Spider-Man 3 (2007)

 

Ouch.

To be fair: this one got an unusual amount of flack, and a lot of it is justified, but there is good to be found as well. Actually, there is quite a lot of good to be found, if only the studio hadn't pushed for so much to be included, as the cluttered storylines make this one a bit of a mess. 

Yes, they should have done at least one more film and take half of this one and stick it there. It would have been so much more focused, but well: we got this. 

Things are going pretty well for Peter Parker: his relationship with Mary-Jane is working, his job is doing okay... So you know the proverbial excrement is going to hit the wind displacement unit. Things get rocky when MJ gets fired from her acting job and Peter can't empathize, instead talking about Spider-Man and his issues. 

Never a good thing, lads. 

But there is more afoot, as a meteorite landed close to Peter and a weird goo is now covering his suit, turning him black and a little more aggressive than before. And that soon aggravates. 

Not only that, but there's an escaped convict by the name of Flint Marko, who gets turned into the creature known as the Sandman thanks to a scientific accident and who is now also responsible for the death of Uncle Ben. 

Two things. First off: whut? Why is Sandman now all of a sudden Ben Parker's killer? And two: safety precautions in scientific experiments are really, really horrible. No wonder these stories get flooded with baddies/heroes constantly: the whole world is an accident waiting to happen!

And suddenly social commentary made its way into a review. Go figure.

Add to that a disgruntled photographer by the name of Eddie Brock and Parker who gets more and more 'evil' and things are not going well. Heck, now Harry Osborn has taken the supersoldier serum and has become the second Goblin, bent on revenge for his father's death. 

You see where I am going with this? Of course you do. This is way too much to cram into one film and they still did it. No wonder it's completely unfocused and you get the sense that several storylines are very poorly handled.

This isn't director Sam Raimi's fault: the studio pushed hard to get Venom included in the film, but if this was just more of the Sandman, it would have been so much better. As it stands, it's a mess, and don't even get me started on the pisspoor treatment of fan-favourite Venom. He doesn't look or feel like Venom and gets nearly no screentime. Ah well. It isn't Topher Grace's fault, he just got a bum deal out of it. 

Oh, and the emo/evil Peter Parker is way too silly. It might have worked, had they toned down the goofiness. Yes, even in a superhero film that is supposed to be goofy by nature. This is really overdoing it. 

But it's not all horrendous. Case and point: the Sandman arc. Yes, they wrap it up way too fast and without enough backstory, but what you get to see of the guy is pretty cool and compelling. You just don't get enough of it. And even more so: Thomas Haden Church was perfect casting for the part. He looks like the comic book-iteration, is always great at whatever he does and gives Flint this nice combination of determined, tough and emotional that few other characters get here. 

Shame he is wasted somewhat. 

In the end, this is clearly a case of missed opportunities and studio execs not knowing what the fudge to do with a property. They could have easily gotten three more competent films out of this one, but due to bloating and cramming, we got stuck with a mess. A real shame.