Spider-Man 3 (2007) (1 Viewer)

[Pete-D]

The movie wasn't very good that's the problem. Most comic books have a "morality" center to them. Pretty much every Marvel character has that. Big whoop. Because it's a morality tale doesn't give it a pass for a bad script, shoe-horned characters, a wildly flucuating tone, bad acting, and numerous other issues.

 

[ErichH]

A little much sapp/sweet teen age smiles - misques with MJ are getting old. 3 1/2 villians? No 2, Ooops 1, the sand guy's not a villian any more and one is Ann Heche - Is Spidey not merciful? The blob stuff is what from where? I know it's a comic, but actors should not sing - EVER!
Perhaps it's just me, but some one's trying a little too hard here. I thought the kitchen sink might awake and attack spidey at the end - just in case I didn't take enough drugs to enjoy this thing.

E

 

[dailW]

i took in a 9:30 am show on friday. when i saw it i thought the same with the people who didn't like it. way too much plot getting in the way of the story and having strong feeling for spider-man 2 that not even the filmmakers could not live up to. then i went and saw it again this morning and i have to change my mind.granted it's not 1 or 2 but on its own level its stands pretty well. for those who have a problem with the singing it goes with the story
and i am one of the people who liked the mask parts because while the mask made jim carry cool , the dark suit doesn't make peter cool , it makes him be a jerk and an ass and women look at him like hes a freak.the only problem i had was with the harry osborne part. that was disappointing. but in the end a very good film. i say see it again after the new has rubbed off.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Again, this is a reviews "only" thread, if you need to discuss any part of the plotline, characters or morality of the storyline then please do so in the thread linked below. Thank you.

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htf/...25#post3147225



Crawdaddy

 

[Holadem]

Spider-Man 3 - :star::star::star:

Wow, that was fun! It's gonna be difficult to put down some impressions without framing them as a defense of the movie, so I am not even gonna try, I will simply ramble on.

Suffice to way that less than an hour into the film, I found that much to my surprise, I didn't need to downplay it, or maintain low expectations, I was completely hooked. In other words, I didn't enjoy this because of low expectations going in. Nor will I urge anyone to leave their brains at the door, any more than they did for the previous flicks, or "sit back and relax" or some such. I fully enjoyed this because as far as I am concerned, I fits squarely within the standards established by it's predecessors.

Frankly I was shocked by the quality of the first hour! While the actual scene of MJ kissing Harry was a bit too deliberate on her part, the build up to that point was perfect in it's realism. Much credit goes to Dunst, she was tremendous in carrying that hour pretty much by herself. I found the bridge scene heartbreaking. The cocky Parker scenes completely hilarious. I would gladly do away with the over-the-top Jazz/Tango thing, but everything else was just as heavy-handed as the previous installments of this franchise were. I find MJ's runaway bride at the end of the S2 more cringe-worthy than just about anything in this one, save perhaps "I forgive you".

That butler reveal was just plain dumb. The kind of idiocy which makes you wonder how many people have read the script, how come no one raised the objection, and if anyone did, why the hell didn't they listen to him. There are a thousand ways Harry's turnaround could have been handled better.

The last thing I was expecting out of this movie was unimaginative action. Sandman's effects were fantastic, but action sequences by and large were forgettable. Perhaps this the biggest sticking point with the internet crowd who has been waiting for years to see their favorite villains in action. I can understand their disappointment in that regard. But I cannot relate to the complaints concerning the villain motivations, probably because my focus was elsewhere: PP & MJ (and Harry). The bad guys could have been anyone, really, for all I cared. Still, I could have lived without MJ as a hostage in another climax.

But even if you did not enjoy this movie, you have to give the creative team some serious credit for building a summer blockbuster around a solid central theme. I realize these are some low standards in general, but not in this genre. Spider-Man 3 is not gonna change anyone's life with it's profound insight into the Human Condition, but much like Batman Begins or LOTR, it is ambitious enough in that regard to be a little more satisfying than your average big budget special FX laden fare. The film is actually a bit reminiscent of Joss Whedon's work on Buffy, in it's extreme exaggeration and actualization of the intangible. My fear now with the mixed reviews is that the powers that be are gonna several dumb down the next installment, and stick us with a big fat empty Spider-Man 4.

A few more bullet point:

- Again, Dunst was terrific. Maguire on the other hand was curiously disappointing. He has always been understated, or seemed a bit "off", but Raimi should have asked yet another take on some of his scenes. Check out the violent confrontation with Brook at the office. More, I feel his face has filled up to the point where he is starting to look wrong for the part. Franco on the other hand delivered in spades, stole quite a few scenes actually thanks to his much stronger screen presence.

