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Spider-Man 3
SAI81 from from Tonbridge,
13th May, 2007
The first two Spider-Man films, taken together, play like the first two acts of a longer film with an overarching story about Peter, MJ, Harry and how they grow and change because of that spider bite. This film should be the dénouement, the payoff for all that intricate setup. That is there, but sadly it’s buried in an overstuffed, overlong movie that tries to do far too much far too quickly. We’ve had about 4 hours to get to know the main characters and through deft storytelling and a sensible decision to set a 1 per-movie limit the villains of the films have also been filled in rounded characters. That goes out the window with Spider-Man 3. Perhaps the film’s biggest problem (of, sad to say, many) is a glut of new characters in what is, for a story so dense, a very brief running time. This time there are three villains to contend with. Harry Osborn’s character has been one of the most interesting in the series and James Franco’s performance has grown film to film and shown Harry’s transition from a high school kid striving to be normal to a man consumed by hate and vengeance admirably. Here we finally get Harry suiting up as the new Green Goblin… well, sort of. Again the design is botched and there’s little to identify Harry with any persona, he looks more like he’s suiting up for extreme sports than anything. The battle itself though, some effects wobbles aside, is excellent. It’s punchy, mobile and exciting and the personal conflict is strongly felt because both Harry and Peter are unmasked for the duration. It arrives only about 12 minutes into the film and it’s something the rest of the action struggles to meet The major villain is Thomas Haden Church’s Sandman. The character’s look and powers remain faithful to his comic book origins but the alteration of the backstory surrounding Uncle Ben rings completely false and though it doesn’t quite make bobbins of the first film it comes dangerously close. Church is pretty good and he gives Sandman heart as well as menace but he doesn’t really have enough screen time to engender audience sympathy the way Alfred Molina did as Dr Octopus. It’s well worth mentioning though a fine performance in a one scene cameo from Theresa Russell as Sandman’s wife. Finally there’s Venom. The fan favourite was included in the film at the last minute thanks to constant badgering of Sam Raimi by exec producer Avi Arad. You can tell. Eddie Brock is a laughably thin character; his motivations lack any weight and his appearance as Venom happens only in the final half hour of the film. I’m with Sam Raimi on this one; I’m not a fan of Venom but if you ARE going to use a character so iconic you should treat him better than as a third string villain with ten minutes screentime. This, however, is not the end of slate of new characters. There’s Bryce Dallas Howard as Gwen Stacy. Gwen, in the comics Peter’s college girlfriend, who died in the single greatest comic book ever written (Amazing Spider-Man 121) has been included here as… I give up… I don’t know what purpose she serves that couldn’t have been served by an existing character. She’s there to make MJ jealous, but really, rather than use another fan favourite character so poorly why not call more extensively on Mageina Tovah, whose turn as Ursula is a small joy in both sequels? Then there’s James Cromwell as Captain Stacy who, if possible, is even more pointless than his screen daughter. With character having been a particular strong point of the first two films it really saddens me to note how botched some of the characterisation here is. MJ has gone from melancholy to out and out depressed and Dunst just doesn’t seem to be trying. Yes she belts out the songs she has to sing with gusto but otherwise she seems rather bored and disengaged. This is but naught compared to the problems with Peter’s character. The symbiote that creates the Black Spider-Man, and later Venom, accentuates its wearer’s worst qualities. That was established in the comic and it’s stuck to here. Except that here the script makes Peter a prick well before he puts the black suit on. Worse; they make him stupid. He’s been with MJ for a while, in love with her even longer and he’s a smart guy, why can’t he read her? It’s as if writers Sam and Ivan Raimi and Alvin Sargeant decided there was a storyline to be stuck to and the hell with whether it fit the characters established. Worse still is the character Peter becomes when he puts the black suit on. Online reviewers have dubbed him ‘Emo Parker’ and it’s a fair tag. Maguire’s hairdo is nicked from Hitler and he’s clearly stolen MJ’s eyeliner. It’s utterly laughable and yet the attempt to play it for laughs falls flat, hard, because the comedy just isn’t as funny as looking at Peter made up like he’s auditioning to join My Chemical Romance. So. Is Spider-Man 3 as unmitigated a disaster as 2 was a triumph? Not quite. It starts very well indeed. The title sequences gets you pumped up, using black webbing to foreshadow Venom and silent clips of the first two films to give a flavour of the story so far. Danny Elfman’s theme stirs the blood again and you’re left ready and eager to re-enter this world. It’s a solid entry too. The strands of the story are deftly set in motion with short scenes focusing on Peter, Harry, and MJ and then on Sandman and there’s that excellent first fight. JK Simmons is as much fun as ever as J Jonah Jameson and he gets his best scene in the whole series in the first half hour of the film, it’s a one joke scene but I couldn’t stop chuckling. Then comes the other truly great set piece, an out of control crane puts Gwen Stacy in peril. The sequence of her falling from a skyscraper set my nerves jangling, and not only because I suffer terrible vertigo. There’s other nice moments too; an ending that refuses to tie things in a neat bow, a callback of the upside down kiss that works much better than the one in Spider-Man 2, the scenes between Peter and Ursula, a lovely scene for MJ and Harry. It just can’t be enough though. A disappointing final fight is the last nail in the coffin of Spider-Man 3. Packed with incident it may be but when most of it is a letdown (and the middle 45 minutes quite literally toe-curlingly dreadful) that just isn’t going to pass muster, particularly from the series that previously delivered blockbusters of rare intelligence and emotional engagement. It seems that the cast and crew have fallen out of love with Spider-Man and there must be a changing of the guard for the next instalment or the audience may well do the same.
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