spidey-humor to keep the pace and interest of the movie flowing.

However, there was, dare I say it, a bit TOO MUCH going on with the film. I felt that Venom’s character development was too rushed he could have easily warranted a follow-up Spidey film focused mostly on him**. As an indirect consequence of this I think Sandman’s character development also suffered thus marginalizing his plot line, and I had some reservations about his connection to Ben Parker’s death regardless of how cleverly they did it. But if there’s anything I’m most critical about it’s how the black suit’s origin is told; that was waaaaay too generic.

But in the bigger scope of it all, I think Sam Raimi & Co. did a great job ending the big screen Spider-Man trilogy on a strong note. Some much hype & expectation was pre-set for the film that realistically how can they do EVERTHING people wanted?

If you’re an honest critic about the medium of film & comic-books you have to give the movie it’s fair due: what they set out to accomplish with both the storylines and special effects was so complex that it amazes me how well they managed to keep the original spirt of the 40+ year comic-book based character soaring while also offering a balance between action & dialoge for nearly three hours. Not easy to do, especially while navigating through the realms of greedy Hollywood exectives. Big kudos to Sam Raimi. Big time.

*Because of the unlikelihood of the original cast all being able to come back for a fourth installment (chiefly Sam Raimi, Tobey McGuire & Kirsten Dunst) I think this was part of the reason to introduce Venom in the capacity in which they did, mostly to appease fans of the comic book. But I think most people would have ideally liked to have seen the black suit story end with Venom lurking in the background with an impending fourth film to fully focus onin a 4th film confidently knowing that all of the principal actors would reprise their respective roles.

3 STARS out of four

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