Review of Spider-Man 3 (2007) by Stephen Z — 07 Aug 2014

Tobey Maguire goes emo, Kirsten Dunst does "The Twist", James Franco becomes a "wicked cool" skateboarder, and Thomas Haden Church punches a dog. Does this sound like a Spider-Man movie to you?

Unfortunately, "Spider-Man 3" is a Spider-Man film by name alone. The solid, cohesive story-telling of the previous films is replaced by multiple subplots. The central love story deteriorates into a bunch of romantic misunderstanding. And the outstanding action spectacles are exchanged for second-rate action and atrocious CG.

The acting in this film is also sub-par. Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, and Rosemary Harris all give less-than-impressive performances. The performances of Bryce Dallas Howard as Gwen Stacy and Topher Grace as Eddie Brock are terrible betrayals of the source material. Sandman, played well-enough by Thomas Haden Church, has a bad retconned story arc. There is one beautiful scene of Sandman, but I had hoped that CG would've been used to create visually impressive action. Instead, it only scrapes the surface.

Aside from Spidey's sweet new suit, "Spider-Man 3" doesn't live up to the series' legacy. The entire film is full of bad drama and flat action, but the third act is the killing blow. It is a finale that should've been exciting, but isn't. Needless to say, "Spider-Man 3" is a disappointment and fails to give closure to the trilogy.