Spider-Man 3 Review

[robwright]

Venom's big screen debut is upon us, but does "Spider-Man 3" deliver on the promise of 20 years of Venom comics? TwitchGuru's Travis Meacham reviews the comic book blockbuster and tries to untangle the web of "Spider-Man 3."

 

[ninjahedge]

I have not seen the movie (yet) but I hope they did not break the cardinal comic book rule.

Do not kill the bad guy.

Even the ones that WERE killed, there was always that small chance that they could have made it out. One window of opportunity that they show you, but you never get to see if it was used or not.

If they are planning on 3 more movies they should realize that the only thing better than a new villian is a vengeful one.

 

[NamronSllim]

Rob I think your out of your mind. We do remember that this is called entertainment right? I went to see it today and I thought the movie was the best of all 3. Since when has anyone making these movies been following comic story lines I have yet to see a remake or first run comic hero movie that was anywhere close to the story line. I enjoyed it and I know there will be millions of people in the theaters tonight and the rest of the weekend making this one of if not the best movie of this type this summer. Rob watch those box office sales go up.

 

[robwright]

Whoa, hey Namron -- I actually didn't write the review. It was Travis. I just posted the discussion forumz link. Don't shoot the messenger, please!

I just saw it tonight, and while I agree with a lot of what Travis wrote, I think most critics I've read are being too hard on it. Spider-Man 3 isn't as good as 2 but I enjoyed it more than the first film. Like Travis, I thought the movie had too many new characters, too much going on at times. I think Topher Grace was wasted as Eddie Brock and they didn't do enough with Venom. But I loved the whole Peter-MJ-Harry dynamic and wish Raimi and company had focused on that more instead of the Sandman.

And quite frankly, the Bruce Cambell scene at the French Restaurant was worth the price of admission.

 

[Animebando]

I waited eagerly in line for an hour and a half to get into the midnight showing of Spiderman3, and I might as well have gone the next day. I was let down. Most of what I felt was wrong with the movie was reflected in the review by Travis. It was just too damn complicated. 3 villains is a little too much for me. Although it was a good movie, it just doesn't hold up to the Spiderman standard.

 

[jDavid_net]

The movie was not about the villains, it was solely about Peter's internal struggle to resolve his urge for revenge, and his current level of pride that was getting in the way of his other relationships.

Also, the space goo is not totally gone, the professor still has some.

Finally, Spiderman fought the final fight with intelligence and owning up to his unresolved problems. This is the Peter Parker/Spiderman I know. Any other story would have left The Amazing Spiderman beating his demons with force and not wit.

I fully enjoyed it more than the other two stories. Especially the rompriot called Spiderman 2 which lacked any really character development, which is strongly demonstrated here as this movie only draws off of the first film.

 

[predaking]

eh it was too busy. too many things happening.

breaking the rule stated above.


i really enjoyed the fight between peter and goblin junior. i thought that was very very well done.


i did not like how everything was wrapped up with a bow in the last 10 mins.


i guess i don't like how they keep killing off every single villian in these super hero movies. 2 hours isn't long enough to tell a good story. you need reoccurance, hinting, etc.

must say i did like Bruce Campbells roll in this movie.

 

[xXDracoXx]

Has it occurred to anyone that the simplest thing for Harry to do at the bridge scene(where MJ breaks up with Peter) was to just snipe him? He was right there standing still lol!

 

[NamronSllim]

"Spider-Man 3" debuted to a super-powered opening in North America Friday, smashing records as it took in an estimated $59 million, according to its distributor Sony Pictures. That number represents the biggest opening-day haul ever, leaping ahead of the previous record-holder, last summmer's "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest," which bowed to $55.8 million on its way to a then-record opening weekend of $135.6 million. Sony estimated Saturday morning that as the weekend develops "Spider-Man" could grab $135-145 million for the three day weekend. The third installment in the tale of Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man, set up shop in a record 4,252 theaters. Its opening-day record is also the biggest-grossing single day in North America.