- Topher Grace was fun, but Venom should have had a voice matching his menacing appearance. Grace's voice felt wrong for the character (with whom I have no prior familiarity).

- I mentioned earlier that I had little objection to the bad guys, but the talent involved does make one wish for a bit more. Church was essentially wasted. And what's the point of paying for talent like James Cromwell, for an utterly inconsequential bit part? That doesn't even qualify as a cameo! No wonder this thing cost so much. At least Bruce Campbell was fun, and probably cheaper too.

- Lotsa bad extras. Weird.

Spider-Man 3 does not reach the dramatic heights of S2, but it's a big ambitious movie that mostly delivers. I wish the very expensive looking action was more memorable, and a couple of over the top scenes were toned down, but the core of this franchise, the characters, is intact. The poignancy and emotional reward of the very last scene attests to this.

--
H

 

[Tim Glover]

Finally saw Spiderman 3 last night. Didn't like it all all. Hate is a very strong word, but it's close. It seems that everything was a misfire. Is this the same person who crafted Spiderman 2? :frowning:

Such a disappointment. Special effects were not good. The acting was ok but it's hard to notice when the screenplay is awful.

The only...only interesting character was Harry. I think I felt more for his role due to his Flyboys film which I liked.

I went with my older brother and we were shaking our heads nearly the whole time. So many issues that I'll post in the discussion thread.

Near the end when the Sandman gets rather huge...I kept waiting for Dan Ackroyd to pop up and proclaim: "It's....the Stay-Puff Marshmellow Man".

A Big Dud.

3/10.

 

[Larry Sutliff]

Sorry you didn't enjoy it, Tim. I have to admit that I'm not in a hurry to see it again. The film isn't sitting well with me the more I think about all of the major flaws, although I'll probably check it out again when it comes to Blu-Ray.

 

[Brett_M]

I took my kids to see it on opening day and after it was over, I could hear Jerry Seinfeld quip "That's a shame."

I lament the missed opportunity is all. I enjoyed parts of it but it was so over the top and all over the place. I think either of these would have been much better:

Peter vs Harry & Sandman (w/Peter & Harry vs Sandman climax) = better movie.

Black suit Peter vs Harry (w/Peter & Harry vs Venom climax) = better movie.

I didn't hate it. But I didn't love it either. Good but not great.

***/*****

 

[Joe Karlosi]

Watch out for spoilers below:



:star::star: of :star::star::star::star:

I enjoyed the first film, and even the second, though maybe to a lesser degree. But this third one is easily the least of the group and leaves my brain rattled. Where to begin? Well, for starters there were too many villains crammed into it, and no clear cut story but rather a series of back and forth jumping to all sorts of unrelated business which left me bored: let's throw in a disgruntled Harry Osbourne as the new Green Goblin (with yet another tiresome love triangle between him and Peter and MJ), then toss in the new Sandman adversary too, then cough up a token appearance by Venom later on for good measure, and also have Peter Parker contending with a strange and unidentified black substance from a fallen meteor which comes to take him over.... There's so much reliance on trying to squeeze in many various plot devices that there winds up being not much of a plot at all in the end. And the video game-like and cartoony CGI ---- what a mess! A classic case of over-abundance with fake looking Road Runner-ish chases and phoniness. Moviegoers today are supposedly less wowed by yesterday's more "primitive" special effects, so how do they eat this crap up when it looks so artificial? I will concede, however, that the CGI was best put to use in the character of the Sandman, and it was probably the best way to render him (ditto for the "spidey alien suit"). Incidentally, the Sandman's back story had the most potential and he could have been quite the sympathetic villain, had the script opted to concentrate solely on his story rather than trying to wedge so many different elements together.

I really have never liked Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane and it didn't change with this film either. Even worse, this time we get stuck having to hear her character sing badly.. and oh, yes, she still has that annoying habit of running off to flirt and "Twist" with whatever other guy floats her boat any time her relationship with Peter Parker hits a bump for a second. I'm so sick and tired of her and her petty jealousies. I wanted her snaggle-toothed ass dead when she was caught dangling high above from that web and Spidey had to save her yet again! Do ya hear me? Dead!! I really wish Peter would get his act together and hook up with blonde Gwen Stacy instead.

