The lead single, “Signal Fire,” from multi-platinum
UK artist Snow Patrol – which is already impacting Modern
Rock, Hot AC, and Top 40 radio – kicks off the "Spider-Man
3" soundtrack!
Genre: Comics/Action/Adventure Director: Sam Raimi Cast: Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James
Franco, Thomas Haden Church, Topher Grace, Bryce Dallas Howard,
James Cromwell, Rosemary Harris RunTime: 2 hrs 20 mins Released By: Columbia TriStar Rating: PG (Action Violence) Official Website:spiderman3.sonypictures.com
Opening
Day: 1 May 2007
Synopsis:
In
"Spider-Man 3," based on the legendary Marvel Comics
series, Peter Parker has finally managed to strike a balance
between his devotion to M.J. and his duties as a superhero.
But there is a storm brewing on the horizon. When his suit
suddenly changes, turning jet-black and enhancing his powers,
it transforms Peter as well, bringing out the dark, vengeful
side of his personality that he is struggling to control.
Under the influence of the suit, Peter becomes overconfident
and starts to neglect the people who care about him most.
Forced to choose between the seductive power of the new suit
and the compassionate hero he used to be, Peter must overcome
his personal demons as two of the most-feared villains yet,
Sandman and Venom, gather unparalleled power and a thirst
for retribution to threaten Peter and everyone he loves.
Movie
Review:
Spider-man
3 marks the commencement of the 2007 Summer Blockbusters Invasion.
Director Sam Raimi and company are making sure that they packed
so much more into this movie to exceed the previous installment
of the Spider-man franchise and perhaps set such a high standard
to challenge the other Summer Blockbusters to stay on par
with what they got to offer. There a lot of events going on
in Spider-man 3, new villains, new costume, new twist in Uncle
Ben’s Death, new woes in Peter Parker and Mary Jane’s
love relationship and so much more that we better start this
review asap.
Let’s start with the positive bits of Spider-man 3.
After going through so many trials and tribulations, just
when it seems that nothing could rock the relationship between
Mary Jane (Kirsten Dunst) and Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire),
the storytellers threw another obstacle in their way and it
was rather effective. A classic scenario of when one partner
is more successful than the other and is oblivious to the
other woes was quite a fresh set of problems. In a way, this
new set of problem was the heart of this movie that help carry
all the other plot devices till the end of the movie.
With the build up from the previous 2 movies, James Franco
gave the best rendition of Harry Osborn / the new Green Goblin
yet. His character call for more complexity than the whiny
and clueless Harry Osborn that he had played and James Franco
was more than capable to provide some depth as a very conflicted
villain who out to revenge his father death. In comparison
to his co star Tobey Maguire’s struggle with the dark
side also in this movie, James Franco seems more adept and
creditable in balancing the good and evil persona.
Following the traditions of the three movies, the cameo appearances
of Stan Lee (the creator of Spider-man) and Bruce Campbell
(frequent collaborator with Director Sam Raimi) were once
again a rare treat for the fans. Comic fans will get a kick
when Stan Lee appears to deliver an inspirational “nuff
said” dialogue to Peter Parker while Bruce Campbell
will bring the house down with laughter as a restaurant captain.
Tradition aside, the new inclusion of Sandman (a second rate
villain in Spider-man world) as the latest villain didn’t
felt like a good idea initially and linking it up with the
murder of Uncle Ben was just too much a stretch after the
murder took place two movies and so many years ago. But as
the manner that Doc Octopus was handled in the second Spider-man
movie, the Sandman character was spruced up and suddenly became
more intriguing and more terrifying. The creation of Sandman
in the comics felt contrived and yet in this movie, with the
special effects showcasing the sand formation of Sandman that
was so impressive and with fine acting from Thomas Haden Church,
the origin story of Sandman became more endearing and believable.
Even the tie-in with the murder of Uncle Ben had a unique
sensibility of remorse and sadness that made the whole fiasco
more relatable and less far fetch.
Venom on the other hand, felt that it had short-changed the
audience of it’s potential. Venom being the most anticipated
character in Spider-man’s rogue gallery, had fans clamoring
for his appearance ever since the first movie. There were
conflicting reports that stated that Director Sam Raimi didn’t
liked Venom and wasn’t going to use it but there were
also reports that it was a smoke screen to keep the fans excited.
Nevertheless, just before the contracts expired for the leads
(Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst) and in what might possibly
be the last Spider-man movie, Venom was squeezed into the
third Spider-man movie which is already packed with more than
it’s fair share of villains.
So what went wrong for the first theatrical appearance of
Venom? The first and greatest difference was that the movie
robbed away the fearsomeness of Venom from the comics. In
the comics realm (particularly in the first story arc that
details their first encounter), readers literally feel the
fears and anguish for Spider-man as Venom was able to outdo
every super abilities that Spider-man has and since it was
a once a symbiote that was attached to Spider-man, Spider-man’s
sensitive spider-sense were unable to detect any assaults
from Venom, thus making Venom the biggest and meanest villain
in Spider-man rogue gallery. However, there wasn’t any
opportunity to showcase that fearsomeness of Venom unless
this movie exceeds the three hours mark. In summary, the Venom
from the printed material source could wrack so much havoc
in Spider-man’s life by himself that he hardly requires
any assistance at all but that not the case for the movie
version of Venom which once again took another big bite off
Venom’s unique origin.
Another moot point was the portrayal of Venom alter ego, Eddie
Brock performed by Topher Grace. Both version of Eddie Brock
had him going into a psychotic personal vengeance against
Spider-man, but the route down the psychotic path differs
and the comic’s version felt so much more satisfying
than the movie version. While the comic’s version build
Eddie Brock as a more morally upright character that was driven
to madness when Spider-man/ Peter Parker inadvertently exposed
his mistake in a newspaper article, the movie version had
Topher Grace as a lowlife who resorted to underhanded methods
that made it hard to relate his personal vendetta against
Spider-man.
Both of the weakness stated above could easily point to the
very obvious fact that there was simply not enough time in
this movie to squeeze a major character such as Venom into
this movie. A complex character like Venom would require at
least 2 movies to tell, one to introduce Eddie Brock’s
downfall and another to showcase the mayhem that only Venom
could dish to Spider-man. For casual viewers who are unaware
of the rich history that Venom got, they could be easily razzle
dazzle by the special computer generated effects on the symbiote
and the modified tale of Venom but fans of the comic origin
(specially the first story arc) will likely be disappointed
with how Venom was handled.
And it’s not just the Venom character that was not handled
well, any storyline in this movie that has link with the alien
symbiote just felt out of the pace with the rest of the storylines
that were going on. Starting for the absurd introduction of
the alien symbiote which fell from the skies and against all
probabilities, landed near a certain superhero, to the very
silly portrayal of Peter Parker’s transgression caused
by the symbiote’s presence made it all felt like it
was just rushing to get the story told.
For the casual viewers who are not that in touch with the
comic’s roots of these few characters, it’s easy
to sit back and enjoy this flick as a mindless blockbuster
entertainment. But if you are a fan of how characters were
slowly build up in the previous installments of Spider-man
movies or have some knowledge of the potential of Venom, you
might be disappointed with the overall direction this movie
took to pack too many characters and events into one movie.
Movie
Rating:
(With great expectation comes great disappointment)
