Cal's review of
Spiderman 3 (2007)

Overall grade: C. Should have been better keeping in mind Sony spent $250 million on it.

First, a long list of COMPLAINTS.

1. Hollywood's desire to make every superhero battle super important. Spidey can't fight Sandman just because he is a bad guy. No, there has to be a monumental reason. So they re-write history to have the Sandman be the true killer of Peter's Uncle Ben.

2. Do all Spidey movies have to be after-school specials, have moral-to-the-story, and teach me something about myself or about life. "With great power comes great responsibility", "Forgive yourself", "MJ needs us, I can't do it alone", "a man must put his wife before himself", "be there for me", "Not a bad person, I had bad luck". I am almost 40 years old. I don't need lesson about life from Aunt May.
3. Sick and tired of the Peter, MJ, Harry love triangle. MJ loves Peter, then hates him, then loves him, then leaves him. Even Harry flipflops in Spidey 3. It's like a soap opera with a tiny cast. Everyone has to hate/love everyone because there are not enuf characters.
4. Stan Lee appearances have become too cliche.

5. A damsel in distress is getting a little old. In other words, a woman in Peter's life falls from a great height. Spidey 1: MJ was thrown off a bridge. Spidey 2: Aunt May was hanging from a bell tower. Spidey 3: Gwen Stacy is knkocked from a skyscraper. Can't the script writers think of anything new.

6. An evil meteorite crashes near our hero? That story line is so old that no one uses it anymore.

7. For the third movie in a row, Spidey fights a reluctant villain. Norman Osborn was fairly nice until the goblin serum drove him nuts. Doc Ock was brainwashed by his metal arms. Sandman was stealing for his sick kid. Venom was just trying to get steady employment. Why couldn't Eddie Brock and Sandman be and asshole and a crook, like they outta be.

8. Fast fight scenes. You have to be the Flash, a jedi, or a 9-year-old with ADD to take it all in. Hey, director! Why not try the Matrix or 300 and do a slow-mo fight scene?

9. All villains die. To go along with the "every movie must be historic" idea is that they kill off a villain every movie. I know Spidey has lots of villains but they will run out after a while. Prediction: next movie: Mysterio, Chamelion, Molten Man killed. Kraven paralized. The Lizard will be seriously injured.

10. Long (rehash movie #1) intro/credits was a waste.

11. Venom power. I can see the black costume making Peter bad, but not suave. The costume should be like a drug, highs and lows. It should have drained him, and depressed him. Not made Peter act like John Travolta.
12. Sandman power. He can be tough on his own. Spidey fans love the ole classic Sandman concrete-block fist. He does not have to mix with 80 tons of construction sand and become 10 stories tall to become a serious threat.
13. Marvel Team-up. Peter and Harry, side by side. Too predictable.


GOOD MOMENTS about the movie:

JJ Jamison had some good lines, but could have been better.

Spidey losing the black suit in the bell tower and Eddie Brock acquiring it was right on, and accurate.

Osborn men have a knack for amnesia.
They got Gwen Stacy right. Overly nice and polite. Pure and innocent. But the timeline is historically incorrect. Peter knew Gwen way before he met MJ. A little history mix-up here: Gwen and Capt Stacy are alive, but Norman and Harry Osborn are dead?
Spidey using his brain to defeat Venom.

Spidey using web balls.

Spidey using a trip wire to beat Harry.

Sandman special effects. Pretty good CGI.

The police scanner was odd. Spidey usually just swings around, and trouble finds him.


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