Ahoy, squirts! Quint here.

Yes, I’m psyched for Spidey 3. And yes, that means I didn’t fully read any of these reviews in a selfish attempt to not ruin the whole film for me. I read enough to make sure they were legit, but other than that… I played it safe.

I’m about a week away from seeing the flick… and I hope I radically disagree with some of these reviews, which are disappointed with it… even going so far as comparing it to X3 or even BATMAN & ROBIN. I don’t think there’s any possible way of it being that bad.

But we’re also getting good word. There’ll be a mix below. So be warned of spoilers and start abusing that scroll button! Regular ZeMightyJedd kicks it off with a mega-positive review.

ZeMightyJedd here. I just saw Spider-man 3 at the Grove in Los Angeles. It was a press screening, and a good friend invited me at the last minute (she knows I'm a huge movie and comic fan). I have too many thoughts rushing through my head to write a standard review, so I thought I'd just post some thoughts as they come to me.

I have thoroughly enjoyed reading AICN's special essays on the films of 1982, and sometimes I become melancholy and wonder if films now will ever be as joyous and electrifying as the movies of my youth.

Well I am extremely happy to report that Spider-Man 3 is one of the most fun and exhilarating movies that I have ever seen. Recent films like 300 and Grindhouse have been great, but Spider-Man 3 is awe-inspiring. Not since Return of the King have a been so stoked with a movie. It's everything a superhero movie should be. This is definitely the strongest of the Spider-Man films, and that's saying a lot. Be warned though: it is not perfect, and there are some less-than-great parts to the movie. There is also a section of the movie that will totally divide audiences. More on that at the end of this review.

However, the movie as a whole is wonderful. I will begin my review with the truly AMAZING stuff:

FIGHT SCENES:

This movie contained two of the best action sequences I've ever seen, ever. The first is Peter Parker's first fight with Harry Osbourne. This fight occurs about 5 minutes into the film, and it's just unbelievably great. The effects are really impressive, and the choreography of the fight is awesomely creative and well-structured. But mainly, the fight is BRUTAL. I really winced several times as both of these guys just beat the crap out of each other. The second awesome action sequence occurs a bit later when Spidey saves Gwen Stacy from a construction accident atop a skyscraper. Again, the effects and the sheer creativity of the sequence make it one of the most memorable action sequences of all time.

The other sequences were outstanding as well. Peter's battles with the Sandman and his vicious second fight with Harry are totally awesome. However, the two I mentioned above aren't just great, they're iconic.

ACTING:

Tobey is better than ever—he totally carries the movie, and I pray that he returns for a 4th. Kirsten Dunst shows more depth than in any of the previous movies. Bryce Dallas Howard is sexy and sweet as can be—I had serious doubts when she was cast, but she really is the perfect Gwen Stacy. Thomas Hayden Church is haunting in his performance—his eyes show such sadness and desperation. And Topher Grace is great as Eddie Brock; he really sells Brock as a nice guy with a dark, desperate undercurrent. But there's one more actor to mention…

JAMES FRANCO:

Franco gives perhaps the strongest performance in the entire film. And that's really saying something, because all of the actors are spectacular. I've never been a huge fan of his, nor have I ever had anything against him—I guess he's just never stood out one way or the other to me. But in Spider-Man 3, Franco steals the show. The character of Harry Osbourne goes through so many emotional changes, and Franco delivers. He provides the biggest laughs of the movie, the biggest gasps, and the most tears. He's just incredible. I can't say enough. There is a scene in a coffee shop where Harry flashes an evil grin at Peter, and it sends chills down your spine.

SANDMAN:

The character of Flint Marko is really well-handled. He's both a frighteningly powerful villain and a sad, sympathetic man. While I don't want to give it away, I love how the end of his storyline is handled—it's very mature, and very different for a superhero movie. The special effects for Sandman are really cool throughout. I was especially thrilled by the scene where Flint first becomes the Sandman. As he transforms, his face just scatters away—it's a beautiful, haunting image.

AUNT MAY'S RING:

Honestly…Aunt May annoys me (more on that below). But the scene where she gives Peter her engagement ring so that he can offer it to Mary Jane is priceless. Peter hugs Aunt May, and as we see the tow of them embracing in May's kitchen, we really understand that she is a fragile old woman who truly loves Peter. It's hard to explain, but it's a really touching moment.

