Spider-Man 3 (2007) (1 Viewer)

[Todd H]

What a disappointment.

There's a good film in there somewhere, but unfortunately it's buried beneath too many characters and a poor script. If the movie had just concentrated on the Sandman and left out the contrived Venom and Gwen Stacey storylines, I think it would have been an excellent flick.

4/10

 

[DaveF]

I was in the mood for a "blockbuster" movie, and Spiderman 3 was an enjoyable movie to watch. But it it pales compared to the first two.

It is too busy with four villains (Dark Spiderman, Venom, Goblin, Sandman), none of which are worth a movie on their own and combined don't make a worthwhile nemesis to Spidey.

Worse, when Peter Parker succumbs to the space-goo induced darkness, he becomes... Disco Stu! Seriously, Dark Parker is distinguished by his greasy hair falling into the right eye, and his '70s disco strut as he walks down the NY sidewalks. It suffers the same weakness of recent Star Wars prologues: petulant is mistaken for evil.

The characters are inconsistent: Harry hates Peter, loves Peter, hates Peter at the drop of a hat. Sandman is just a poor, misunderstood guy who kills cops rather than easily hiding from them, and Venom--hatred incarnate--spawns from a silly man incapable of such animus. Mary Jane is irrational, JJJ is neutered by heart medication, and Gwen Stacy is...well, who knows why she's in this movie.

There are some exciting scenes; the opening resuce sequence was well done. And the birth of Sandman was perhaps the best scene of the entire movie. It had a heart and suggested emotions sorely lacking from the rest of the film.

It's the third. You're gong to see it despite the middling reviews (I did). But save yourself a few bucks and catch a matinee or wait until it's in the $2 second-run theater.

 

[ThomasC]

I am extremely surprised at all the hate this movie is getting. I've never read a single comic book and tried to avoid exposure to most of the hype for Spider-Man 3. I had a fun time watching it...when there was fun to be had. Maybe it tries to be too many things in too little time and some things came out of nowhere, but I enjoyed pretty much every moment of it. I think some things will wear out quick on subsequent viewings, but that's for later.

...but this is coming from a person who also doesn't understand the hate for Superman IV.

 

[Robert Crawford]

This film is definitely not for the fanboys, with that being said, I think most of the general public is going to like this film. I saw a lot of people enjoying the film during my viewing this afternoon so I expect this film to make a bunch more money before all is said and done. IMO, I enjoyed the second one more, but I thought 3 was better than the first film.

 

[Josh.C]

I was really hoping some of the pro's (Chuck, Patrick, and Company) had this one wrong.

Sad to say that I am going to have to side with them on this film. I don't quite understand why film-makers often feel they have to push the limits on a series of films that needs to only stick with the pattern that has been set by past features.

This movie screems excess in every way. First off, too many villains. When has this ever worked? The Batman series automatically comes to mind, when they started have two and three villians in the same film. Hated it then, hate it now.

Next, this film was incredibly corny. I know it's a comic book, and I go in expecting a certain layer of "cheeseyness", but once again, this film went too far. From the PP dancing sequence, walking down the street acting like Mr. Furley from Three's Company, and even to the camera reporter in the closing sequence and Mary Jane's rescue bit. It's just overkill.

Several other parts of the film didn't set well with me. Harry's Butler talking to him about his father, Spidey's kiss from the hot blonde chick. So much of this film just didn't work for me, and seemed out of place with the past two installments (both of which I really enjoyed).

After hearing the news of the opening day record, I find myself sighing out loud. Is this really what the bulk of the movie viewing nation wants to see?

Some of this can probably be saved for the discussion thread, and I don't mean to offend if you enjoyed the film. It just didn't work for me.

6.5/10 (maybe a 7 if it weren't for the "let down" factor)

JC

 

[Robert Crawford]

Please, let's keep this thread with reviews only and discuss box office, special effects and other subject matter in the other thread. Thank you.




Crawdaddy

 

[todd stone]

terrible flick. what was with EMO spiderman? lame.

 

[Jim Ogilvie]

Weakest of the three, but I liked it enough to give it a passing grade.

I completely understand the criticisms levelled so far. I was in the mood for a 'good enough' movie, and this was just that.

Church certainly has pumped up. I haven't seen him in a good while, so I was a bit surprised at this. I thought his performance was the strongest in the movie.

The butler was a bit awkwards.

Gwen - I liked her, but I think Brant would have been a better romantic foil.

Loved the scene with J.J.J. having to take his pills. They might have gone one buzz too many, but still it was a good ice breaker early in the film.

I've learned over time that the biggest impediment to enjoying films of this type are the adherence to stories of these characters from other media. I think when I go in to watch these films, I don't carry that with me and it helps a lot. So when they completely reinvent or otherwise alter the path of a character or the characters origin, it doesn't bother me and take me out of the film.

