Spiderman 3: A Review

I've been finding it difficult to write a review of Spiderman 3.

See, whenever I sit down to think about the film, there's 12-year-old Steffie Jnr sitting in my head telling me that its awesome - the Spidey spectacle I would've killed to see at that age. But that kid is always competing for attention with another voice - my own personal black goop of realism yelling "we didn't think it worked as a film".
Walking out of the theatre at 2.30am on a Thursday morning surrounded by fellow nerds, I was wide awake. I loved the movie, and couldn't understand why everyone around me had greeted the credits with a resounding 'meh'. But as the days have worn on that black goop has roped its was up the arm of my sleeping inner child and dulled my appreciation.
The thing that finally told me I wasn't as impressed as I wanted to be was this - I didn't want to write a review. I'm the kind of bespeckled nerd who gets extremely passionate about comic books. My other great passion is talking loudly. Marry the two and I love to ramble endlessly, be it out loud or digitally, about things like Spiderman 3. But I can't form a cohesive review as I'm very much in two minds about the movie. When I'm awake I'm telling people how fun it was to watch, how cool it was to see Spidey in motion and action. When I'm asleep the black goop takes me on a tour of poor composition and lost focus.

With years of comic book reading behind me - especially Spiderman comics - I've digested more than enough story. I'm in the theatre to get what I can't from comics - to see Spidey in action and motion. When I say that a two hour movie of Spidey just swinging through the city stopping petty crimes would be met with my unabashed praise, you may understand why I can enjoy Spidey 3 where others have not.
I've retroactively read almost every appearance of Venom. I've seen the character go from alien cool to a diluted, overexposed anti-hero mess that is used as an example of '90s comics gone wrong. I've seen Peter Parker struggle with his inner darkness in the face of alien symbiotes, dead girlfriends, clones, shot aunts, dead-by-his-inactive-hand uncles and more sci-fi mashups than you can shake a webshooter at. I've seen Sandman grow from a one-note thug into a merc-for-hire into a hero and back again. With that in mind, I think I'll ultimately remember Spiderman 3 as a movie I enjoyed. It is deeply flawed, but it was fun. 12-year-old Stefan is ringing that church bell for all he's worth.

In lieu of a cohesive critique, I'm just going to list some things I liked or didn't like about the movie.

LIKED: Sandman. Effects-wise he was awesome. His rebirth spectacular when he first formed and touching when he reached for a symbol of his daughter. My inner geek loved his straight-from-the-comic appearance. Enjoyed the take on the character as a desperate man making bad choices.

DISLIKED: Sandman's inclusion in Uncle Ben's death. This felt unneccesary, and kind of makes the Peter Parker of Spiderman 1 an unnecessary murderer. I think Peter and our sympathy for the character would have been sufficient without it.

LIKED: Spidey in action. Enjoyed the three-dimensional, never-hit-the-ground nature of the fights. Effects looked great to my admittedly damaged eyes. Spiderman's unique abilities were showcased well.

DISLIKED: Spidey in action? While we saw Peter being affected by the black costume, we didn't see a lot of that from Spiderman. I missed seeing Spiderman swinging around the city doing miscellaneous good. I thought the opening fight with Harry could've had a cool reveal where Peter is smashed into a building and emerges in costume as a nice way to announce the character.The one fight where Spidey is in the black costume, fighting Sandman after learning of their personal connection, seemed designed to show us that Spidey was aggressive and powerful. That didn't really come across. His enhanced abilities didn't play much of a part and his rage could easily have come from what he had just learned. Nerd Tangent: Here's a five-minute scene that I think could've helped the movie's message: Woman is getting mugged at gunpoint. Spidey is swinging around. In a black blur he swings down, kicks the mugger in the chest and then carries on. The mugger is brutally sent flying half a block away and Spidey doesn't miss a beat. Doesn't stop to see if she's ok, no longer seeks praise. Certainly doesn't check to see if mugger is still alive. A montage of this a la Spidey 1 would've been great. Bloodied muggers caught in black webs. A Bugle headline showing that crime is down because criminals are shit scared. Show that this dark method is effective to make the issue complex. How about a car chase that's stopped by Spidey landing in front of the car and using its momentum to twist it from the ground and send it soaring through a 3rd story window? Little glimpses of a powerful, dark Spidey.

LIKED: Saturday Night Fever. I loved the dance sequence and the jazz club sequence. They were cheesy. They were lame. They were glorious. Because Peter Parker is lame. He is cheesy. Jazzed up on black, alien crack, Peter struts down the street and, for once, gets an approving stare from a female. This leads him to pick up a sharp suit and start disco dancing in the street, by this time oblivious to the fact that everyone thinks he's a dick. This captured something great - no matter what happens, Peter will never be cool. He's a dork. All the Travolta-riffing in the world won't help that. Awesome sequence.