And I say as usual money talks BS walks

 

[volverine]

though i was among those unfortunate lot who missed the midnight screening but still i made time to watch it on 4th may after my exam.
the movie is too good, as far as my view is concerned.
i dont care a damn about the critics or any one who try to judge it against the previous spiderman movies. it's just absurd to compare the 3 spiderman movies.
the movie cleared all the questions that arose in my mind after watching the first two of the trilogy...
hary osborne's character was properly justified....as well as sandman's...

Though one thing annoyed me was all those patriotic stuff (spiderman posing in front of american flag before the big fight was outrageous)
Mreover i could not understand what all those people doing there... were they not afraid of Sandman

 

[xsamitt]

I saw the movie.The use of lighting was different then the first two.For the first time It felt like a real Spiderman.Like he could do anything at any time.So that is a major step forward.I really enjoyed it.So much so I saw it a second time...And enjoyed it more.ANd lets face it folks...The Batman movie ...Even the Latest was plain crap compared to this or any of the spiderman movies.IMHO.

 

[waylandprod]

Now I'm not one to post, considering my account is pretty much inactive, but after reading the THG post about Spiderman, I felt inclined to write my own.


WARNING: Some Spoilers are contained



Then again, if you have seen the previews for the movie, you know what's going to happen already.

I had many problems with the film; I'll just list them as I go.

1. Worst dialogue writing I have heard in a while. Whenever I hear something really contrived and un-natural, I just roll my eyes... I did that a lot this film. The exposition of the butler was the worst part of the movie. Who ever wrote this, needs to be put down so I don't waste any more time on bad movies. Bad dialogue was just the beginning... there was a thin plot, and riddled with holes, but I'll get into that later.

2. Everything is all way TOO convenient and becomes very soap opera, and laughable at that. So of all the place in the world, the meteor hits by Spiderman's bike, and just latches on... come on, you can do better than that! Oh, and Harry loses his memory, but just the bad part of recent.... right... I can believe that. ABC-Mid-day TV has its viewers; I'm not one of them. Oh and did I mention, that the Sandman just happen to fall into some sort of proton execelerator machine IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT, and it just happens to run as he falls in. UM.... riiiiight. I'm not buying this one, not even for the 10.50 I wasted to see the film. Oh and Venom and Eddie Brock, right there at the same time, right.... Oh and forget what we already told you, Peter's uncle he wasn't killed by that one guy, it's this other guy. We can't raise the stakes ourselves, so we'll just do it with really bad re-writing of decent material.

3. Oh, and Spiderman starts to have a dark side, so what did they decide to do. Let's just dress him up in a black suit, oh, and let's throw on a smidgen of the gothic hairstyle to make him look all dark and mysterious. Not to mention, the Co-Co bongo dance that we saw in the Mask, that was here too. He was all about playing the piano and dancing on tables. That was my "Jump the Shark" moment right there. I was counting down the minutes till it was over at that point.

4. The Characters.... or lack thereof. Ok, so I could only assume that the writers or producers had a bowl full of plot ideas and threw them at a magnetic board. Whatever stuck... they kept, and boy was that a mistake. They threw in so many characters and plot lines and spent the most time on the weakest points. The poor symbiot was left in the cold. In the movie it makes Spiderman dark, and that's it. It doesn't make him any more powerful, or at least even seem that way. There is no connection between the two. The simbiot itself should have been a character, but alas, no it wasn't. It was just an added plot point, poorly explained, and poorly executed. I felt sorry for the Sandman. He was supposed to be a complex character that only does what he needs for his daughter. That fell flat on its face with very poor predictable dialogue and was only visited once in the entire film, and that was barely before the character was even introduced. We don't even know the character enough to care about what he is doing and why. It could have been SOOO much better had they given hints along the way and revealed it later in a much more clever way. Instead, his character was as flimsy of the material he was made out of. As for Venom, the long awaited Character, why oh why spend the least amount of time, on the one piece that was actually believable?! The character was spot-on, the acting was great, and the performances were on par!