STAN LEE:

Stan Lee's cameo is great, and his line truly brought tears to my eyes: "One person really can make a difference. Nuff said."

COMEDY:

While being the most brutal and action-packed of all the Spider-Man films, this is also the funniest. Sam Raimi has a fantastic sense of humor, and he really knows how to get an audience to crack up. Examples:

* Bruce Campbell gets a nice, fat scene, and he is HILARIOUS. Playing a snooty waiter at a French restaurant, Campbell just steals the show. Our audience of jaded press people were cheering at his every line.
* Gwen Stacy's speech when she gives Spidey the key to the city: "I fell 62 floors and someone caught me." Soooooooooo funny.
* In the same "key to the city" scene, when the little boy begs Spider-Man not to kiss Gwen Stacy. What an outstanding little moment. Of course a little boy doesn't want to see a superhero kissing a girl! Right on, kid!
* J. Jonah Jameson's first scene with Betty Brant had the audience in stitches. On a side note, the actress playing Betty is the hottest chick in the movie. I wanted to see much more of her.
* There's a great scene where Peter Parker is on the phone with Dr. Conners, but keeps ignoring him to flirtatiously order the landlord's daughter to bring him milk and cookies. Thought the scene exists to show how the symbiote is affecting Peter's personality, it's also extremely funny.

Okay, now that I've listed all the amazing stuff, here's some of the just okay stuff. Not bad, but JUST OKAY:

VENOM (SPOILERS):

The way that the symbiote appears is kinda bland. Peter is in Central Park with Mary Jane and a meteor just happens to crash silently right next to them. The black goo crawls out of the meteor and hitches a ride on Peter's bike. It's not horrible or anything, but I wish Raimi had come up with a more intelligent, creative way to work the symbiote into the story.

Also, effects-wise I wasn't thrilled with the full-on Venom face. I thought that Venom was much scarier and more powerful as a villain when we could see Eddie Brock's face sticking out from beneath the black costume. When the costume totally covers his face, it tends to look too cartoony. Just like all comic fans, I was dying to see Venom with his pointed tongue and fangs. However, in execution it was a bit of a letdown.

That said, the death of Venom at the end is PERFECTLY EXECUTED, both in script and effects.

THE FINAL FIGHT (SPOILERS):

I have a lot of thoughts about the big final fight, which features Harry and Peter vs. Venom and Sandman.

The GOOD: The teamwork in this scene is incredible. I know I might sound like a broken record, but the choreography and creativity of this sequence puts other superhero team movies to shame. Venom and Sandman really work together and collaborate to nail Spidey—they display way more intelligent teamwork than villains in the X-Men movies. And likewise, when Spidey teams up with Harry, they also display awesome teamwork. They are not just two super-powered dudes fighting in the same vicinity-- they are teammates, working together and taking advantage of their combined strengths to battle their foes. "Team" movie franchises like X-Men and Fantastic Four should really take their cues from the end of Spider-Man 3—this is exactly how action sequences with multiple heroes and villains should play out.

The NOT-SO-GOOD: My one big complaint is that the fight takes place in an unexciting construction zone. Why didn't Raimi choose to stage this scene in a more iconic New York landmark, like Times Square or Madison Square Garden or Yankee Stadium or Rockefeller Center??? Also, though it makes total sense to the plot, I was a bit annoyed that once again, a Spider-Man movie climaxes with peter having to save Mary Jane from a villain. Been there, done that.

Also, for some reason Raimi kept cutting away to several distracting side scenes, such as a little girl talking to J. Jonah Jameson, or a reporter filing a live news report. The scene would have been much, much stronger if Raimi had stayed with the action and not continually broken the intensity by focusing on throwaway moments.

AUNT MAY:

Is it me, or is Aunt May really annoying? She just is not a believable human being. All she does is enter the film at key moments and offer sage-like wisdom, without any sense of humanity or humor. Not horrible, but kinda lame. With the exception of the engagement ring scene I mentioned above, Aunt May really didn't add much to the rest of the movie.

Now, the most DIVISIVE part of the movie: Raimi's depiction of the symbiote's effects on Peter.

