When I first saw Spider-Man 3 as a twelve year old, I thought the film was great and I remember one of the first reviews I ever wrote being a four out of five rave for this film. However as time passed I realized that the widespread reaction to the film was not similar to mine and despite the film’s immense box office success, for many, this was one of the more disappointing films in recent years. Revisiting the film on blu-ray this week, I realized these flaws and despite still enjoying the film and finding it far from terrible, in contrast with Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2, this is indeed a big disappointment.
What surprised me about Spider-Man 3 was how I had completely forgotten about the film’s two big plot twists/developments. Harry Osborn losing his memory and Flint Marko (Sandman) being the one who actually killed Uncle Ben. However watching the film I realized exactly why I had forgotten about those two twists, they were both completely unnecessary. As I said in my review for Spider-Man 2, Spider-Man 3 should have been Harry’s story. In wiping his memory, its as if the writers didn’t know what to do with him as a villain for a whole film and decided to put him back to stage one in order to repeat story they had already done with him and develop other threads in the film. This was the biggest mistake of Spider-Man 3, I can get over the treatment of Venom, what really annoys me is how they dropped the ball with Harry Osborn and his quest for revenge.
The Dark Knight is in fact exactly how Spider-Man 3 should have been handled.Harry Osborn should have been the principal antagonist and Joker of the piece, causing chaos in New York City and trying to tear down Peter Parker and Spider-Man. While Venom could have been the Harvey Dent-esque tragedy of the piece. Towards the end of the film it is Harry and Spider-Man against Sandman and Venom, personally I think it would have been better had it been Spider-Man and Sandman against Harry and Venom. That way you really have the theme of forgiveness with Peter joining forces with the man who killed his uncle in order to save and stop Harry and Venom. In the third act I didn’t buy Harry’s sudden desire to fight alongside Peter when Peter had scarred half of his face probably for life, played a part in the death of his father and considering Harry had spent most of the latter half of the film trying to kill Peter Parker/Spider-Man. Considering what an important character Harry was I also found it near insulting where they left his character. Due to how they had completely messed around with his character throughout the film, there is no feeling of tragedy or emotion regarding his death. This should have been a huge moment, the emotional climax of the entire trilogy, instead its just brushed aside in less than five minutes. Overall with Harry Osborn in this film the writers rehashed story they had already done with him, even bringing back the whole MJ/Peter/Harry love triangle (I know I called for one in my Spider-Man 2 review but not one like this) they don’t make him the main antagonist like they should and then make no effort regarding his death scene.
What was equally terrible about this film was the way they treated the character of MJ. With Peter Parker being Spider-Man they could have had legitimate relationship problems between the two of them, however it is MJ who comes off as the whiny, selfish one for most of the film. The start of their tumbling relationship appears to be a bad review, in my opinion the whole Peter/MJ relationship issues in this film could have been handled a lot better and been much fairer to the character of MJ. Gwen Stacy is really nothing to write home about in this film, her character was merely another poorly done part of the relationship issues between MJ and Peter. If they had made Peter legitimately attracted to Gwen and given her and Peter romantic scenes together when he wasn’t trying to make MJ jealous under the influence of the Venom suit, we could have the genuinely involving love triangle I called for in Spider-Man 2. There were really three potential love triangles in this film, Eddie Brock, Gwen and Peter, Peter, Gwen and MJ and MJ, Peter and Harry. The film should not have brought back the third and instead focused on one of the first two and mined it for all it was worth thematically and character wise. I didn’t expect this Spider-Man week to address love triangles so much however it appears they are a bigger part of these original Spider-Man films than I remembered.
Putting mishandled Harry and rocky relationships aside, lets address Venom, most people’s biggest gripe with this film. Sam Raimi was never a big fan of Venom, he did not originally intend for Venom to be in the movie, yet he was pushed into it by the producers, writers and Topher Grace’s performance. However despite Raimi claiming he was won over, his lack of enthusiasm for the character shines through in this film. I like the performance of Topher Grace in this film, the Venom special effects are really well done...that is all that is good about Venom in this film. When Peter is under the influence of Venom, the film seems to be attempting to be more of a comedy than a drama, opportunity wasted to legitimately turn Peter and Spider-Man evil. Then when we arrive to Venom as an actual physical antagonist it is very late in the game, very sudden and seemingly an excuse and way to bring all these plot threads together into one action scene to finish it.
