Review: Spider-Man 3 (2007)

The best thing Ron Howard ever produced is Bryce Dallas Howard, and I will not hear differently!

Screenplay By: Ivan & Sam Raimi & Alvin Sargent
Directed By: Sam Raimi

While I don’t share the same vehement dislike for Spider-Man 3 that others do, I can recognize its faults. Spider-Man 3 is nowhere near the level of Spider-Man 2 and it falls short of Spider-Man. But, it isn’t the abomination against mankind that most people have painted it to be. Admittedly my view of Spider-Man 3 is based on the corny aspect of the film working for me. If you don’t buy that corny aspect then Spider-Man 3 is not a film you will like in any capacity. To all those who hate this movie, I can see why you do, but I don’t share your hatred.

Now that we’ve got that declaration out of the way, what is wrong with Spider-Man 3? The story is the main problem of the film, it is very weak and lacks any sort of overriding theme to tie it all together. The story threads are too disparate, the story being presented never feels like it is tightly woven in any way. I never get the sense that what is happening with Sandman should matter to me as much as what is happening with Peter and Mary Jane, or at the very least that the two are connected in some way. The lack of a tight story gives the movie an overall feel of contrivance, something not found in Spider-Man 2, these events aren’t naturally happening, they are happening because they are being orchestrated to happen. Finally, this isn’t Spider-Man 2, identity isn’t in question in this movie, keep Spider-Man’s damn mask on for Loki’s sake!

As true as the above may be, I had a lot of fun with Spider-Man 3. That is why despite being very flawed I view Spider-Man 3 as a low end good movie, it is a lot of fun with a group of characters I have grown to be quite fond of. J. Jonah Jameson is still hilarious, Bruce Campbell has a gut busting cameo and Peter Parker is still dorky in a cool way. I don’t care what anyone says, but the “Evil Spidey dance montage” is all kinds of corny fun. Venom is cool in action and so is the Sandman. The fighting is a whole lot of fun, especially for the comic book geek in me. Moreso than in Spider-Man or Spider-Man 2, Spider-Man 3 gets how the powers of these men would function in an actual fight and I loved the way the fights were shot.

Spider-Man 3 isn’t the best of the franchise, it is clearly the weakest. But, it is still a lot of fun, that’s what it boils down to for me. If you didn’t have fun with it then you won’t enjoy it and that is perfectly understandable. But, I had a lot of fun with it, warts and all. Spider-Man 3 isn’t horrendous, nor is it great, but it is a fun time and while I know all involved are capable of better, what I got was good enough to have fun with. Just, for the love of all that is holy, don’t ever try another terrible retcon like Sandman killing Uncle Ben or my brain will implode with fury!

Rating:

***

Cheers,
Bill