DARK PETER:

Similar to the very brief "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head" sequence form Spider-Man 2, Raimi takes a very humorous and musical approach to Peter's dark transformation. We see Peter literally strutting down the streets of Manhattan, lecherously hitting on women and shaking his stuff Travolta-style. This section of the movie climaxes with a flat-out ridiculous scene where Peter does a dance number at a restaurant where Mary Jane is working. That's right, a DANCE NUMBER.

This scene is totally out of left field—it's absurd, preposterous, and totally over-the-top. And you know what…

I LOVED IT! I FUCKING LOVED IT! Peter Parker using his superpowers to strut his stuff on the dance floor. In a strange way, I feel that this was the most brilliant way to show Peter's total decent into conceit, aggression and selfishness.

That said, I totally understand that some people will HATE this section of the film. They will feel that Raimi has gone too far and is turning the film into a joke. While I don't agree with this viewpoint, I do understand it and I can't really argue it. As I've made clear, these scenes worked for me, but they are extremely risky.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

You are an absolute idiot if you don't see this movie in the theaters. I mean that—you are an idiot if you don't see this on a big screen.

Spider-Man 3 is outstanding, and it provides some of the best film moments that I have ever witnessed. This is an "event film" in the most positive sense of that phrase. Raimi has given it all to us: Laughs, Tears, Gasps, Action, Horror, Suspense, Romance, Chills. And yes, superhero dancing. I don't know how he does it, but Raimi has once again managed to bring a comicbook to the screen. There is a brief shot where Spidey swings in front of an American flag, and it is a perfect little moment. In my opinion Spider-Man is the American hero, more so than Superman or Batman or Captain America. Raimi has truly crafted a movie that earns the image of Spidey in front of that flag. Bravo!

Ze follow up to ZeMightyJedd… not quite as enthusiastic… Here’s “Spiderslayer!”

And it tears my heart out to report that it blows. Not quite Batman & Robin-blows, but something akin to X Men 3-blows.

I managed to get a ticket to the premiere here in Dublin last night and as you might imagine, I was stoked. Now, before I start, let me just clarify, I love parts 1 and 2 and I love Sam Raimi's work. He's as creative a director as there is working in the business today and has been for 20 years, and I guess that's what tears me up about the mess that is Spiderman 3. I'll keep this as spoiler free as I can, as I believe in letting people make up their own minds...

Where to start? Ok, let's start with the good... As you might expect, JK Simmons and Bruce Campbell are top notch. Simmons continues to channel the spirit of J Jonah Jameson to a tee and Bruce, in a more fleshed out cameo than 1 and 2, has a lot of fun as a Clouseau-esque Maitre' D. Also, the CGI for the symbiote suit and subsequently Venom was also well done without being overly flashy, and this was a concern of mine going in, that it might be about the effects rather than the story. Unfortunately, as far as good things go, that's it.

As for the bad, I don't know where to start. Right from the get go, something didn't feel right (I'm not fanboy enough to say it was Spider-sense!). The opening credits were embellished with scenes from 1 and 2, not comic book art as used to good effect in 2, but actual clips. This felt a little hackneyed and un-necessary. The opening scene where Peter goes to see MJ perform on Broadway was the real clincher. Here we have Kirsten Dunst on stage, miming to the worst dubbed-over singing I've seen outside of Bollywood. It was painfully obvious it wasn't her and made even more so by a scene later in the movie where she sings in a jazz club and it's obviously her... and the girl can sing! That was the real clincher for me that things were going wrong and so it came to pass. I could go on all day about everything that was gut-wrenchingly bad about the movie but I'll try and condense it as best I can.

