Sometimes things just work out. In this case, it was flying back on my business trip. Living in Denver, I usually only fly in 2-hour and a bit chunks (e.g., through O’Hare, or DFW, or to LAX). Flying last evening, I went by way of Dulles, which provided a nice, long leg of the trip, which meant — a movie! And, mirabile dictu, it was a movie I was actually interested in seeing. Only slightly hampered by one channel of the headphones being dead, and an extremely tall flight attendant serving the rows ahead of me during the action scenes …
There are SPOILERS below, though not many.
Spider-Man 3 (2007)
| Overall |  | Story |  |
| Production |  | Acting | |
Story: I got through about two-thirds of this movie really liking it. We had some great plot elements of MJ’s career contrasting with Peter’s; classic characters a-plenty; and even a nice balance in various antagonists for our beloved webslinger. The seductive nature of the black suit/symbiont and its affect on Peter was also nicely handled (“He’s cool! He’s a geek! He’s a cool geek!”). Sure, there were some canon irritations (did Sandman actually have to be given an added role in Spidey’s origin?), but overall it wasn’t bad.
Then, all of a sudden, the wheels came off as, trying to decide what to do with all the elements now that they were gathered together, the writers threw it all into a blender and flicked the switch to 12. Battle! Kidnapping! Threats! Angst! Villains meet! Friends are begged! Conflicts resolved! Actions trivialized! Monsters arise! Monsters mysteriously defeated! More monsters arise! More defeated! Death! Blood! Sacrifice! Some will live and some will die and the Spider-Man franchise will never be the same!
And then having had a great Grand Guignol of excitement, segue into lots and lots and lots of talkiness, and then end things on a strangely understated note that screams for a sequel, whether we ever get one or not. I was both relieved and surprised when the credits ran.
Acting: The acting is all quite competent. There’s appropriate scene chewing as needed, and Tobey Maguire has Peter Parker (both good and bad) nailed. This is, remember, a comic book movie, so you don’t expect Oscar-winning performances from anyone (esp. when the writing starts getting sketchy), but Maguire’s dealing with Peter’s perpetual bad luck was just lip-quiveringly excellent.
Gwen the Ditz was not high on my list, on the other hand.
Production: Tons of CG, of course. The Spidey-web-slinging is still … a bit off (he really doesn’t curve through the canyons of New York in a realistically ballistic fashion), but by and large it was pretty spiffy. The effects for the Sandman was excellent (and Thomas Haden Church did a great job with the role, too), the Green Goblin was competent, and even Venom (never a favorite characer of mine) was nicely done.
Overall: Two-thirds of a good movie with one-third flailing about madly trying to come to a decent resolution. Not bad, expecially for “free” on an airline flight. I have no great personal need to own the DVD, but it’s worth watching, borrowing, renting, or whatever.