Now I did not expect to write so many words criticizing this film to such an extent, however, Harry doesn’t work in this film, Peter and MJ’s relationship issues in this film do not work, Gwen Stacy is wasted and so is Venom. Oh and the decision to make Flint Marko the killer of Uncle Ben for me, does not work, it could have done if Sandman had been the main antagonist but he wasn’t so it doesn’t. What does work? The special effects are the best they have ever been in a Spider-Man film, with the Sandman stuff remaining phenomenal. The action sequences are also the best they have ever been in a Spider-Man film. From the opening chase/fight with Harry and Peter right through to the two on two. However, no sequence in this film can match the train sequence in Spider-Man 2 and no villain can match Doctor Octopus. The film is way too long but it still has an entertaining, Spider-Man charm to it in certain movements. While they may have messed this film up on a narrative level it is impossible to mess up Spider-Man swinging through New York and taking on bad guys. The performances are also very good and each actor does the best with what they have. The Bruce Campbell cameo may also be the best Bruce Campbell cameo in the trilogy.
Overall, I don’t hate Spider-Man 3, I still think it is a good film (Perhaps a rewrite and edit away from a great film) and arguably certain elements of it are underrated. The performances are great, Topher Grace and Thomas Haden Church gave performances which suggested they both deserved to be primary antagonists in other films. The special effects and fight sequences are the best they have been in Spider-Man films to date and Bruce Campbell does French. It is a disappointing finish to Raimi’s trilogy as so many of the character and thematic threads established in Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2 don’t come to quite the conclusion and fruition that was hoped for. However, coming to the end of looking at what Raimi did for the Spider-Man films, he must be thanked for ALL three films, for putting Spider-Man on the cinematic map and this entire trilogy will always have a special place in the heart of Spidey fans. While Spider-Man 3 ultimately makes you think of what could have been, Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2 are examples of what was and the high bar that The Amazing Spider-Man has to swing to, a bar that I will tell you if it reaches in my review of the latest incarnation of our friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man, tomorrow.
By Movie Parliament Prime Minister,
Michael Dalton
Give us all your in--depth written thoughts on Spider-Man 3 in the Your Say section, discuss the Spider-Man films in our forum and vote in the polls below.
What surprised me about Spider-Man 3 was how I had completely forgotten about the film’s two big plot twists/developments. Harry Osborn losing his memory and Flint Marko (Sandman) being the one who actually killed Uncle Ben. However watching the film I realized exactly why I had forgotten about those two twists, they were both completely unnecessary. As I said in my review for Spider-Man 2, Spider-Man 3 should have been Harry’s story. In wiping his memory, its as if the writers didn’t know what to do with him as a villain for a whole film and decided to put him back to stage one in order to repeat story they had already done with him and develop other threads in the film. This was the biggest mistake of Spider-Man 3, I can get over the treatment of Venom, what really annoys me is how they dropped the ball with Harry Osborn and his quest for revenge.
The Dark Knight is in fact exactly how Spider-Man 3 should have been handled.Harry Osborn should have been the principal antagonist and Joker of the piece, causing chaos in New York City and trying to tear down Peter Parker and Spider-Man. While Venom could have been the Harvey Dent-esque tragedy of the piece. Towards the end of the film it is Harry and Spider-Man against Sandman and Venom, personally I think it would have been better had it been Spider-Man and Sandman against Harry and Venom. That way you really have the theme of forgiveness with Peter joining forces with the man who killed his uncle in order to save and stop Harry and Venom. In the third act I didn’t buy Harry’s sudden desire to fight alongside Peter when Peter had scarred half of his face probably for life, played a part in the death of his father and considering Harry had spent most of the latter half of the film trying to kill Peter Parker/Spider-Man. Considering what an important character Harry was I also found it near insulting where they left his character. Due to how they had completely messed around with his character throughout the film, there is no feeling of tragedy or emotion regarding his death. This should have been a huge moment, the emotional climax of the entire trilogy, instead its just brushed aside in less than five minutes. Overall with Harry Osborn in this film the writers rehashed story they had already done with him, even bringing back the whole MJ/Peter/Harry love triangle (I know I called for one in my Spider-Man 2 review but not one like this) they don’t make him the main antagonist like they should and then make no effort regarding his death scene.
