SPIDER MAN 3: THE GOOD AND EVIL IN EACH OF US
Written: May 04 '07 (Updated May 05 '07)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Excellent acting, writing, music and special effects
Cons: Some "leaps of faith" required for the story
The Bottom Line: Good opening of the big summer "blockbusters" with some important moral lessons
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| mike.holmes's Full Review: Spider-Man 3 |
"Spider Man 3" is, in some ways, the most difficult of this film franchise to analyze. I saw the movie and noon today amidst a huge opening day crowd and felt that there were a variety of moods shown by the people as they left. Some seem satisfied. Others appeared to be bored (one man even fell asleep and snored during an action scene) but the overall reaction was difficult to gauge. I then clicked on Epinions and found an extremely wide range of opinions.
I liked the film. I'm not sure that it was as good as the first in the series but I felt that it was better than the second. There were more villains than Peter Parker/Spider Man could control but I thought the final result was excellent.
THE PLOT
If you've followed the series and seen the trailers for this film, you know that Spider Man has a number of new foes with which to fight to the death. As the film starts, Peter (Tobey Maguire) is in a hurry to see the Broadway opening of a musical starring his very own girlfriend, Mary Jane Watson Kirsten Dunst). The play appears to be a throwback to the 30's big budget musicals.
Very early in the film, after Peter enjoys the film, we find Peter and Mary Jane making out just outside the city when a meteorite falls to the earth near them. They somehow fail to notice this but the audience is shown that this is no ordinary meteorite. A black, crawly substance emerges from the meteorite and follows Peter.
Also early in the film, Peter is confronted by his old friend Harry Osborn (James Franco) who has turned into the "New Goblin". Osborn tries to kill Peter in an extremely well done fight sequence. Throughout the film, Osborn either views Peter as his best friend or his worst enemy.
One of the major new characters in the film is Flint Marko (Thomas Haden Church), an escaped con that rather implausibly runs into the middle of a scientific experiment that breaks down his molecules and allows him to become "The Sandman".
Still another new character is Eddie Brock (Topher Grace), a photographer who fights Peter for the staff job at J. Jonah Jameson's (J. K. Simmons) newspaper. Brock also becomes still another creature with the desire to kill Peter/Spider Man.
Throughout the film, the ongoing romance between Peter and Mary Jane is advancing to the point that Parker is going to pop the big question but complications keep getting in the way. The biggest problem is that Peter becomes a new, stronger but somewhat evil "Dark Spider Man".
That's enough about the plot. There was a lot going on but I was never bored nor confused.
WHAT I LIKED ABOUT THE FILM
This is Sam Raimi's third Spider Man film to direct although this time he also wrote the script along with his brother, Ivan Raimi. Sam has been his best on these types of films with some of his other big films being "Darkman" and "Army of Darkness." I thought that both his directing and writing kept the action flowing and I was not bothered by the "slower romantic" scenes that apparently have caused problems for other critics.
Tobey Maguire is one of those actors who will always appear to be young (he's thirty-two playing a high school kid here). We've seen Tobey in other fine movies such as "The Good German", "Seabiscuit" and "The Cider House Rules", but we've never seen him in a role like this one. Sure, he's played the title role before, but this time we see a very dark side to the character for large portions of the film. And not a very likable one.
Kirsten Durst ("Junanji", "Interview with a Vampire") gets to show off her musical ability here with two songs. I assume she does her own singing. I've always felt that the Mary Jane character is a little weak in these films but I think Dunst does credit to what she is given.
James Franco who was incredible in "James Dean" is again excellent as both the Parker's best friend and his avowed enemy. I'd like to see Franco in some serious roles more often.
Topher Grace of "That 70's Show" fame (as well as "In Good Company" and "Traffic") is sufficiently obnoxious as Eddie Brock and his later evil character known as "Venom".
Thomas Haden Church who was great in "Sideways" also does a fine job here. His character is really a key element to the whole film which has the ultimate theme of forgiveness and redemption. More a victim of circumstance than anything else, he nevertheless appears to much of the world, including Parker, as extremely evil.
I've seen some critcism of the computer effects in the film. I don't suppose that I'm truly on top of all the latest effects, but I found the special effects in the film to be excellent, especially those scenes with the "Sandman." Again, I suppose this is a matter of taste and/or expertise, but the effects worked for me.
One of the outstanding elements of the film for me was the music which included the usual blend of exciting action music for the fight scenes but also contained some fine jazz, blues and old show tunes. This is a change of pace for the Spider Man films which I truly enjoyed.
Finally, while some would argue that the film was not truly faithful to the comic book on which it is based, I thought that moral lessons in the film were consistent with the concepts for the series. In fact, I felt that the film was an advance in maturity of the characters.
FIVE STARS
Recommended:
Yes
Movie Mood: Action Movie
Viewing Method: Other
Film Completeness: Looked complete to me.
Worst Part of this Film: Nothing
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mike.holmes
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Member: Mike Holmes
Location: Odessa, Texas
Reviews written: 1241
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About Me:
TO HONOR TED KENNEDY, CONGRESS SHOULD PASS A MEANINGFUL HEALTH CARE BILL
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