Spiderman 3, 3 stars
Saw Sam Raimi’s third installment of the Spiderman-franchise. And walked away disappointed, this was a definite letdown after the first two movies.
The plot is way too busy - the three villains are just too much to tackle alone, and on top are several B-plots (most of them conveniently sheared of their origin in the comics) that consume their own good slice of screen time. It’s not too hard to follow, since the target audience consists of sugar-rushed kids, just pointlessly busy. But there are plot devices (such as Venom, Gwen Stacy and the twist sprung by the Osborne’s Jeeves-clone) left completely in the cold.
Like with the previous movie, it’s not the main cast that takes top honors, acting-wise. Topher Grace is surprisingly good as the opportunistic rival to Peter Parker’s workingman ethos, and Thomas Haden Church blunt as Sandman. And Bruce Campbell, the series mainstay, is present again, again as a foil for Spiderman’s civilian alter ego. But, as usual, he’s present in one scene only - and, as usual, J.K. Simmons as Bugle’s despotic editor is also chronically under-used. The less said about Tobey Maguire’s presence, the better - one trick can only take a pony so far. And the emo/badboy-scenes were just taking him beyond his ability/comfort zone, and were painful to watch.
While the movie has some great moments (most of the occurring near the top of Manhattan skyline), it’s the bad stretches inbetween that drag the film down. At 140 minutes it’s a long movie, and like with the newest Pirates-episode, the going gets very boring at times.
The attached image is from the Sony store in New York - a promotional Sandman statue climbing through the window.
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