DISLIKED: This again? It would be cool if Spiderman could get through a movie with his mask on his face and intact. I realise that its harder to connect with an actor if you can't see his face, and that Toby's paycheck warrants face time, but it's starting to become almost parody. Having his mask taken off I can take, but the constant ripping off is getting old. Its been done every time, and its starting to stretch even my credibility that his identity is not publicly known. Why stand 15 metres from a parade in your honor without your mask on?

LIKED: Topher Grace and Venom. I really like the take on Venom. I'm sure many will feel slighted that much of his comic persona was stripped. He didn't refer to himself as "we" for example. No slathering tongue. No chameleon powers. But given the nature of the symbiote as displayed I thought it was great. With the possible exception of Bruce Campbell, Topher Grace was the best part of this movie. He did a fantastic job with the character and I liked that, once he was Venom, he was still the same evil smart-ass that he'd always been, just with Spidey's powers over the top. I think its possible to bring Venom back and I hope they do, if only to see more of Topher's performance. There is much to explore with the character beyond what we've seen, and I think another Venom heavy movie would work without overexposing the character a-la the comic world. Exploring the duality of his mind, his being 'evil Spiderman', his invisibility to Spider-sense and be-anyone ability could be great fun. Please no Carnage.

DISLIKED: No spider-sense. I wouldn't have noticed this if it wasn't for Venom - who's comic book version is famously invisible to Spidey's danger sense. I did miss it though. Some of the coolest scenes from the previous two centered on this; the school fight with Flash, the car coming through the window. Its a unique ability and I would've like to see it represented. Harry picking Peter up off his bike and other such moments could've still worked with spider-sense.

LIKED: Bruce Campbell. 'Nuff said. Cameo done right. Sorry Stan Lee.

DISLIKED: Lack of focus. The big thing people said both before and after this movie was that the inclusion of so many villains would leave it unfocused and rushed. Sadly this did prove to be the case somewhat but I don't think the number of villains was the cause. Rather, focus was paid to the wrong areas. There was a lot of time spent on Peter and Mary-Jane when the point had already been made. Same with Harry. This left important moments - Harry's realisation of Pete's goodness, Venom's 'birth' - to rely on quick deux ex butlers to get by.Here's how I - obviously a scriptwriting visionary - would've handled the storyline without missing anything: Spidey is popular. Peter wants to marry MJ, gets ring. Sandman escapes from prison and gains powers. Harry attacks Peter and is knocked out. Meteor falls. Spidey fights Sandman and is soundly defeated. Symbiote finds Spidey and bonds. Spidey powerful. smashing criminals while Peter flirting with Gwen and treating MJ badly. Humiliates Brock. Harry gets out of hospital, falsely reconciles with Peter and moves in on MJ. Peter faces Sandman and defeats him with unnecessary violence. MJ's 'I'm leaving you'. Peter confronts Harry, hard truths exchanged, Harry disfigured. Peter removes symbiote, it bonds with Brock. Brock blackmails Sandman to help him. Peter fights both villains with help of 11th hour appearance by Harry in a Han Solo, need not be explained manner. Sandman leaves, repentant. Eddie separated from Symbiote, which is seemingly killed. Harry dies. Pete and MJ reconcile.Sure, there's a lot going on there, but it could have been covered easily in the time alloted without the fluff.

LIKED: The comic-book feel. Midnight atomic sand-tests and unexplained meteors may strike a bum note with some movie-goers, but it had me reminiscing about the comics of my youth.

DISLIKED: My main problem with this film, but really the whole trilogy, is Spiderman's personal involvement with almost everything he faces.Raimi's injection of humanity into his supervillains has worked wonders in most cases. In the first film it was great to see the interplay between Spidey, the Goblin, Peter and Norman.
Three films in, however, and I can't help but feel that this all just makes Peter seem less heroic. Allow me to explain.The Green Goblin was a huge part of the Spidey mythos because he was so personal to Peter. He knew his real identity, his son was his best friend and that Goblin legacy impacted on all facets of Peter's life for generations (of Osborns). This was powerful because it stood in stark contrast to the other villains in Peter's life.In the movies each climax involves the capture of Mary-Jane. Peter's primary motivation is to save her. Each major villain he is confronting has captured his girlfriend. In three this is heightened by one random disaster, an out-of-control crane, directly threatening Gwen Stacey, his second love interest.It feels like Spiderman is only getting involved when is private life is threatened, where I think it would seem more heroic if he was stopping these villains because, well, it's the right thing to do.In the final fight of three, Spidey had enough reason to fight without MJ's involvement. A guy using his own powers for evil? A desperate man he has overly victimised driven to the edge? Imagine the same scenario but with three taxis full of random people strung up. Same emotional punch, no retreading.

So there were are. If anything proves that I've been thinking a lot about this film, its a 2,000 word ramble. Appearances to the contrary - its easier for me to write out the negatives - I did really enjoy the film. It's got a lot of flaws, but it was damn entertaining.