Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. I'll be chiming in with my thoughts very soon... preview: I liked it less than Memflix. No spoilers below. Enjoy!
Yes. Sorry. You must have hundreds of these. I wrote it for my myspace blog and thought I'd send it along. The difference between this Spiderman 3 review and others, is that there are no plot spoilers. If you can use it, great. But if you can't, at the very least I'd like you all to read it. Thanks. Memflix coming back at you once again with yet another review of Spiderman 3. I have avoided reading evey other review, because I wanted a fresh take. It's also pretty cool to write it up and check out how close you came to everybody else. So, while I'm off to read all of the ainitcoolers' thoughts on S3, check out this spoiler-free look. The first “Spiderman” was a decent origin story with well-choreographed action scenes and a surprising amount of chemistry between Peter Parker and his love interest May Jane Watson. However, it was still just an origin story with a rather weak villain that didn’t relate well to the main character’s transformation in a believable way. “Spiderman 2” surpassed its predecessor due to the confidence it gained from establishing the characters and themes from the first film. It has since been referred to as ‘arguably the best comic book adaptation ever made.’ Arguably, because in most people’s opinion, 2005’s Batman Begins gave it a run for its money. Friday May 4 2007, a good three years since the sequel’s release, Spiderman 3 will be released. Box office analysts all over the globe are literally expecting ‘Titanic’ size numbers. It has a reported budget of over $200 million, not including its marketing campaign. Studio executives behind the funding worried whether a dark depiction of everyone’s favorite web slinger would sell to an audience used to a light and fun superhero. Then, Batman Begins was released and shortly thereafter, “Spiderman 3” was green lit for production. The movie takes place right where it left off, with Parker’s former best friend knowing his true identity and being under the presumption that Spiderman was responsible for the death of his father. Mary Jane Watson is still pursuing a career as an actress and is now dating Parker, knowing his alter ego as well. As far as associating Spiderman 3 with the first 2, that is about as far as it goes. This is not the same Spiderman. If you’ve seen the posters and the previews, then you know that Spiderman is facing three villains this time. The first is Harry Osborne, putting on his father’s goblin shoes. The second is a new character named Flint Marko AKA Sandman, who may or may not have had something to do with Parker’s Uncle’s death. The third villain and the one that has every die hard comic book fan salivating at the mouth, is Venom. Venom is played by (That 70’s Show) Topher Grace. Earlier, when I mentioned that it wasn’t the same Spiderman, I wasn’t referring to the “black” Spiderman suit or the alien symbiote that feeds on Parker’s Id, making him a ‘darker’ character. I was referring to the film’s pace, it’s overabundance of story, its lack of patience, and it’s total reliance on computer generated effects to tell its story. Not only to does the story continue with Harry’s transformation into the new Green Goblin, it develops two entirely new character plotlines. Spiderman vs. The Sandman, Spiderman vs. The New Goblin, Spiderman vs. Venom; each one of those plotlines could have filled a 2 hour superhero movie. Because the filmmakers crammed all three of these together, the theme of Parker’s descent to the dark side was overshadowed and pretty much sidelined for all the special effects required to bring those three plotlines to life. There is one more villain in the movie and it’s the one I believe director Sam Raimi most wanted to bring to the big screen. That villain is Spiderman himself. Once you pull back all of its trappings, you see that this was supposed to be the prevalent theme underlining the entire film, if not insinuating that he has been his own worst enemy since the very beginning. If that were more apparent, then this Spiderman would have done what the second did and surpass both. However, it didn’t. The studio wanted an epic superhero movie and to them more story equals bigger epic, but they are mistaken. What makes an epic is scope. Scope is not acquired specifically by story. It is the grandeur accomplished through fully fleshing out a plotline from beginning to end. There is a good chance, I will be alone in this. It might just be my over exposed eyes from all the CGI from the past, but certain scenes where The Sandman is turning into twisters and smashing cars; it looked like the ‘making of’ featurettes on DVDS showing the creative process behind making special effects. They didn’t look finished. They were either poorly constructed, which I find hard to believe considering the talent behind the FX shots or they were rushed. They put too much into the movie and didn’t have enough time to fill it. It was distracting and really takes the viewer out of the universe it so desperately wants you to live in for 2 hours and 20 minutes. When you see it, look at Eddie Brock’s(Venom’s Grace) transformation into Venom, then pop in the DVD and watch Gollum from LOTR. One is obviously animated and stodgy. The other is special effects in its highest quality. Spiderman 3 roughly had the same budget the combined LOTR trilogy had. It is very disconcerting. Another scene I’d like to point out that might help you see what I am talking about concerns an out-of control crane crashing through a building. When the building’s support beams are torn free, the floor that the blonde Bryce Dallas Howard is hanging off of is unnaturally pure white. I felt like I was watching a computer generated simulation of how they wanted the finished product to look. “Spiderman 3” rushed things. It forced you to feel exactly what they wanted you to feel. They didn’t let the viewer decide for themselves how to feel the way the far more subtle previous films did. When the forceful approach didn’t work or they couldn’t figure out how to move the story to a thrilling climax, they relied on contrived plot devices to get the story to its ending. What it has going for it are the actors. Dunst, Franco, and Maguire are really developing as performers. This is evidenced in their chemistry with one another. Most of The Sandman special effects worked and were exciting to watch. These seemed to be where the FX technicians primarily focused their energy. Flint Marko’s (Thomas Hayden Church) original transformation into the Sandman was undeniably phenomenal. Just like every other movie ever made, “Spiderman 3” has its strengths and its weaknesses. It is up to you whether or not those will make or break your Spiderman experience. Let me know. I am really interested in what you thought of it. Visit Memflix’s myspace blog at myspace.com/shutterghost.
