How important is
Spider-Man 3 to its studio, SONY/Columbia?
So important that they gave me free food! Please take into account
that I was hopped up
on Reese’s Pieces while watching this movie, which is a
perfect way to start
the summer movie season and excite the 8-year old boy or girl inside
all of us.
As Spider-Man 3
begins, Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) is dealing with an emotion we
haven’t seen
much from him – happiness.
Life is
looking up as Spider-Man has become a hero beloved by New York City. Mary Jane (Kirsten Dunst)
has landed a major
role on Broadway. He’s
doing well in
school. Most
importantly, Peter is going
to ask Mary Jane to marry him.
Of course, it
wouldn’t be a Spider-Man movie without conflict, angst and
challenges, so
Peter’s happiness, and growing cockiness, is about to be
attacked by:
-a new, sleazy
rival
at the newspaper, Eddie Brock (Topher Grace);
-a shocking
secret from the past that will tempt him to seek vengeance on an
escaped convict,
Flint Marko (Thomas Haden Church);
-a strange virus
from outer space that brings out the worst in everyone it inhabits;
-his old friend,
Harry Osborn (James Franco), who wants revenge for his
father’s death;
-and a new lady
who is vying for his affection and attention, Gwen Stacy (Bryce Dallas
Howard).
Can Spider-Man
save the day again? Can
he dedicate
himself to Mary Jane when she needs him?
Can you keep track of all of the stories and
characters?
That’s a whole
lotta stuff! One of the criticisms of Spider-Man 3 is the multiple characters and storylines, all of which are
compelling, but never play out and get developed as fully as they could, but
it’s not a criticism that should keep you away from the movie. Any one of those subplots could have been an
entire movie dedicated to itself, especially Marko and Brock, which have the
promise of being very complicated stories, and Spider-Man 3’s director Sam
Raimi dips his toe in the dark and dangerous pool from time to time, but, more
importantly, he gives us plenty of humor and action to entertain the audience and
remind us we are watching a summer blockbuster and not some art film vying for
an Oscar.
The script and
story from Ivan Raimi and Alvin Sargent touch on these heavy themes of
vengeance, hubris, love, dedication, friendship, temptation, family and more,
which engages your brain and emotions, especially for a character like Peter,
who is widely loved by fervent fans.
Then, Spider-Man 3 unveils the action that will blow your mind.
The emergence
and transformation of Sandman is some of the best CGI work I have ever seen as
the character flies as a cloud of dust through the sky, materializes into
massive, frightening figures, then melts into a simple pile of sand when going
incognito. Raimi gives the audience
plenty of high flying and death defying fight scenes as Spider-Man and his foes
battle it out as they swing and fly from skyscraper to skyscraper, but some of
it could have been a bit easier to follow.
Spider-Man 3 is
a solid, entertaining, summer movie that gets a bit too goofy in places, could
have gotten darker in others, but will be a huge hit with anyone who wants to
see it because it is thrilling.
3 ½ Waffles (Out
Of 4)
Spider-Man 3 is
rated PG-13 for sequences of intense action violence.
Copyright
2007 - WaffleMovies.com