5. When Peter cries... we laugh... and so did the rest of the audience. Especially for all the campy emotional scenes. If those weren't pathetic enough, let's just throw in the scenes where Spidey is being praised by the entire city, and then throw in self-glorification lines, which are no doubt those said by the writers as they were writing these pieces. The slowest parts of the movie were the emotional arcs of Peter and Mary Jane. We have visited these characters before and again and again. Let's beat the dead horse raw with the same emotions over and over again. We get that MJ is jealous of Peter's success at Spidey. We got it the first 10 times it was said. Throwing in the 2nd romantic interest would have been nice if it would have been more involved and actually conflicting. Instead, she was just a tool of Jealousy, and poor at that. Spidey wouldn't have kissed her had it been properly written, but I'll go into that later in how I would have fixed this film.

6. The campy news anchors were horrible, however real; the "End of Spider-man" line was like, What the hell were you thinking?!?


I could go on and on and on about how it was bad, how was it good? Only a few saving graces.
Bruce Campbell - what can I say, an amazing sequence, not carried by the Stars, which it should have been, but by this amazing actor and his ability to make the smallest gestures humorous!
Jameson- Great Character, and funny scenes... the little girl scene was kind of weak, but it worked for a cheap laugh.
Eddie Brock- Nicely played for the short screen time he had. He was genuine and believable, one of the few!

Ok, now that I've ripped it to shreds, how could it have been better?
3 Villains? Hmmm... Let's make that merely 2. I'll keep Sandman, explore his character more and make him a more internally divided character. Re-cast it for someone who can play that role better, or at least give him better direction.


We start with the Sandman, and fighting with Spiderman, of course we don't really learn much about him at first, but how he becomes the way he is. Spiderman wins of course. Sandman appears intermittent throughout the plot, subdued a bit till later on.

Oh, and he didn't kill Peter's uncle, that plotline stays the same. Spidey- bonds with the Simbiot within the first 20 minutes of the film, and not from a meteor, let's say by Doctor Conner's. Start the movie with him on a research grant going through some of the things left over, and the material is found inside the meteor. Since he's a teacher, Peter could have been there the entire time. The simbiot (being a actual character in my version) would have seen something in Peter aside from everyone else, and strived to bond with him rather than anyone else. After all, if you have to live along with someone, you want to choose your strongest resource.

Green Goblin, defeats Spiderman before the Symbiot can bond with Spidey. The city starts to lose faith in him, not being as strong as he used to be. Harry wants to humiliate Spider man, and in a very strong way. Tactics change however, as the simbiot bonds with Spiderman. He starts to lose control at moments when the Symbiot is the strongest. Spiderman actually becomes unconscious in the battle, but the symboit keeps him going and Green Goblin is defeated. Spidey doesn't resort to hurting him, as he still has hope in helping Harry. He's finding himself changing inside and becoming someone different. As he tries to part himself with the symboit, he becomes addicted to it. He has ties with it.

Harry changes his tactics and starts to attack Spidey where he is weakest, whom he can't always protect, MJ and Aunt May. As the battle continues, Spiderman kills Harry. Spiderman is torn internally as he has gone way too far. He tries to destroy the suit, but it keeps coming back to him. He uses Dr. Conner's help to remove it. But it doesn't work.

Meanwhile, the Sandman is continuing on his venture, as we learn that he isn't as bad as we thought. Spiderman, enhanced by the simbiot now, is able to defeat the Sandman, but in a bad way. Spiderman removes himself of the simbiot, and the Sandman escapes. His true character is know. As the simbiot separates, it is found by Eddie Brock, who it attaches itself to, and he shares a hatred towards spiderman as well.

That's a rough sketch, but it's more formatted and shapely than theirs, and i came up with that as I wrote it. Give me a little while of pre-production and WHAM, you got yourself a better film.


And to let you know, this only took 20 min to write

 

[tmeacham]

"Spider-Man 3" debuted to a super-powered opening in North America Friday, smashing records as it took in an estimated $59 million, according to its distributor Sony Pictures. That number represents the biggest opening-day haul ever, leaping ahead of the previous record-holder, last summmer's "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest," which bowed to $55.8 million on its way to a then-record opening weekend of $135.6 million. Sony estimated Saturday morning that as the weekend develops "Spider-Man" could grab $135-145 million for the three day weekend. The third installment in the tale of Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man, set up shop in a record 4,252 theaters. Its opening-day record is also the biggest-grossing single day in North America.


