fludd.org - Movie Review

With a third movie in the franchise of Spider-Man, the bar was already extremely high. This can evidently be explained by the fact that the second instalment of the series met a critical success both in the box office and worldwide critics. This third chapter of the Spider-Man is amusing to watch, without a doubt. Unfortunately, it’s not amusing for good reasons… Despite trying to look good, Spider-Man 3 lamentably fails to survive to our expectations, because it suffers a lot from the comparison that one might made with previous movies of the series.

At the first look, Spider-Man 3 seems more mature than the two previous movies because of the theme that it deals with. To draw a comparison with the position of force occupied by the USA in world politics, Spider-Man 3 can be seen as a metaphor about the destructive effect of power. In the case of the movie, Peter Parker/Spider-Man becomes stronger after he absorbs a black substance coming from the space. Nonetheless, Peter Parker seems to be carried away by arrogance as the story progresses.

We can see the possibility for the actors to push down their acting competences into a deeper abyss. That possibility, for viewers, is particularly reinforced when we know that this flick tries so much to adopt a sombre tone in comparison with the two previous Spider-Man movies. In fact, think about how the relation with Peter Parker and his relatives (mainly Mary Jane Watson, Harry Osborn and Edwin Brock Jr) is affected when he becomes too arrogant because of Spider-Man’s “new power”.

The arrogance that Peter Parker/Spider-Man goes through will bring him into a cycle of vengeance (that is not a spoiler). When the movie is heading slowly –maybe too slowly– towards the climax, we get to see how well the characters are developed (sometimes too much!) thanks to the well-chosen cast. First of all, let’s analyze the acting of those who played the bad guys.

As Harry Osborn/Green Goblin, James Franco has no problem showing the personality distortion of his character (everything dramatically changes for Harry Osborn at the end). Topher Grace, who is showing up as Edwin Brock Jr/Venom, makes a smooth transition between ambition and psychopathic behaviours. Finally, of all the bad guys, Flint Marko/Sandman, who is portrayed by Thomas Hadden Church (George of the Jungle) puts a balance, because the character himself is constantly torn between the desire to hurt nobody and to unleash his brutality.

This, dear readers, was the nice façade of the movie. As it was said in the previous paragraphs, the movie tries to adopt a sombre tone in comparison with the two previous instalments of the series. Unfortunately, this is the main problem of Spider-Man 3. The movie tries to be so sombre that it becomes almost funny to watch it. At the same time, that touch of humour slows the movie’s pace down.

For instance, without revealing too much about what will happen before the final scene, the scene in which Peter Parker, who is played by Tobey Maguire, was acting like a weirdo in the streets of New York could have been deleted. The point is that the character is just so developed. Moreover, we didn’t need to be reminded twice (maybe too much) how arrogant Peter Parker is! Do the scriptwriters know what is the meaning of the verb “to move on”? That scene could have been deleted so that the story can move on to the climax. This was an example, but the movie is terribly full of long periods that don’t help us to understand the characters (because we already understand them!).

Because of my expectations, I could have given a rating of 3 out of 5 to Spider-Man 3. Yes, this is not a joke. However, thanks to the performance (no comments on the fact that Tobey Maguire and Topher Grace almost made me laugh at times) of the cast, the movie gets away from a rating that is extremely close to failure. By the way, I didn’t take heed of the special effects in the adjustment of the rating, mind you.

Finally, Spider-Man 3 will never be considered as being better than Spider-Man 2 (definitely my favourite one from the series). To be very honest with you, the movie had a lot of potential because of the theme that it deals with. Unfortunately, the movie brims with long periods that added no dramatic values nor any interest to Spider-Man 3. The movie was often so dull that I concluded that I wasn’t pinned on my seat. Even a box of popcorn wouldn’t have made me enjoy watching this movie. Here’s the advice: watch it and forget it!

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