First, Spidey/Peter Parker. As normal Spidey/Parker, Tobey Maguire does his usual solid job as the geek with powers. It's when he becomes Black Spidey that things go wrong. He's just not bad-ass enough. I don't know whose idea it was, but the way they convey that he's no longer nice, dorky Parker but is instead Peter Parker, neighbourhood thug is to comb his hair differently and have him wear eyeliner, like some reject from Panic At The Disco. This leads to two of the most cringeworthy scenes in the movie, one a Saturday Night Fever pastiche and the other a dance scene! (I know, I know, you want to read that again, but trust me, they both happened!). There's no in-depth insight into the struggle between the real Parker and the suit, as there was in the comics. When he does come to the realisation of what's happening to him, it's almost a throwaway moment to create an easy transition to Venom. Which brings me nicely to the baddies. Firstly, Venom/Eddie Brock... sorry to disappoint, but Venom is in this move for all of 20 minutes, 20 minutes of a 2 and a half hour movie. Whilst the look is impressive, all you are getting is Eric Forman on speed, whereas the pre-venom Brock is just Eric Forman. I'm sure Topher Grace has more strings to his bow than reliving his TV past, but I've yet to see him do anything else, and this movie is no different. In my opinion, the whole Venom origin storyline is one of the strongest in the comic's long and illustrious, but for the most prevalent baddie in the Spidey mythos over recent years to be reduced to little more than a fanboy-pleasing cameo is frankly sinful. With Sandman, the problem is different. He's in it plenty and Thomas Haden-Church is solid in the role. The problem is the role itself. No longer is Flint Marko a petty hood who goes on an ego-trip when he gets his powers. Instead, he's a victim of circumstance, an everyman who's been downtrodden by God and justifies his actions with the most hackneyed plot device, the sick daughter. Even the revelation that he had killed Ben Parker but it "wasn't my fault" felt shoe-horned in as a means of excusing his actions. Finally, we have Harry Osborn/Green Goblin 2. Let me get this off my chest, I don't like James Franco. His acting involves either looking tortured or shit-eating grin, that's it, that's his range and he's not called upon to change that here. He's still got daddy issues to take out on his best friend, but he's nowhere near manic or vengeful enough to be believable and then as if the word "hackneyed" hadn't been used enough in the preceding paragraphs, the film-makers throw in another cliche... he get's amnesia from a bump on the head and forgets that Spiderman "killed" his dad! This occurs early on in the film, and i was already close to tearing out my own hair and that of everyone else around me!

I won't go into the romantic sub-plot as let's be fair, very few people care! It's a bit of a rehash of the one from part 2, only this time with Peter being the overachiever. Yes, Gwen Stacey appears, but she's barely more than a stock damsel-in-distress or, in the case of Bad Peter, a tool to make MJ jealous. Also, when the romance element rears its head, it's the cue for Aunt Mae to pop up, give Peter a little homespun wisdom and disappear again. It takes up WAY too much time in the middle act which could better have been used to flesh out Venom, or make more of the Parker-Symbiote conflict, but it doesn't and that's more sad than irritating.

Overall, as a movie, it's too busy. 3 enemies mean too many cooks spoil an already-nicely simmering broth. We saw it with Batman Forever and Batman & Robin and we're seeing it here. There's very little of the human drama of the first two movies, rather there's a lot of melodrama, and we all know they're not the same thing. Also, to relegate two major characters from the Spidey universe, Gwen Stacey and Venom, to little more than scene-filling cameos, is nothing short of criminal. The finale is what had me closest to tears. Whilst the action was fine (and I should point out that throughout the movie, the action scenes were still rather good), the characterisation was apalling. As I said, I'm not one for spoilers, but giving Spidey a sidekick? C'mon, man, what the hell?!... and the dialogue was something George Lucas would have cringed at!

I'm sure it will still rake in millions upon millions of dollars, as the first two would ensure a lot of return business, but Spiderman 3 smacks of a franchise that's run its course, at least for now, and needs to be put in suspending animation for a while a la Batman to allow for fresh eyes and fresh minds to try again some time down the road. What they need to do is make sure they don't decide to put a fourth installment in the hands of a lesser mortal than Raimi *cough*Ratner*cough* because it would truly destroy all the goodwill built up by the work that had gone before. It's time to let the Spidey franchise retain as much dignity as possible and let it rest... for now**************************

And the pendulum swings back to a positive look from Germany!

Hi Harry!

Here's my review for the just seen SPIDER-MAN 3. This is the link to review on my page: http://www.greekgeek.de/spider3review_en.html

And here's the review:

I just saw SPIDER-MAN 3 at a press screening here in Hamburg, Germany!

The theatre was packed!

I will try to stay away from any spoiler, but I have to say that you see most of the bad guy stuff in the trailers.
The other interesting stuff, the parts that work the best in the SPIDER-MAN movies are surprising and not in any trailers!!!

First off: it's a great movie! They managed to squeeze all the three bad guys storyline into 140 minutes without making the movie too crowded.

