Spiderman 3

"If you do not climb, you will not fall. This is true. But is it that bad to fail, that hard to fall?" - The Sandman

Spiderman 3 was a complete waste of some fine plot ideas, good tie-ins, and poor acting. I don't even know where to begin except to say that it was the best idea for a movie I've seen in quite awhile, and surprisingly with Sam Raimi, didn't pull it off. With 2 of the best superhero movies in Spiderman 1 and 2, it was quite shocking that 3 was dribble. The acting was supbar, it looked as if Sam's direction regressed back to bad b-movie schlock (not the good kind, which there is!!), and a reliance on coolness rather than characterization.

The Good:
- Plot points:
1. what a cool way to tie everything together: vengeance. It worked because you had the Sandman killing Uncle Ben, reigniting the fire in Peter which only is made worse by the Venom gunk and the idea that Peter and Mary-Jane's relationship is falling apart was nicely done. It can be assumed that Spidey would take a toll on their relationship. Harry was also a cool, if slightly dumbly put-together plot. His relationship leading up to Green Goblin Jr. made sense and it seemed as though he would get his revenge. I don't even mind his amnesia or his actions at the end. What I do mind is how gay his suit and snowboard looked. Their team-up at the end seemed artificial (which teaming up is cool, but make it work better).
2. Coolest point of a movie in awhile (due to the acting in Spidey 1 and 2) is when Spidey blows up Harry. I had chills! Why couldn't the rest of the movie be similar to this. Or when Harry hurts Peter by saying he's the other man. This was great stuff.

BAD!
The movie takes too long in showing how much the fame has gone to his head. It's kind of unneeded, especially b/c Jonah would never let it happen. Peter and MJ's relationship/acting. It was pretty "go through the motions" kind of stuff. The relationship b/t Topher and Tobey seemed artificial. Topher should have had more to do in the movie, his scene where he asks God to kill Peter was really good.

Too many villains. I think things would have been good without Venom or the Sandman, having both plus Harry really gunked the plot up. Personally, I would have kept Venom in, and used the Sandman without powers (he doesn't really do much in the movie), which would allow for the vengeance plot device without mucking around in Sandman contrivance.

Here's an idea:
Keep much of the movie the same, but lose about the 1st 30 minutes where everything is hunky-dory! Move Peter's badness to the beginning/middle section and then halfway through the movie, he loses the suit. Then the movie becomes more horror-oriented b/c Venom knows everything about Peter and his abilities.... making it an awesome, Venom creeping around kidnapping family and friends, attacking Peter in his non-Spidey identity and wreaking general havoc on his life. You lose Sandman as a villain and lose Harry after he gets blown up, only to realize what his father had done as the Goblin and realize he was a bad person (he did try to kill MJ) and then he comes to Peter's rescue right at the end before he and MJ or Aunt May bite the dust.

What I'm trying to say is that the movie only needed 2 villains, Harry and Venom. Peter could have been his own villain for the first half of the movie. Instead, we get a poorly made, retread of too much going on. Here's hoping that Batman 2 or Superman 2 isn't affected by this poor movie. Though I don't think it will be, this movie has gotten better reviews than it deserves, and I think it's partly b/c everyone is willing to cut the creative slack b/c 2 out of 3 movies were classics. I'm not satisfied and don't think they should be cut slack.

But as the quote says at the beginning, the idea of the movie was splendid, and it was a lofty tale to tell and I appreciate Sam and crew trying, if they hadn't even tried, they wouldn't have failed, but then none of the movies would have been made and none of the superhero movies would be as good as they have been.

So, Sam, it was a shitty movie, but thanks for 2 good ones and thanks for trying! I hope they don't hire you, or any of the old crew back, it's been a good run (could have been great), but it's time for some new blood!