In the realm of Comic-Book based movies, very few have ever managed to translate the "feel" of the Comic Book on to the screen.  Bat-Man Begins, X-Men 1 & 2 (though 2 had problems), and the first two Spider-Man movies are the real stand-outs.

As the first two Spider-Man movies were so phenomenal, I was expecting some great things from Spider-Man 3.  After all, they were going to finish the Harry Osborne story-arc and were going to introduce the coolest Spider-Man villain of all time, Venom.  There were so many ways that this movie could have rocked, I was excited.

Notice the past tense there.  "could have rocked," "was excited."  That's because there were so many ways that this movie could have rocked, but there were apparently an equal number of ways that this movie could be screwed up, and Spider-Man 3 took nearly all those routes.  Let's look at the ways..

First, out of the immense number of characters in the movie, only two managed to ring true.  There were J. Jonah Jamison (who, let's be honest, is really 2d comic relief that's fun to watch) and Eddie Brock/Venom.  Only Eddie Brock is given the amount of screen time necessary to develop a complex character with the combination of decent writing to pull it off.  Every other character seemed to be painted with a thin coat of flat-paint. 

Peter-Parker/Spider-Man had the worst story-arc.  I understand that the felt-need to add some tension in the relationship between MJ and Peter.  I also understand the temption to make the symbiote and easy way to change Peter's personality to increase the tension.  Here's the problem - at the beginning of the movie Peter was already an unlikeable character.  He was unsensitive, smug, and pompus.  In other words, he was everything that Peter Parker isn't.  They tried to play it off as Peter being a boyfriend with a steep learning-curve, but it didn't pan out.  As Peter was already being unlikeable when the suit showed up, the character transformation didn't really play-out (not to mention the fact the the symbiote didn't have the effect on Peter and adding that in didn't add anything to the transformation of the symbiote from puppy-like adrenaline-junkey to spurnned friend).

I would say that Flint Marko/Sandman and Gwen Stacy had the worste story-arcs, but they didn't actually have an arc to complain about.  Watching Gwen Stacy being used as pouty eye-candy and the Sandman as a "throw-in" villain whom they tried to make out as tragically mis-understood and just ended up making his protrayal as "tragically wasted."

Then we have Harry, poor Harry.  His arc was sooooo cool, and rang true to the comic book, but they just ended it with a dull thud.  The "New Goblin" shows up in the beginning with a sweet fight between him and Spidey, but then (to make room for the other villains, Harry ends up loosing his memory and becomes a smiling zombie).  Two things really bothered me with the way them made Harry the "New Goblin."  First, where the heck did "Alfred" show up in Harry's pad?  You'd think he would've been around for a bit in the previous movies, right?  He was such an obvious plot-device that it was painful to watch.  Second, running up to the movie I kept on wondering why on earth Harry hadn't donned a version of his Father's suit for his revenge (as he does in the Comic).  I also thought there was something vaguely familiar about the outfit he did don, but I couldn't put my finger on it.  At the end of the movie, I finally got it - the film creators based Harry's look on "Night Thrasher" from the New Warriors - which I thought completely missed the point.

My second major problem with the film was the editing.  Who on earth let that "newscast" get off the cutting room floor.  While I'm at it, who the heck even let it make it's way into the final version of the script?  It was awful.  It actually hurt to listen to it, and it ruined a crucial point of the film.  It's bad enough that the inane drivel that TV newscasters spew out on live TV is passed off as journalism - why did they have to include it in a movie?

Like X-Men 3, Spider-Man three made the huge mistake of trying to bite off far more than it could chew.  Unlike X-Men 3 they didn't have the excuse of losing their creative team to make the film.  The best way that I can explain my feelings on Spider-Man 3 is that it was "cartoony" where the first two in the series had been "comic-bookish."  What a shame. 

Be first to comment this article

Only registered users can write comments.
Please login or register.

Powered by AkoComment Tweaked Special Edition v.1.4.2