This has to be the blueprint for any SuperHero movie from now on!!!

SPIDER-MAN 2 is for me THE best Superhero Movie off all time!
Now this one, SPIDER-MAN 3, manages to get with one screening right behind the second one (on my list).

I wonder what will happen when I see it again. I always thought that the first one was a real good movie but not that great. I became a SPIDER-MAN Movie fan since the second one!

Sam Raimi shot a great conclusion of the "first" SPIDER-MAN trilogy. It ends all the storylines that runned through the first two movies.
Directing is as always great, the screenplay is like the second one (who thought than Alvin Seargent is so good!!) and the actors are even more comfortable in their parts than ever before.

SPIDER-MAN 3 is action-packed! There are many big set pieces: the loose crane, the bank robbery chase sequence, the showdown.
But between those amazing action scenes is everything that makes SPIDER-MAN 3 so great.

The M.J.-Peter Storyline with all their problems and misunderstandings is more lively than in the last ones. And then, after the midpoint, it gets even more interesting. Gwen Stacy, Eddie Brock and Harry Osborne cross their personal lives.

The "Revenge Storyline" with Sandman is the shortest one and runs through the whole picture. Every beat and every twist propels something else in the story... and it delivers!

Tobey Maguire is again great as Peter Parker, especially with an edge after the symbiont takes possesion.

Kirsten Dunst plays this time the part of the sad partner in an relationship and afterwards she's (again) the damsel in distress.
James Franco as Harry Osbourne is this time slightly better. I thought that he was always the weakest actor in this great series!

Sandman and Venom work great but they are not the main players in this story. They are part of the big picture, as is the "New Goblin", but the main story is the not-so-great relationship between M.J. and Peter.

When he ask her "go get them tiger?", to get her approval, when he's ready to chase the bad guys, she's rolling with her eyes and isn't anymore the girl at the end of the second movie.

She is the opposite of Peter: she has no sucess with her acting job and her lovelive isn't exactly good! Peter is happy with himself. He has a crush on Gwen Stacy (Bryce is very cute - please stay away from M.Night) and the whole city loves him!!!

And then he gets the black suit and every thing get out of control!

JJ.Jameson is just great (I would even watch a spin-off just with J.K. Simmons screaming around) The part with his heart condition alarm is perfect!

Even Stan Lee has another cameo - this one his best: (to Peter) "I guess one person can make a difference".
And of course the "Bruce Campell Scene", this time as an french waiter in a funny but sad (for the Parker/Watson couple) scene.

Now the only thing I didn't realy understand is why Raimi changed Danny Elfman with Christopher Young??? They said that they split up because Raimi used a music cue from Young for SPIDER-MAN 2 (I think for the train scene) and Elfman said "here's the Main Theme. You can have it. I'm gone".

So, in this one we have "The Elfman Main Theme" all the love Theme cues from Elfman (especially the sad moments from the second one) and just a new "black suit theme" from Young?!!? Everything else (mostly the "main theme" in all of it's glory) sounds like Elfman!

So this one ends the story, but it doesn't have the feeling of an closing end. Please Tobey, just make another one (or two!!!)
I can't tell you anything about the showdown because I can't tell you who fights whom and with whom!!!

If anyone wants to hear spoilers, please go to the Forum of my Website, (to the SPIDER-MAN group: http://www.greekgeek.de/forum/index.php?board=28.0) start a Spoiler Thread and I will tell you anything that you want to know about SPIDER-MAN 3

This is a start of a big summer and SPIDER-MAN 3 is the biggest start ever!

Please excuse my english!
And if you print this, call me GreekGeek!!

Here’s another positve, from a long time reader, first time writer!

Hello all of you,

First review for the web-don't know how to begin- Will they be happy to hear how I found a way to see SPIDERMAN 3 in advance ?
How hard it was to find a good parking space not to far from the theater ? Did I put my Spidey outfitt on to see it ? What was the color of the seat inside the theater, did it match my mood as I sat in it ?

No one gives a fuck of course What you people want to know is an honest point of view on Spider-man the Third.

Here is mine

You won't read any spoilers, cause I have already enough hatred for myself, I do not need yours.

Let me break it down for you...

