My Spider-Man 3 Review (Spoiler-Free)

This is a review I posted on IMDB. While the review is spoiler free, be aware that if people reply to this thread, the thread itself probably will be spoiler-full.

Spider-Man 3's web of plots only loosely captures our hearts this time...
8/10

Spider-Man 3 goes for more than it can handle. The movie shuffles
through a good number of potentially great stories, but they do fall
thin. Don't get me wrong, its story is still a great story. But the
storytelling suffers from trying to condense everything efficiently.

I would not be surprised if Sam Raimi eventually releases a warranted
"Extended Cut" of Spider-Man 3. This movie ran for 2.5 hours, but I
feel it's destined to be told in at least 3 hours and with more polish.

Gone is the focus and some would say "heart" that strongly resonated in
Spider-Man 2. We felt the aches, pains, and rewards that Peter Parker
felt in that film. Spider-Man 3 is a web of stories that do interlock
with Peter realizing that he has much growing up to do and he has yet
to learn that beyond sympathy there is empathy.

But it is hard to have empathy for the cast in this film because we are
getting condensed glimpses of their experiences (which all do interlock
with themes of Peter's growth as an individual). Spider-Man 3 attempts
to sum up the inner struggle of its many characters in very small doses
of tiny examples. The result is that we barely get to experience these
characters. We know how they feel and we also know what we are supposed
to feel. We have sympathy for these characters. However, we don't
actually feel through these characters. There's just no room for
empathy when all we get are small examples that only allow us to
sympathize for them.

The movie just doesn't show us the empathy that Peter Parker must learn
himself in this movie. If anything, the film makes the same mistake
Peter himself makes when he just pays lip service out of sympathy.

This is a good thing for the sorts of audience that yell out "I get it
already," but it loses the emotional impact that brought so much
respect to Spider-Man 2. Most people felt for Spider-Man 2. Many people
will merely see Spider-Man 3.

The cast gives a good overall performance. Some of it is risky such as
seeing how far Maguire can portray a darker Peter Parker in this film,
but it's set up so well that when we see it, it's not overacting, it's
intentional corniness. Tobey does a fine job, but a team effort was
needed to make it work. Dunst has some powerful moments in this film,
but they are scattered about far enough apart that we're merely getting
reminded of it now and then. I would comment on the rest of the cast,
but their performances were shuffled all over the movie. Odd as it may sound, but Bruce Campbell probably gives the most memorable performance. And it's very Bruce Campbell. Take that as you will.

Danny Elfman might be consulting on this film, but his direct role is
definitely missing. The score of Spider-Man 3 is fine, but it doesn't
narrate the story nearly as well as the score for Spider-Man 2. There
are great pieces though and it is amazing how well various Spider-Man
themes from the past can be rewritten into different genres. I think
the Spider-Man 3 score makes a good collection of music, but it doesn't
narrate this story very well. It's almost all highlights.

The action sequences are fun and longer than your average action
sequences. Furthermore, while there are a lot of CG based fight scenes,
there are a lot of actor/stuntman fights as well. The final
"spectacular" action sequence is an entire roller coaster ride in
itself, but the atmosphere was a bit much for me (you'll have to see
the movie but I felt like I was literally watching a roller coaster
ride at a theme park, flags and all). Its intention is that it's a
"spectacle within a spectacle." I'm trying hard not to give spoilers
here.

It should be noted that there are a lot of hilarious and entertaining moments in Spider-Man 3. They are there and they pretty much deliver. That's why I give this film an 8, it meets a lot of requirements.

Spider-Man 3 has a lot of substance too... but we can only get a shallow
glimpse of it. If Sam Raimi decides to put out an extended version of
the film, I am all for it. But for what it is, it's good entertainment
and it's not an entire sell-out by Raimi. However, compromises were
definitely made.

 

Imho spiderman 3 is the WORST movie about spiderman...
3 character (sandman, hobgoblin and venom) without a real background.... For me the vote would be 3/10

 

Harry Osborn was never Hobgoblin and he never became Hobgoblin in the film. He was Green Goblin all along.