Probably will buy on DVD, if only to complete the collection and have a second viewing at some point. Wouldn't see it in a theatre again though.

 

[MattFini]

I am honestly taken aback by all of this criticism.

I can certainly understand most of it, but some of the reviews on here have been outright brutal.

I have never been a big fan of this franchise. I LIKE the films, but they've never been favorites of mine, so that could be why I wasn't anticipating the third film with baited breath.

To me, Spider-Man 3 was the best of the three. It's flawed (the butler's revelation was beyond awful-and I'll agree that there's just too much happening) but enjoyable. Some of the action sequences in here nail the comic book bravado in a way that no other comic-book based film has yet to do.

To me, the Peter Parker, MJ storyline worked relatively well also. I was surprised with how engaging it was, and how much I found myself caring for these characters. Gwen Stacy certainly did not need to be in this film, as her character was less that and more plot device, but it put the Peter/MJ relationship in an interesting place...at least to me.

And I'll admit it: I LOVED the Saturday Night Fever-esque strutting sequence. Not sure why it's being branded "the EMO Peter Parker stuff" across message boards everywhere, but I found it funny.

Thomas Hayden Church's Sandman could've been my favorite Spidey villain had the film delved into his character a little more. It gets off to a great start, but I would've liked to have seen a little more of an arc for his character. Regardless, a great performance like his can go a long way towards establishing a character.

So those are some random thoughts on Spider-Man 3. I apologize for the fragmented writing style, but I haven't had much time to compose a review.

I just wanted to put my own two cents in here since the majority of the reviews have been bad. I think there's enough good stuff in this one to qualify it was a very good film. I enjoyed it very much and look forward to getting the DVD.

 

[Will K]

I'm not sure I understand all the (ahem) venom for this one. Sure, it's fairly flawed and a bit sloppier than the first two but I thought it was a heck of a lot of fun. The editing could have been tightened up and they could have excised a few of the second half's many awkward moments, but this remains light years beyond the bad Superman and Batman sequels, imho. I also don't feel this was light on action. If anything, maybe there was a little overkill in that department. That certainly was not a problem with, say, Superman Returns.

 

[Adam_WM]

Overall, I enjoyed it about as much as I figured I would. It would be VERY tough to improve on solid Spider-Man 1 and even more solid Spider-Man 2.

POSITIVES: Action scenes are very good. Venom was cool and really translated very well to screen. The Sandman was just as he should have been. Awesome watching him fight Spidey.

NEGATIVES. MJ, MJ, MJ, MJ, MJ, Kirsten Dunst, MJ, and Kirsten Dunst.
I thought Peter's "taking the suit off and putting it in a trunk" was kind of dumb. Two back to back dance sequences was over the top.

On a whole, though, if you like the first two, this should be enjoyable. Not a TOP NOTCH superhero flick, but certainly very good.

 

[Bryan Ri]

What an utter disappointment.

While it would be near impossible to top the near perfect Spider-Man 2, we could have at least received an enjoyable continuation of the story. Instead we get a muddled, sloppy script with too many loose plot threads that don't pay off.

Let's start with the villains. In the previous Spider-Man movies the villains had some sort of logical origin and more importantly, the audience could have a chance in sympathizing with them. Osborne was about to lose his company, only to then have it stolen right out from under him. Octavious (despite the cliche) had a legit science experiment go wrong, and lost the love of his life in the process.

Here, we have a rock fall out of the sky, and a man fall into a hole. Are we supposed to feel bad for the Sandman because we see him visit a sick daughter once? What is her ailment? Why does he need money? What kind of person was he BEFORE he made his poor choices? Who IS his daughter? He literally could have been taken out of the movie, with the plot being changed very little.

The symbiont would have perfectly tied into Jameson coming back from space. Instead it randomly falls out of the sky. This is flat out poor writing. The scenes with "Bad Boy" Peter went on a bit too long, and would have been served much better with fleshed out scenes with the established characters.

I enjoyed the rivalry with Eddie Brock, and I feel more of this would have served the story much more than the Sandman. We didn't necessarily need Venom for the entire movie, but it would have made the story much less cluttered.

Finally we have Harry and the Goblin. I enjoyed that first fight and the idea that he lost his memory. I didn't enjoy his exploitation of Mary Jane (which inexplicably was dropped and never paid off) nor did I like his teaming with Spidey at the end. I'm glad his character was in the movie, but again it suffered from poor storytelling.

The action was great, the effects were amazing, and the cast was still charming. Overall the problems lay with Raimi and the creative team. They could have, and should have done much better.

 

[Edwin-S]

I was expecting a major disaster from reading the reviews in here. Overall, I thought the movie was entertaining. It could have used some tightening up to improve the pacing. The "stray cat strut" sequence should have been cut, since it bordered on the cringeworthy. The jazz club sequence didn't bother me as much as it did a lot of other who have posted in here. It was a little over the top but it was a minor nit considering that the subject of the movie is beyond over the top.

