Spider-Man was released in 2002 to much fan fare and excitement. One of the biggest movies of that year, it couldn't help but create a sequel which was just as popular if not more so. Spider-Man became the latest of a series of movie sequels where ticket sales were driven up by excitement over every planned sequel. Spider-Man 3, rumored to be the last in the series, will most likely make as much, if not more, than the last movie, which was, in my opinion, excellent.However, the problem that movie series face is that eventually the series will run out of creativity and direction. Spider-Man 3 is the latest series to end not so much with a bang but with a whimper. Directors and writers can only carry an idea so far before any series becomes dry. Villains, CGI and special effects overall do not entertain if there is no solid story or plot. Spider-Man 3 shows what happens when too much is placed on eye candy and nothing truly substantial.
Spider-Man 3 opens up with the exact opposite of Spider-Man 2. Peter Parker (Toby Maguire) is enjoying the fame that Spider-Man now enjoys from New York as well as high grades at university. Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst), however, is finding her acting dreams tarnished after being removed from play. Her jealousy over Peter's fame as Spider-Man only makes it worse as Peter begins to let such fame go to his head.Harry Osborn (James Franco) plans his revenge against Peter and eventually confronts him as the New Goblin in a blurry CGI battle that ends with Harry losing his short-term memory and his hatred for Peter. Peter himself takes advantage of this and even though he saves Harry's life he has no plans on reminding him of the past hatred Harry had for him. It almost seems, for a moment, as if his old friend from high school has suddenly returned.
In the background is the rise of Sandman, aka Flint Marko (Thomas Haden Church), a petty criminal who finds himself altered after suddenly finding himself within the realm of a particle accelerator experiment. Driven to find money that would cure his daughter, Flint is later discovered to be the man responsible for the death of Uncle Ben (Cliff Robertson) and thus drives Peter on a mission of to avenge his uncle's death. Discovering that Flint now has powers of his own makes that mission even more difficult.
As if there wasn't enough conflict already, the arrival of a strange meteor releases an alien life form that later adheres to Peter during his sleep. Peter finds both his powers, and personality, changed by the life form as he goes from a mild mannered individual (as Peter Parker) and a hero (as Spder-Man) to one who is more emotionally driven and aggressive in almost every way. Peter's later rejection of the alien leads to it's takeover of Eddie Brock (Topher Grace) who was once a rival at the Daily Bugle until Peter exposes a series of false pictures that ends his short lived journalist career. Using the hatred he has for Peter, the alien transforms Eddie into Venom (although this name is never mentioned in the movie) who, as all comic book fans of Spider-Man will know, is perhaps the most famous of all Spider-Man villains and one who many wished to see in this movie.
Spider-Man 3 tries to get all of these sub-plots to end in a quick and nice way. Often, the sequences feel rushed and they lack the tension and drama that the last two Spider-Man movies had. Peter bounces from one conflict to the next but there is no real satisfactory ending to them. Sandman gives the sob story about his sick daughter before Peter forgives him for his uncle's death, Harry dies after a melodramatic scene that was almost amusing in it's absurdity, and Venom is only in the last half hour in the movie before his death which makes me ask why he was even included. These characters have so much depth built into them that the climax is a huge let down, where we have no real answer to the conflicts that had been created.
With great power comes great responsibility. But with a powerless storyline, It becomes my responsibility to sadly give this movie a quiet thumbs down.
P.S. : The humor by Bruce Campbell and J.K. Simmons is worth mentioning. These were the only parts of the movie that came as a surprise. The rest of the movie was pretty predictable.
