Spider-Man 3 (2007) is the third and final instalment of the Spider-Man trilogy, pretty much everyone returned for this film from the previous instalments, now yes, this movie is filled with problems, but honestly no more than was in the previous movie, and there are plenty of things in this movie that work amazingly, even though Spider-Man won't be amazing for another 5 years (Bah Dum Tssh!).
So the story in Spider-Man 3 is that things are finally going Peter's way, when he discovers that the person who he thought killed his uncle wasn't actually the culprit (Why the police never told them this is beyond me) and the actual killer is on the loose and eventually becomes the Sandman. And while this is going on Peter discovers a symbiote suit that enhances his abilities while also corrupting his mind. And while that's going on Harry is trying to get his revenge on Spider-Man for what he did to his father. Meanwhile Mary-Jane and Peter's love story is on the rocks and ends up becoming one big triangle. Okay so can you see the big problem with the film so far? There is TOO MUCH GOING ON!
And there is a very good reason why there is so much in this story, you see, this was the first instance of Sony's corrupting hand of the Spider-Man franchise, a trend that would get worse with each film in the series. Sony wanted to put Venom in the movie because he is Spider-Man's most marketable villain, Sam Raimi however didn't like Venom and wanted the focus to be on Sandman, so they compromised and put both of them in. This of course lead to neither characters getting the focus needed nor deserved, so I think we all know who the real villain of this series is, Sony...fuck you Sony!
So let's take a look at each of these plots individually, first of all the Sandman, he gets the most focus of the villains because that's what Sam Raimi wanted to focus on, he as it turns out is Uncle Ben's killer because every Spider-Man villain needs a personal connection to Spider-Man for some reason! He also has a very sick daughter who gets one scene in the movie, this makes it okay for him to steal stuff apparently. Now I will say Thomas Haden Church does a fantastic job in this film, he doesn't have the best material to deal with but man does he sell it. Also that first scene where he becomes the Sandman...fuck was that beautiful.
And then there is Peter getting the symbiote and then losing it and then it being given to Eddie Brock who then becomes Venom...this is the weakest villain. Eddie Brock's "motivation" for wanting to kill Peter makes no sense, he got him fired from his job (Because Brock lied and cheated!) he stole his girlfriend (Who he went out with once!) and this is apparently enough to want him dead...seriously? Most of Venom's time is developing Brock's rivalry with Peter and this is the best you can come up with!? Although I will say, for the time Venom is on screen, he is fucking incredible...he gets about 3 minutes of screen time, but he looks incredible. Also I never really had a problem with Topher Grace's casting, so overall, great potential, but absolutely ruined this character.
And then finally is Harry, who thankfully they didn't have to waste time developing this character because they had two other movies to do that so what do they do? Erase his memory completely erasing all that development! Okay well maybe this means Peter & Harry will become friends again and then when Harry gets his memory back it will create an emotional conflict and he'll finally forgive Peter an--yeah you already know this isn't what happened. Way to ruin 3 movies of development guys...Also Harry's death in the end is completely unnecessary and creates a lot of plot holes (If he can control the board then why doesn't he just order it back to him so Venom can't use it as a weapon?).
Then there is the relationship between Mary Jane & Peter...god fucking dammit, why is this still a thing!? I've made it pretty clear that I hate this relationship, not only because Mary Jane is FUCKING AWFUL! But this relationship was already put together in the last one, they're supposed to be together now and happy, she can still be kidnapped in the end, no need to break the two up just for them to end up back where they were before, come on movie! Especially considering that she is mad at him for not helping her through a bad time when she doesn't FUCKING TELL HIM SHE'S GOING THROUGH A BAD TIME!!!
So yeah, the story is really crap, but it doesn't really bug me because I think the story from the previous movie was really crap as well, but I will say this movie definitely has the best dialogue in the movies, no more "Jameson you slime!" (I swear to god I could do a montage of the bad dialogue in Spider-Man 1 and I would laugh my ass off). And like I said, there is plenty of great stuff in the movie that people always forget about. The visuals in these movies just got better and better with each instalment and in this movie...holy shit it is a fucking beautiful movie to look at! The CGI in this film breathtakingly good, some of the best I've ever seen, especially the swinging scenes and Sandman are amazing.
And I can't review Spider-Man 3 without talking about Emo Peter...I don't hate it. I mean a montage of Peter acting goofy and over the top, we also got that in the previous movie with the tune of Raindrops keep falling on my head. Also, are you surprised that a Raimi Spider-Man film is corny? And then there is the dance scene, it works as a good dance scene...if this was a scene from Chicago, but no, this is a Spider-Man movie (Supposedly) so of course it doesn't fit! But again, there was a scene just like this in the previous movie, and that being the hospital scene.
So everything awful in this movie I think was awful in the last two movies and everything great from the previous films are still here also, the score is the best it's ever been (Though Danny Elfman doesn't return sadly) Jameson is a god amongst men, all hail J Jonah Jameson! Action and costume design is top notch. Honestly this is one of the most visually impressive films I've ever seen. The lighting has also vastly improved, something I never talked about in the first film review is that I'm not a fan of Don Burgess as director of photography, the guy is great with framing but seems to have never heard of proper lighting to set a mood; Bill Pope (Who also did the cinematography for the second film as well) I think does an amazing job as the director of photography. And Tobey Maguire is giving his best and most versatile performance in the Spider-Man franchise. Fact is I've seen this film far too many times to not like it, in fact I kinda...love it, there is very little logical reasoning behind it, it's just one of those films that no matter how many times I watch it, I will never tire of it.
My final rating for Spider-Man 3 is a 9/10.
I know that may not be what you were expecting, but jeez, if you disagree with me on this one, wait until you see my opinions on the Amazing Spider-Man films.
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