Cinemusings

THREE YEARS LATER... SPIDER-MAN 3
Written by Felix Vasquez Jr.

Did Raimi just completely dismiss this important character trait to keep the element of surprise? Did he just tire of including his spider senses? We then enter in to what is basically an almost endless series of plot threads that just never cease and are hardly resolved by the time the movie's two and half hours (?!) have run its course. It's almost like Raimi and co. had about five or six ideas for a plot and figured they could squeeze all of them in without anyone noticing. I noticed. Peter and Mary Jane are falling in love, Harry is getting back at Peter so Harry begins to manipulate their relationship, but Mary Jane is finding increasing problems with her relationship with Peter, so Harry's plan works, then we're introduced to Flint Marko who has a sick daughter and becomes the Sandman, then we get to meet Gwen Stacy a blonde bombshell of a model who begins to take a liking to Peter, then we meet Eddie Brock a rival photographer to Peter who likes Gwen who Gwen doesn't like back (are you still with me?), she wants Peter, and Eddie begins to resent him for that.

Then we're introduced to the alien symbiote that attaches itself to Peter, we're even introduced to Captain Stacy an important character in Spidey's supporting cast, and it goes on and on and on. Raimi just seems to want to squeeze in so many characters and storylines and just flat out exhausts all of the audience's patience with a movie that could have seriously benefited with some wise editing and foreshadowing. I don't know who to blame here. My natural impulse is to pit the cluster fuck on Sony studios because without the introduction of Eddie Brock and Venom and the symbiote the movie could have definitely been a lot better. Raimi adheres to the formula that the original Batman movies did. He sticks in too many characters and too many villains, and as the film progresses you can see the entire arc gradually falling to pieces.

One of the road signs up ahead that lead me to see the crumbling is that Raimi just doesn't want forward progression for his characters.

The people we come to know and love either take one step back in evolution or just become completely different personas. Peter Parker was always whiny but here he's just insanely whiny and just can't stop blubbering for a good portion of the film. He becomes rather petulant at times and just takes anyone's abuse. The man has battled some big honchos, he's claimed his one true love and yet he's still such an insecure shell of a man. Match that with the paradoxical turn he takes once he realizes he's a celebrity as he becomes utterly obnoxious and impossible to empathize with. He even kisses Gwen Stacy and isn't too apologetic for it when confronted by Mary Jane.

Mary Jane is the biggest crime here as she just progresses into this unlikable person. She's shrill and once she gets her big start in a theatrical production she fails and then pits much of the abuse on Peter. She's almost impossible to deal with here and she makes poor Parker pay for it in the end. Raimi, for a good portion of the story, focuses completely on the love triangle between Harry, Peter, and Mary Jane where it tends to come off like an episode of "Gossip Girl." Raimi entirely halts any and all action at this point just to feature this plot of manipulation. Harry twists Mary Jane's head and rather than actually trusting her gut or Peter she listens to his accusations and proceeds to turn against him while Harry stands in the background twirling his mustache and snickering to himself. There's also Aunt May who is reduced to being a Yoda-like entity who conveniently has an anecdote for every problem Peter raises for her.

J. Jonah Jameson acts like a cartoon character here. All evidence of JK Simmons startling portrayal of the character is gone and now he comes off as the lost Stooge. Characters are just utterly wasted or rendered useless. Raimi repeats himself over and over again and it leaks on to the villains of the story. Raimi had this nagging habit of taking these rather evil characters and turning them in to people who are bad on the outside but good people on the inside. Norman was a sick man but in his mind seemed to be aiming at Peter to help his son, while Doctor Octopus, once a completely egomaniacal madman, became a good man who turned evil thanks to the death of his wife at his hands. Here Sandman goes from a petty thug with a power trip in to a doting father who breaks out of jail to see his daughter who happens to be frail and sick.

In his mind breaking out of jail is the right thing to do because it means that he can see his daughter who loves him in spite of her mom's objections. Why in the world can't Raimi's villains be evil for the sake of evil? Sandman is further diluted by the fact that he has no other actual intentions with his newfound powers here other than to steal for the sake of helping his daughter.

He's not evil, he doesn't seem to want to hurt too many people and even when battling Peter he is often hesitant. This successfully saps any and all fun we could have with the character and Raimi's knack for repetition becomes incredibly tiresome.

But his entry in to the fray becomes immediately troublesome because by the time we get to see his story it's clear the film is becoming much too cluttered. I can forgive his ridiculous back story and the fact that he happens to fumble in to an experiment that turns him in to the sandman thanks to the incompetence of some scientists, but Sandman just isn't that interesting a character and Raimi seems to be trying his damndest to turn him in to a complex individual. When you take a step back and look at the hype surrounding the movie he doesn't even matter in the grand scheme because all of the fans went to see the movie just to take a look at Raimi's vision of Venom.

The transformation scene of Flint Marko dematerializing and then forming in to a human once again through his sand abilities is rather incredible. Raimi just outdoes himself here and the sequence is mesmerizing. There's even a scene where Sandman balloons in to a humongous sandstorm pounding down on Spider-Man. But, again, no one really cared. Venom was the attraction. What do you expect from the fans? Venom is more popular than Spider-Man himself! But you have to give it to Raimi for at least trying to take a considerably lame villain and attempting to bring him to the attention of movie goers alike. He even retcons the entire origin of Spider-Man by making Sandman one of the folks who took part in the death of Uncle Ben.

"Three Years Later... Spider-Man 3" Part Three >>>

Reproduction and reprinting should only occur with express written permission
and proper credit to Cinema Crazed and its authors.

Have something to say about this article? Pop on over to Cinema-Lunatics
and speak your mind in our Answer Back! Forums >>