And I say as usual money talks BS walks

So if a movie opens well it's good? I guess that makes Wild Hogs and Ghost Rider, like...the best movies ever? And The Thing and Blade Runner are complete crap?

I stand by my review. I didn't say it sucked, I said that it didn't deliver on Venom. The main villain of the film is Emo Parker, which was a poor decision in my opinion.

 

[Zzt]

So if a movie opens well it's good? I guess that makes Wild Hogs and Ghost Rider, like...the best movies ever? And The Thing and Blade Runner are complete crap?

I stand by my review. I didn't say it sucked, I said that it didn't deliver on Venom. The main villain of the film is Emo Parker, which was a poor decision in my opinion.

Those comparisons do not seem valid or even useful in this context, IMO, and as the old saying goes, 'beauty is in the eye of the beholder'. There is nothing wrong with your review, but realize that it is your opinion and is not likely shared by many who have seen the movie. I personally don't believe the title of your review is called for since your review reflects your letdown concerning your personal expectations. It may not have delivered for you or others in many different aspects, but considering the serious amount of cash that this flick has raked in during its first week, it has delivered exactly what the producers hoped for, and more.

Seeing as how they butchered the origin of the black suit/symbiote in the first place (where were the Secret Wars??), why did you even bother to go see the pic at all?

In the end, it seems to be a fairly fun movie that has interested a large number of moviegoers, possibly due to the lack of a valid 'blockbuster' up to this point this year, but the real issue is would you recommend this movie to others? You seem to affirm that it is worth seeing, but you also seem determined to voice your personal dissatisfaction more than anything else in your review. Why aren't you directing this series in Hollywood from your multi-million dollar mansion?

Actually, your review isn't that bad, but I disagree with the title. It looks like over 30 million+ people worldwide (that includes over 13 million in the U.S. in just Friday-Sunday) have seen the flick during the first week of release, so there must be some decent word of mouth action here seeing as how the reviews have been pretty lackluster. I suppose that in another 2 weeks it will be falling fast as the next blockbuster premiers, but going by just the numbers it seems at this point it is more popular than either of the first two Spiderman films, and I've heard from more than a few that they enjoyed this installment more than the first two. Perhaps it is just a fun flick?

 

[tmeacham]

For movie reviews all I really have are my own satisfaction and personal expectations. So yes, if a movie disappoints me...I will state that in the review. I'd recommend people see Spider-Man 3 because it's good albeit flawed. We only review the movies that we think you guys might be interested in and I write those reviews from a fan's perspective. We aren't interested in the money, we're interested in fan service.

Having said that, it appears Spider-Man 3 is making money faster than money can be printed. Anyone still skeptical there will be a 4?

As an aside, I think my scene from Spider-Man was included in Spider-Man 3 (although not in it's entirety). Here's me in Spider-Man. I'm the only other person running towards danger. I'm his sidekick!

Before you call shenanigans, here's another one from a featurette on the DVD of another angle.

That's my wife wielding the balloon behind me. Anyway, the little slow-motion superman homage is in the opening credits to Spider-Man 3, so I might be in it. Time to start collecting royalties (not really).

 

[friedmud]

I had many problems with the film; I'll just list them as I go.

All I have to say is: Damn Straight.

After reading what some of these people have been saying... I was starting to wonder if I saw the same movie! I can't believe that anyone could find this a compelling show....

I saw the movie yesterday, with my wife and another couple... and we all thought it was terrible. The acting and dialogue was probably the thing we all agreed on as being the worst (with the large exceptions of Topher Grace, Bruce Campbell and Jameson... who were barely in the movie). But in general it was just a bad movie.

It was so bad in fact, that we all have pretty much sworn off of going to the theater. Next month I'm buying a 46" LCD to go with my home theater system I just put together.... and after that there just won't be a reason to go to the theater. Sure, sure... there will be some movies we just can't wait for (Pirates of the Carribean and Harry Potter come to mind), but in general Netflix will take care of us.

At any rate... I don't doubt that some people enjoyed the movie, but for me, it was a _major_ letdown.

Friedmud