So now let's address Peter Parker. I don't recall the comic book Parker being quite SUCH an extreme geek as in Sam Raimi's three film incarnations ... a real nerd, always crying his redundant tears, always whimpering. In the new film we get to see a welcome "bad" side to Peter with his black alien suit morphing onto him, but while it's refreshing, there is no rhyme or reason to what that strange black gooey substance from space is in the first place, or why it's even around. It's just another of many endless plot contrivances. And count me in with the viewers who shook their head in embarrassment and disbelief when Peter starts acting like John Travolta while doing his absurd disco moves and idiotic "cool guy" dancing schtick. This was completely ridiculous.

Did I mention that the film is needlessly overlong and feels like it? I couldn't wait to get the hell out of the theater and for this aimless montage to end. When the film ended, a dad in his forties in front of me yelled: "I want my money back!!", and I couldn't agree more. Another MAJOR disappointment for me was that this new film takes the liberty of changing the events of the first SPIDER-MAN, where it's suddenly revealed that the guy who killed Peter's uncle Ben was not the right guy after all ... now it's supposed to have been the Sandman! This ruins the effect of the original movie for me and all the bits of business with Peter going after that killer. Patooey!!

 

[Bryan^H]

On a scale of 1 to 10, I give it a 1.

I actually liked the trailer for this film better than the film itself.

HORRIBLE.

 

[Lou Sytsma]

Ugh.

A big drop from the first two movies.

Corporate fingerprints are all over this. Cram as much as you can into the last movie to sell as much merchandise as possible. A screenplay right out of the George Lucas school of scriptwriting.

This is an embarassment.

 

[Chris Atkins]

6/10

Too busy, but I figured that would be the case.

What I didn't expect was a film that basically muted many of the themes in the first 2 films.

Disappointing overall. I hope they do a Spidey 4 just to redeem this one.

 

[Dome Vongvises]

I give it a C+. I didn't like this one much.

 

[Greg_S_H]

Just saw it on DVD. I mainly agree with Holadem's review, I think. As a big Spidey comic fan, I was resistant to this film because of adding Sandman to the origin, but it sort of worked. I think Raimi has shown in a number of ways how he brings a level of art to the comic book film--the leftfield "Raindrops" sequence in 2, and the horror-inspired operating room scene in that film--and the scene of Peter imaging Marko coldly shooting Ben, followed later by the actual recounting of how it was an accident was a pretty thrilling example in this outing. I agree that Marko's character was marred by his pairing with Venom at the end, but it was a more interesting take than in the comic books until that point. Marko eventually became a good guy in the books, and it wouldn't be a stretch to see the same happening to the movie version.

I didn't much care for the big action sequence at the end. Like Tim, I also thought of the Stay-Puft. I never got the sense that this was Flint Marko doing these things. It was just a big, mindless movie monster. And, like Holadem, hearing Grace's voice coming out of Venom just didn't work.

It was silly when Peter raked his hair down over his eyes deliberately. Though, I'm the only one who didn't mind the jazz club scene. I didn't love it, but it was alright.

 

[Neil Middlemiss]

Sometimes, when I like a movie that most don't, I wonder if I am missing something or I have lost my crirtical eye. But, with this one, I think it must have just satiated my need for this franchise. Anyway - here is my full review review:

Sam Raimi, director of all three "Spider-Man" films (as well as a slew of quirky and entertaining films through the years (such as "Evil Dead" and "Darkman") crafted a screen story with his brother that expands upon the intriguing tapestry of superhero/human relationship drama that helped catapult "Spider-man 1 & 2" into the boxoffice stratosphere. With this latest outing (and perhaps the last), things seem to be going pretty good for Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire). His girlfriend, the ubiquitous Mary-Jane (Kirsten Dunst), is debuting on Broadway, Spider-Man is a celebrated and loved hero to the City and, despite the soured relationship with his longtime friend, Harry Osborn (James Franco), life seems to be good.

Things, however, don’t stay so good for long, and fairly quickly, the complications that will haunt and hunt Spider-Man throughout the film, begin to pile up. It is the layering of complications and interlocking and intertwining of story and plot elements that help make "Spider-Man 3" the riskiest of all the web slinger’s big screen adventures.

As he juggles life’s complications, such as Mary-Jane’s feelings of being ignored and Harry’s vengeful hatred, Parker and Spider-Man must deal with new foes and follies that test both his powers and his compassion. The first new villain is Sandman (Thomas Hayden Church), a man who, as he runs from police after escaping from prison, is changed at the molecular level by a freak accident (how many of those happen in comic book movies?). This accident turns the criminal, Flint Marko, into a fascinating villain made up of sand and dirt. Flint also turns out to be the real killer of Parker’s Uncle, a fact that serves to foster a vengeful turmoil in the spandex-laden hero’s mind.