What was equally terrible about this film was the way they treated the character of MJ. With Peter Parker being Spider-Man they could have had legitimate relationship problems between the two of them, however it is MJ who comes off as the whiny, selfish one for most of the film. The start of their tumbling relationship appears to be a bad review, in my opinion the whole Peter/MJ relationship issues in this film could have been handled a lot better and been much fairer to the character of MJ. Gwen Stacy is really nothing to write home about in this film, her character was merely another poorly done part of the relationship issues between MJ and Peter. If they had made Peter legitimately attracted to Gwen and given her and Peter romantic scenes together when he wasn’t trying to make MJ jealous under the influence of the Venom suit, we could have the genuinely involving love triangle I called for in Spider-Man 2. There were really three potential love triangles in this film, Eddie Brock, Gwen and Peter, Peter, Gwen and MJ and MJ, Peter and Harry. The film should not have brought back the third and instead focused on one of the first two and mined it for all it was worth thematically and character wise. I didn’t expect this Spider-Man week to address love triangles so much however it appears they are a bigger part of these original Spider-Man films than I remembered.
Putting mishandled Harry and rocky relationships aside, lets address Venom, most people’s biggest gripe with this film. Sam Raimi was never a big fan of Venom, he did not originally intend for Venom to be in the movie, yet he was pushed into it by the producers, writers and Topher Grace’s performance. However despite Raimi claiming he was won over, his lack of enthusiasm for the character shines through in this film. I like the performance of Topher Grace in this film, the Venom special effects are really well done...that is all that is good about Venom in this film. When Peter is under the influence of Venom, the film seems to be attempting to be more of a comedy than a drama, opportunity wasted to legitimately turn Peter and Spider-Man evil. Then when we arrive to Venom as an actual physical antagonist it is very late in the game, very sudden and seemingly an excuse and way to bring all these plot threads together into one action scene to finish it.
Now I did not expect to write so many words criticizing this film to such an extent, however, Harry doesn’t work in this film, Peter and MJ’s relationship issues in this film do not work, Gwen Stacy is wasted and so is Venom. Oh and the decision to make Flint Marko the killer of Uncle Ben for me, does not work, it could have done if Sandman had been the main antagonist but he wasn’t so it doesn’t. What does work? The special effects are the best they have ever been in a Spider-Man film, with the Sandman stuff remaining phenomenal. The action sequences are also the best they have ever been in a Spider-Man film. From the opening chase/fight with Harry and Peter right through to the two on two. However, no sequence in this film can match the train sequence in Spider-Man 2 and no villain can match Doctor Octopus. The film is way too long but it still has an entertaining, Spider-Man charm to it in certain movements. While they may have messed this film up on a narrative level it is impossible to mess up Spider-Man swinging through New York and taking on bad guys. The performances are also very good and each actor does the best with what they have. The Bruce Campbell cameo may also be the best Bruce Campbell cameo in the trilogy.
Overall, I don’t hate Spider-Man 3, I still think it is a good film (Perhaps a rewrite and edit away from a great film) and arguably certain elements of it are underrated. The performances are great, Topher Grace and Thomas Haden Church gave performances which suggested they both deserved to be primary antagonists in other films. The special effects and fight sequences are the best they have been in Spider-Man films to date and Bruce Campbell does French. It is a disappointing finish to Raimi’s trilogy as so many of the character and thematic threads established in Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2 don’t come to quite the conclusion and fruition that was hoped for. However, coming to the end of looking at what Raimi did for the Spider-Man films, he must be thanked for ALL three films, for putting Spider-Man on the cinematic map and this entire trilogy will always have a special place in the heart of Spidey fans. While Spider-Man 3 ultimately makes you think of what could have been, Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2 are examples of what was and the high bar that The Amazing Spider-Man has to swing to, a bar that I will tell you if it reaches in my review of the latest incarnation of our friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man, tomorrow.
By Movie Parliament Prime Minister,
Michael Dalton
Give us all your in--depth written thoughts on Spider-Man 3 in the Your Say section, discuss the Spider-Man films in our forum and vote in the polls below.
