Review of Spider-Man 3 (2007) by Imunavailable — 30 Jun 2011

Spider-Man 3's problems stem from its bloated and convoluted story. From multiple villains to love triangles to a symbiote-driven personality change, Spider-Man 3 tries to do in one movie what others would try to do in multiple.

In choosing to tackle so much, this movie was destined to come up short. Having three villains in any movie, let alone a superhero movie, was always going to result in at least one bad guy getting sidelined.

This honor falls onto Venom, a character which Sam Raimi did not want to include and boy does it show. His screen time is short and he always has the air of being unnecessary and out of place. As for Sandman, though he is visually impressive, his entry into the back story feels shoehorned in and unnatural.

Dialogue is hampered by occasionally poor acting and the stunting of character growth (Mary Jane is the biggest offender). There is a real lack of an emotional cor to this movie, with each actor appearing to be going through the motions.

The exception is Tobey Maquire who seems to enjoy Peter's narcissistic and selfish persona. Action scenes are high quality, entertaining and well realized. The problem is that with a lack of a well-constructed story and genuine emotions, these scenes are often hollow.