On top of that, a strange mobile black gooey substance has fallen to earth and found its way into Parker's apartment. As if that weren’t bad enough, a new competing freelance photographer, the cocky Eddie Brock ("That 70’s Show"’s Topher Grace), is vying for Parker's job at The Daily Bugle and a beautiful classmate, Gwen Stacey, played by Bryce Dallas-Howard, manages to rock the relationship boat for him with MJ. Oh, and that gooey substance that dropped into the film like a convenient plot contrivance, is a living substance that leeches onto Parker/Spider-Man, drawn to his anger and hatred of his Uncle's killer, turning the Spidey suit black and giving both our beloved superhero and his geeky alter-ego a severe dousing of ego-driven self-centered indulgence and an attitude with a profound mean-streak. Sounds like a lot, doesn’t it? I didn’t even mention that Spider-Man will also have to face another evil villain called Venom that…well, suffice to say, he poses a real problem for our arachnid, powered swinging hero.

Tobey Maguire as Parker/Spider-Man, Kirsten Dunst as Mary-Jane, James Franco as Harry, Topher Grace as Eddie Brock/Venom and Thomas Hayden church as Flint Marko/Sandman are all top-notch in this dramatic and exciting popcorn film. Tobey Maguire in particular shines as an increasingly complex superhero with such youthful inexperience and the weight of his own life on his shoulders that the way he deals with his complex life is often as interesting to see as how he deals with his foes. The supporting players continue their well established roles from the first two installments. Aunt May, played by Winston-Salem resident Rosemary Harris and J. Jonah Jameson, the gruff newspaper editor played with larger-than-life flair by "The Closer’s" J.K Simmons provide both tender wisdom and comic relief, respectively.

"Spider-man 3" succeeds in filling the screen with remarkable, complicated, fantastical action sequences that have real depth and dimension, afforded to them by the strong characters and drama that the director has provided us with. Giving us foes and heroes that are layered, flawed, redeemable and real provides for a genuine emotional investment in the sequences that goes beyond the most immediate visceral response.

This may be a film crowded with characters and plot, but it doesn’t truly become a problem until the film's last act. It is here that the film admittedly stumbles as it searches for the best way to close a story thread or at least give the audience a satisfying conclusion before the credits role.

As entertaining as "Spider-man 3" is, there are some notable issues. For example, as much as the black-suited Spider-Man storyline gave us some great teaser trailer material, the genesis of that story (a meteor that conveniently lands near a romancing Parker and MJ) and subsequent execution never quite reaches the level of Spider-Man’s challenges from the previous two films (I am not sure much will compare to the faultless Doc Ock, however). Also, as much fun as the Venom/Sandman match-up against Spidey is, it comes about in all of 10 seconds of screen time, feeling like it was rushed into the script simply to help make the battle royale sequence more entertaining.

But, even with its flaws, the third outing to me is every bit as strong as "Spider-Man 2." Clever and exciting special effects sequences, married to rich and rewarding characters and the right level of human drama (and genuinely funny moments) come together to lay upon our blockbuster yearning brains a top-notch, summer movie experience that deserves every penny of its record breaking $150MM opening weekend. And I would be remiss if I did not mention the appearance of Director Raimi’s good friend Bruce Campbell as a French maitre d’, it really is the funniest moment in the trilogy.

 

[TonyD]

well just got back from imax in King of Prussia.

i'm still taking in the film.
not sure what i tink about it yet.

I do know it could have been great, if for a few cuts.
mostly the dark Parker jazz dance scene needed to be removed and destroyed.
hopefully when a re-editted cut comes out on Blu-Ray in couple years this will be removed.

more later.

Who would have expected that 11 years later there would be a new re-edited cut?

The new cut re-edited by an Oscar winning editor Bob Murawski doesn’t really change much.
Mostly just tightens it up a bit.

I did notice actual wires during the second fight between Spider-man and Harry in Harry’s lab. Not sure if that was there in the theatrical.

It’s been many years since I’ve watched this all the way through.
There are still a lot of things in this movie that don’t belong but overall it’s not really as bad as I remember it being.

The Emo PP stuff with him walking down the street is rough but most of the woman are cringing at him as he points at them.
I found myself laughing out loud when he comes out of the clothing store with his new black suit on and he does the Saturday night fever thing.

If I was editing I would remove two things.
I would take out when Peter knocks MJ down in the club and I would remove the Giant Sandman thing.

I give this 3.5 of 5 stars. Would bump it to 4 if those things were removed.

Did notice this time that Flash Thompson after only appearing early in the first movie made a cameo at Harry’s funeral.

I did like this movie’s ending with Peter and MJ dancing to go to credits.
Was a nice ending to the trilogy.