Overall Spider man 3, is a huge gift, a huge thousand dollar bill you find in a small pocket of a jacket you didn't wear since college times.
There's so many stuff in this movie that has never be done and seen before...It is a like you cool people say in the U.S. : an eye fucker!! I am French, please excuse all the misspelling from before, and the ones that follows.

An eye fucker…But... not a heart fucker.

Cause I have to say, the movie suffers from a real "But", The "but" you didn't want to be there, the "but" you don't want to see or feel, the « but » you try to erase when you leave the theater, the "But" you don't mention to your friends when you call them over the phone so you won't spoil their pleasure when they'll see it. A real " but" guys too massive too thick to look away, and act like it's nothing. Where is the fucking rythm ? Where is the pace man ? How come after the first hour, I felt like I was in there for two ? How come it felt like watching the godfather part 2 ? I am not kidding, It is so fucking long !The movie feels like 3 hours long ! It moves slow! To be honest it’s not that slow, I have a exagerate a little but that’s a real issue in this one.

Now that was the first feelings, allow me now to review all the aspects in details...

There is action, you stop breathing, you see spiderman swinging in the air, you think : did he really do tha...Yeah man, he just did. You see Sandman you go : Man ! how big is this thing ?! it is bigger than king kong. You see Venom, and you are really fucking scared, I mean « predator without the mask » scared. You see MJ…well you know…

You implore your own eyes to not miss a thing! Please guys do not let me down ! Please brain remember, reccord everything (cause if I pull out a camcorder, even a cell, the sniper from the balcony will shoot me in the head Schindler's list's style). You hear yourself saying "you’re so cool !!" between two fat strangers, sorry did I say that ? No I’m not gay !

Spiderman 3 does to spiderman 2 what Spiderman 2 did to the first one, it makes old it look old, really old. It burries it deep into the ground like a bone you're ashamed to have loved some much. Those guys made a giant visual leap.

The imagery, the photography is so touching, look at the sky, look at the buildings, the Streets, this the New York that I imagined when I was thirteen, in my bed in Paris ! This is the light that builds the bridge between reality and comic book esthetics : Full of life, hope
and naivete, the mood of Spiderman. the universe of the film is as good as the second one. Even a basic froggy like myself loved seeing Spiderman passing in front of the american flag, this so so cheesy and classy at the same time 5you guys have the classiest
flag ever, go look at the Mozambiq's). Actually this is excactly why this series works so well, it balances perfectly between classyness (can you say this word ?) and cheesyness.

The music, is pretty much the same, the theme for black spidey works all right. But for me the score has never been great, this is so average compare to Superman. I guess we'll have to wait for the fourth one, a new series to hope for something that drives you crazy.

Now I want to talk about what really matters to me. THE STORY. Is it good ?... It’s a complex question to answer… So I’ll say the story’s good, yeah, but it’s not well told.

Don’t worry at this excact moment, I feel myself drowning under the tons of treasures of hate you just produced to crush my brain because of what I just said. But still, let me get a chance to explain…

I mean first the story is good, yep it’s true, I liked what it’s about,
revenge-selfishness-friendship-forgiveness-. All the themes are there, Every part is interesting Green Goblin’s, Venom’s, even the sandman one, which is pretty thin, I Liked. It is what it’s telling. For
plot that simple, you dindn't need scenes that long, sometimes you feel like you are trapped inside a horse track and running around without stopping you go : haven't we been here before. I like my spiderman as a looser, a guy that suffers from the cruelty from the others, a man secretly in love, a guy I can identify with, a man with a good heart that only one girl sees..etc.. In this movie Peter has everything, it is about a guy who has it all, he is almost Tony Montana, He has nothing to overcome exept is own ego. I am not saying it is a bad angle, the black suit is a great subject anyway. It is just a theme harder to connect to Peter Parker. What I loved about spiderman, it it’s fragility, not it’s strenght. Besides that, You have everything, all the plots treated in previous episodes are solved… but that's the minimum you could ask for.

The love story is weaker, less problems, leads to less drama, leads to less tension, leads to less interest, who wants to see Peter dating MJ ? We want to see him fight to get her love. Otherwise it is a little bit « petit bourgeois ». Remember Rocky 2, I mean common Adrian is in a coma, that's real drama, nothing really bad happen to MJ.

