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Review:
Spider-Man 3
 Superhero
movies are always to some extent absurd. This doesn't make them
bad, per se, It's just that there are different goals for shoot
for and heavy psychological drama isn't one of them, that's
where this thing fails. A film like this should be intelligent
enough not to be a total joke, and concentrate on the animated
action sequences. After all, this is a live-action cartoon, and
one-note characters are perfectly acceptable.
Yeah, I know, Spider-Man's angst was one of the comic's selling
points, I read it as a kid just like everyone else. However, the
attempt to take it to a more adult level just doesn't work all
that well. Not that it's BAD, however…
Okay, Peter (Tobey Maguire) and Mary Jane's(Kirsten Dunst)
relationship is beginning to mature a bit, but Petey's with
Harry Osborn(James Franco) is not. In the first big action
scene, Harry gratuitously attacks Pete on the way back from MJ's
opening night musical debut, and that's really good. It's fast
paced and violent, giving Harry a slight case of amnesia and
making everyone friends again. So far so good.
Everybody who's supposed to be back is. Aunt May(Rosemary
Harris) and J. Jonah Jameson(J.K. Simmons) return entirely
intact, and it gives a homey feeling to it all. Even the
introduction of the secondary villain, Flint Marko/Sandman
(Thomas Haden Church) is done well. However, it's the primary
villain, Eddie Brock/Venom (Topher Grace), and the romantic
polygon over MJ and Gwen Stacy (Bryce Dallas Howard), which make
the whole thing stumble a bit.
Back in the early days of the original comic book, Spider-Man
was a cross between “Superman” and “Archie.” Sure, Spidy would
fight the likes of Doc Ock and the Kingpin, but when he was in
“Clark Kent mode” it was as a slightly geeky Archie Andrews with
MJ and Gwen being the equivalent of Betty and Veronica, and
Harry taking the Jughead part. As far as it went, it was pure
genius, but then Pete went to college and the whole thing began
to go down hill. This is kind of what's happening here as well.
Then comes Venom. Venom was introduced into the comic book by a
dues-ex-machina in a Marvel-wide plot arc, and the original
black suit wasn't that popular on Spidy so it got a book of it's
own. The introduction of the suit in the movie is the best they
could do, I guess, but the whole thing is kind of lame, and it
nearly ruins the film in the middle, when Peter starts acting
like John Travolta in “Saturday Night Fever” The musical
sequence there stops the film dead in it's tracks, and it almost
doesn't manage to regain it's momentum. The final deneument is
also lame, especially after the nifty final battle between the
bad guys and Spidey.
It's a huge budget Hollywood comic book blockbuster, you're
going to see it anyway, and I'm not going to try to stop you. So
go.
Eric Lurio
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