I think the rivalry between Peter (Spidey) and Brock (Venom) already very clear in the movie, but it would've been nice if Sam Raimi focused with this dynamic more. Sandman's background story was enough for me since the character itself didn't interest me much. In fact, I wish some of the energy put on Sandman would've been put to use with Venom.

As a Spidey fan i'll give the movie an 8, maybe even a 9/10. But as a film student, i would give it a 5. Despite it's flaws, it delivered and is entertaining as hell.

p.s good review Chanchai

 

did anyone see the spiderman 2.1? How much longer was it compared to the original 2?

 

2.1 was only 8 minutes longer. I recommend going on youtube and doing a search of Spider-Man 2.1 since a lot of people posted the added and changed stuff on there.

I like the theatrical cut better, but 2.1 has some nice bonuses. If anyone is going to watch Spider-Man 2 for the first time, definitely watch the theatrical version first.

In fact, there's one bonus scene that's just way too freaking funny imo. I posted about it in the Spider-Man 2.1 thread.

Oioron, if I had reviewed Spider-Man 3 just on its drama terms, then I would have given it somewhere around a 4-6/10 myself. But I feel that this movie was to be reviewed as a commercial blockbuster.

Something kind of funny... If you watch the Japanese trailer for Spider-Man 3 (I got it from the Japanese Playstation Online Store), it practically tells you the whole story right there. Well, most of it anyways. In order even.

 

Bruce Campbell was about the only thing I really enjoyed in this movie. The rest was very....awful. In my opinion.

GE

 

^lol he was only in the movie for 5 mins...........

 

Thanks Chanchai. Extended fight scene was pretty cool.

 

yeah but Bruce is gold. The movie itself was nice to look at on Imax but I really thought it was lacking on several points. Part of that would likely be due to the studio's insistence that Venom be in this flick when it already had a bunch of villains.

too bad and with 148 million take on the weekend, 59 million on Friday (both records) I don't think anyone is going to be too worried about making the next one better - it likely is all downhill from here. Of course, they still have to hit the 500 million dollar amount just to make nothing. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif

GE

 

Minus the effects which were great overall, I personally thought the movie was terrible.

 

I read no comics.

I thought the movie was great.

 

As a person that is well versed in spider man antholgy.....tis movi tried to squeeze to much into one movie. The best parts of the movie were the harry-peter-mj fueled parts.


lol "mini green goblin"

 

Too many characters and plotlines in the movie. I thought Harry becoming XYZ towards the end (those who've seen the movie know what I mean) was just...OFF. Out of character, excessively corny, and didn't fit with the story.

Right now I would say it's 2 > 1 > 3, although there's no doubt the special effects in 3 blow all other movies away.

 

I wasn't very happy with the movie story and direction (and editing) wise.

 

also this movie was filled with cheese.....whenpeter was cryg over harry's death it looked comical

 

I thought it was great.

Emo Parker FTW!! /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/cool.gif

 

Im guessing and hoping there is an extended version because during some parts of the movie it really seemed like a bad editing job.

Things I liked:
Parker vs Goblin
Sandman taking his 1st steps
Spidey saving Gwen (even though some effects seemed incomplete)
J.J. Jameson scenes
Final fight

TThings I didnt like:
most of the story
MJ's what about me attitude
To many cute EMO Parker scenes when it should have been played dark
Raimi going overboard on SM3 "Rain Drops" scene
Harry's butler spilling the beans about his father after 3 movies
Goblin helping Spiderman
Villians dying and or crying
Venom being no one important

As you can see action scenes were good but story was weak

 

Now, I really want this for PS3 VF5.

 

Spiderman 3 sucked in comparison to part 1 and 2.
As a stand-alone movie it was alright.
Bad casting on the new 'bad-guys' though. Sandman looked more comical than menacing and that dorky looking kid that played Brocke was nowhere near what I remember the comic book version of Brocke looked like. I thought Brocke was supposed to be 'brolick' and he could beat up Peter Parker if he wanted to. Oh well, I never expected them to get 3 out of 3 right anyway.
It was funny to see some people freak out when Stan Lee made his cameo though, lol
I still got hope for the next one though.

 

Actually Brock was skinny and dorky just like Peter Parker when he first got the symbiote. He started working out because the stronger the host, the stronger Venom becomes.