Now for the rest : there’s the way the story is told and this is the reel problem I have with this movie…It is not bouncing, no plot makes move another plot forward . They mixed everything, but there is no real threading. You do not get that interesting sitcom
feeling in the structure you had on the first and on the second one. There’s no surprises, no twists, everything you forsee in the back of your head happens on the screen. You don’t have emotional cliffs, I mean don’t get me wrong, it is pleasant, smart, funny, it’s just less powerfull.

You remember in Spiderman 2, the scene when Spidey’s body is carried by the new yorkers who swear they’ll keep his secret. That was fucking powerfull !!!That’s what happens to a superhero-super emotions. In this one you won’t get it. A lot of weeping, a lot of good acting, but that is all. And you know what, maybe that’s enough.

Now for me what makes a really great movie is the details, some particular scenes..a dialogue here..etc.. some precise souvenirs you can cherish and you can evoke to a friend when you want to save a
terrible dinner. the movie is loaded with it. Remember the Bruce Campbell cameo, the story about the island told by Aunt May, Harry’s butler on the top of the stairs, Peter and the sand in his boots, Peter walking in the streets..etc.. those were some of my
moments.. now go find yours.

I hope all of you love this movie, because even if it’s not perfect, it is a great feeling to love spiderman.

Call me « Le Mec le plus frais de Paris »

That was a… unique review. Lots of negatives, but still calls it a thousand dollar bill found in an old jacket pocket. Interesting.

Here’s our last review of the batch. If we get a flood of them through the day, I’ll throw a few more of them here. This one’s more mixed/negative.

Hi Harry / Moriarty I managed to see Spiderman 3 at London screening (Odeon Leicester Square) yesterday I thought I'd share my review with you guys.... I'm not quite as enthusiastic as some....

Its a sad fact that no trilogy is ever perfect, The Indy Trilogy had Temple of doom, the original Star Wars had Return of the Jedi, Lord of the rings had The Two Towers, Back to the future had part 3. Could it be that the Spiderman be the first consistent trilogy the SF & Fantasy genre has yearned for?

The short answer is simply no.

The story starts off well, with Peter Parker riding high on his success at the daily planet, his relationship with Mary Jane (which he intends to formalise by popping the question) and Spidey's popularity, Harry Osborne is still plotting his revenge for his fathers death. The film continues strongly as Flint Marco (played with a gruff attitude by Tomas Hayden Church) is introduced as a good man driven to do bad things to help his ailing daughter and soon enough through a now typical science goes mad experiment that seem to populate the Spiderman universe he is transformed in to Sandman.

Where the film flounders and where the biggest criticism lies with the inclusion of the black suit and subsequently Venom. Where Spiderman and its sequel had a deft touch and a nice balancing act of emotional resonance in between the CGI wham bam action, the alien symbiote in Spiderman 3, which feeds off strong emotions, simply muddies the waters between Peter and MJ by driving Parker away with his pride before a fall arrogance , which in turn extends the relationship side of the movie past a natural conclusion. Once the symbiote jumps from Parker to disgraced rival photographer, Eddie Brock (Topher Grace, in cocky smart arse mode) the movie gains an extra villain it didn't need and that adds more padding to a story that's already taking its sweet time getting anywhere.

Its a big inditement of the Venom character that you come away feeling that had it not been included at all, the film would have been a pacier and a tighter one, its clear as day that Rami has no love for the character, but was somehow forced to include him.... As a result what you end up with is Sandman getting sidelined and his storyline left hanging in an unsatisfying way, this in turn ends up with a movie that should have wrapped up the lose ends not having enough time to do so, no mean feat for a two and a half hour film.

On the plus side the acting is pretty consistent with the previous movies, although Tomas Hayden Church is wasted as Sandman, without enough real screen time (not as a CGI roaring monster) any emotional pathos you should have for the character is lost. The CGI is as good as you would expect for a movie of this calibre, and some of the fight sequences are vomit inducing rides where you're at times left confused as to exactly which way is up!

In the end fans of the previous two will find a lot to like about Spiderman 3, the humour, Rami's frenetic camera work and elaborate set pieces are present and correct, but in the end its over long running time and lost focus where the villains are concerned, combined with a feeling of forcing the story beyond its natural end leave you cold and yearning for a more restrained film.

If you use this review call me Lightwave7871