Chuck Mayer
Tagline: The battle within.
Genre: Fantasy, Action, Adventure
Director: Sam Raimi
Cast: Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Thomas Haden Church, Topher Grace, Bryce Dallas Howard, Rosemary Harris, James Cromwell, J.K. Simmons, Theresa Russell, Dylan Baker, Bill Nunn, Elizabeth Banks, Ted Raimi, Perla Haney-Jardine, Willem Dafoe, Cliff Robertson, Elya Baskin, Mageina Tovah, Michael Papajohn, Joe Manganiello, Stan Lee, Bruce Campbell, Christopher Young, Grant Curtis, Daniel Gillies, John Paxton, Becky Ann Baker, Steve Valentine, Hal Fishman, Lucy Gordon, Toni Wynne, Andre B. Blake, Tim Maculan, Marc Vann, Joe Bays, Gregg Daniel, Rogelio T. Ramos, Timothy Patrick Quill, Kathryn Bryding, Joe Virzi, Bill E. Rogers, Michael Alexander, April Parker-Jones, Edward Padilla, Robert Curtis Brown, Paul Terrell Clayton, Carolyn Neff, Christina Cindrich, Sonya Maddox, Derrick 'Phoenix' Thomas, Jessi Collins, Michael McLaughlin, Anne Gartlan, Emilio Rivera, Keith Woulard, Reynaldo Gallegos, Jim Coope, Dean Edwards, Margaret Laney, Aimee Miles, Tanya Bond, Mark Kubr, Tony Besson, Ramon Adams, A.J. Adelman, Angelis Alexandris, Dawn Marie Anderson, Frank Anello, Anya Avaeva, David Backus, Tiffany L. Baker, Sujeilee Candele, Michael Ciesla, Irina Costa, John Crann, Crystal Marie Denha, Amy V. Dewhurst, Paul Edney, Natalie Fabry, Keith Fausnaught, Shaun Patrick Flynn, Logan Fry, Kevin Fung, Tony Galtieri, Chuck Gerena, Brian Hopson, Claude Jay, Julie Jei, Andrew James Jones, Natalie Jones, Christopher Jude, Brittany Krall, Alyssa Lakota, Pierangeli Llinas, Bernadette Lords, Sandrine Marlier, Laura McDavid, Natalie McNeil, Daniel Mignault, Martha Millan, Michele-Nanette Miller, Claudia Katz Minnick, Robert Myers, Joseph O'Brien, Jen Oda, Anjelia Pelay, Nick Poltoranin, Vanessa Reseland, La Rivers, Bria Roberts, Luis Rosa, Vanessa Ross, Brenna Roth, Shade Rupe, Arick Salmea, Eric Shackelford, Daniel Shafer, Abbey Skinner, Kristin Somo, Jennifer Sparks, Christopher Stadulis, Jimmy Star, Arne Starr, Liam Stone, Tajna Tanovic, Aija Terauda, Brigid Turner, Evelyn Vaccaro, Nick Vlassopoulos, Sincerely A. Ward, Silq Webster, Graig F. Weich, Fredrick Weiss, Jennifer Weston, Trenton Willey, Ray Wineteer, Emily Eckes
Release: 2007-05-01
Runtime: 139
Plot: The seemingly invincible Spider-Man goes up against an all-new crop of villains—including the shape-shifting Sandman. While Spider-Man’s superpowers are altered by an alien organism, his alter ego, Peter Parker, deals with nemesis Eddie Brock and also gets caught up in a love triangle.Quite disappointing. I consider Spidey 2 one of the best genre films made, and it towers over most superhero films. Spidey 3 is a major step down.
It's a drama, first and foremost. And while it succeeds at the second most critical aspect of a drama (acting), it falls short at a script level.
It's not terrible, but it's juggling far too many balls, and never makes any of them particularly interesting. There is a fantastic segment in the middle (the dark side of Spidey), but not much around it is really honed or tight.
The good: the acting is a major step-up for the leads. In the end, it sort of works, in spite of itself. They really do save the film.
The bad:
Very little Sandman. After Molina's incredible Doc Ock, the villains seemed very pedestrian. One scene with his daughter does not a rounded character make. I understand (though disagree with) tying Marko to the death of Uncle Ben. It's the major theme of the film.
Some real quirky oddball moments that seem out of tune with the tone set by the rest of the films. Maybe I am missing the mark here, but some of it seemed screwball (or cheeseball) in a very bad way. It contrasted rather strongly with the soap opera elements of the script.
The effects with the black suit weren't great (Venom or Spidey) either. Some of the action was good...some of it was rather poor.
I'll be seeing this again with the wife, and I hope to like it better the second time. It's not terrible. It's just...there.
I could nickel and dime it, but it's late. Again, the acting was quite good. Better than the previous two films. That's something.
And lastly, f*** teenagers.
6/10,
Chuck