If I was a long time fan of the comics then I would probably be much more critical of the movie; however, I'm not a Spiderman fan so I found the movie was an entertaining enough escape for a couple of hours. I found it to be not much worse and not much better than the first two entries in the series.

 

[Tino]

Exactly what I expected. A notch below Spidey 1 and nowhere near Spidey 2.

I agree with most of the complaints, however I was still able to enjoy the film. :star::star::star:

 

[Les Samuel]

I saw Spiderman III @ the Dulles IMAX saturday night and I had a great time and I thought the movie was very good, especially since there is so much going on. To me Raimi ultimately pulls it off. Can someone please tell me what movie in recent history has special effects of this stature? It's better than anything I've seen to date eclipsing every Star Wars film and all LOTR films...

The general consensus will be too much going on, too many story lines as the negative. I think the rest is nit picking, was the singing out of place, not to me since MJ is an actress trying to make it on Broadway. Many complain about the Parker Shuffle when thinks he's the hottest guy on the planet, did it make me cringe, yeah because that's not Peter Parker.

Was it one of those movies worthy of applause at the end, not to me but half the crowd @ the IMAX did just that, I guess they enjoyed it as well...

 

[Scott_lb]

Saw it last night - what a disaster (and I wasn't expecting much). I especially didn't like how there was no real end to the Sandman storyline - he simply flew away (presumably to commit more crimes to raise money to save his daughter) with no chase ensuing. Maybe the next people he robs or kills will forgive him like Parker did because he's really a nice guy who's simply trying to make ends meet. What a load of garbage. No repeat viewing for me and no Blu-Ray purchase (although I'll be buying 1 and 2).

 

[Abby_B]

I thought it was okay. It was a fun movie, definitely worth seeing on the big screen for the effects alone, but I also thought that it felt a little bit bloated, character and plot wise, and I think making it tighter would have made it a better film. It was still a great summer popcorn flick, for sure, but it wasn't the great movie it could have been, if that makes sense.

 

[chris rick]

I think it is fantastic and a cut above Spidey 1 and almost on par with the second installment. I think the problem is honestly (and I'm not normally one to buy this logic) the hype got to some people and they expected perfection. Let's face it, no current franchise (even POTC) is as big as this one. The villains were great and Sandman was absoultely as good a villain as Doc Oc--sympathetic to a point and a character that we are able to empathize with. I think also that Toby was perfect as was Dunst. The visual effects are pretty much unparalelled outside of a few films I've ever seen. Topher Grace was very good, but in one of the films weak spots, a tad underused. Biggest gripe (but with a wink): I really feel that this was the swan song for this series hence the singing/dancing, and sometimes borderline cheesy sequences. Raimi is like a circus promoter here juggling all of the plot lines and action sequences, and in my opinion he succeedes spectacularly for the most part.

 

[Pete-D]

I would give it a 5.5/10

It's the Superman III of the Spider-Man series. Too much, too over-the-top, too plot heavy.

Surprisingly for a movie you'd expect to get a bit darker with the whole symboite/Venom storyline ... the movie actually gets far sillier in tone.

It also really showed that Raimi was forced to add Venom and that whole story arc ... Sandman was definitely the more interesting villian, but in the end, he got short changed too. I almost got the sense are certain times in the movie Raimi is basically throwing his hands up and almost saying "whatever ... I just don't care anymore", which might have been an attitude fostered by too much interference from Sony. A big shame.

The bad thing is the audience that I saw it with was really cracking up at parts they weren't supposed to. The scene were MJ is "forced" to break up with PP drew big laughs. They definitely lost the tone.

Yet in some mishmashed way it's still entertaining. It gets into that "so bad, it's good" territory though, which the first two films never needed to go to. Honestly I know people rip X3 a lot, but I think X3 is actually better than this.

Venom is a total waste, and Grace plays the character of Eddie Brock pretty much like a cocky version of the guy he is in the 70s Show ... which lead to more unintended laughter from the audience.

The one bright spot is Bryce Dallas Howard. She's only in the movie briefly and her character is nothing more than a plot device, but she seems to have better chemistry than Dunst's Mary Jane (who has some terribly bad lip-synced musical numbers). Also the girl who is the landlord's daughter next door to PP's apartment gets some fun scenes in this one.

 

[BrettV]

Saw SM-3 at the cinerama dome (arclight) in downtown hollywood.

I don't really get what all the hate is about. I loved it. Lots of action, fun storyline ..

I didn't really think parker was 'emo' either .. if he were emo, he wouldn't have been tough. He'd have sat back and cried. I'd say he was more goth.

I thought they did a great job of showing how dramatically the suit was affecting his personality.

And you can complain about the number scenes, but I found them fun.