The summer movie season is upon us and unlike 2006, the 2007 summer is looking to be far more entertaining. Hopefully it at least gives me steam to blog, because I suck at blogging. My writing isn’t bad, but my blogging? Sucks.
I generally only review movies I like, but this time I feel that Spider-Man deserves some facetime. Spider-Man is awesome, afterall. Through the first movie where we see him become Spider-Man, to the second where Doc Ock impressed us all, we arrive squarely on 3. The end of a trilogy. Threes almost always suck. I thought Spider-Man could beat the odds.
First the good:
Better special effects, cool villains, eye-candy, and some pretty awesome fight scenes.
Sandman was made for today’s special effects, and Thomas Haden Church did a fine job being both menacing and strangely likeable. The sand effects were arguably the movie’s best, and it was these fight scenes that entertained the most.
Comic relief was amply provided by J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson. He couldn’t capture the character better if he had somehow stepped out of the comics.
Harry Osbourne was back and slightly more likeable this time around, and his updated Goblin gear was actually pretty cool. It remains to be seen as to whom the award for best flying surfboard will go to this summer.
And that brings us to the bad:
Everything else.
Tobey is just downright annoying for this installment, and ol’ MJ looks like she’s a meth addict. The debate over how they balance love and Spider-Man is one that should have ended two movies ago. Every problem the couple had seemed to stem from either idiocy or lack of communication.
Topher did a fine job as Eddie Brock, and Venom was appropriately menacing. Unfortunately, Venom seemed like an afterthought to the movie and now will never be fully realized in the current franchise.
Also, for the love of everything holy, I watch superhero movies to see people in costumes beat the snot out of bad guys. I don’t want exposition in my fight, and I sure as heck don’t want Spider-Man constantly taking off his mask during battle. Not only is it extremely poor superhero security, it takes away from the awesomeness that is being Spider-Man.
Editing was also extremely poor. The story meandered, and it was clear that some scenes would have fit far better in other places in the movie. This upset the entire pacing of the film which hindered the audience’s ability to become truly enraptured in the fantasy.
Spider-Man 3 fell into pretty much every trap that the third movie in a trilogy can fall into. It tried to stuff way too much into a movie that had everything going for it. That’s not to say it’s not worth watching. Everyone should watch it — it’s Spider-Man. Just don’t expect the glory that was Spider-Man 2.
Verdict: C+