Spiderman 3

(Dir. Sam Raimi, 2007)

I saw Spiderman 3 at the Union Square Regal SuperDome (that might not be the official name) at midnight this past Thursday--the earliest showtime I could get my hands on. I was terribly excited--the first two installments (particularly the first) had struck such a wonderful balance between the playful nature of the comics and my desire to see people get punched through buildings. Tobey Maguire presented an affable and relatable Peter Parker, an underdog protagonist of delightfully John Hughesian proportions. Willem Dafoe and Alfred Molina played similarly wonderful villains as Green Goblin and Dr. Octopus, both mad geniuses with whom we sympathized despite (or perhaps due to) their stereotypically grandstanding, tormented attributes.

So it is in light of the successes of Spiderman 1 and 2 that Spiderman 3 is such a failure. It lacks the goofy intelligence that made its predecessors so enjoyable, and tries much too hard to revisit the successful formulas of 1 and 2. The movie opens with Peter's life in blissful balance--he's dating the love of his life, terrorizing the scum of New York, basking in the glow of an adoring public, and generally traipsing around the Big Apple with a big smile. Enter a revenge-fueled Harry Osborn (Green Goblin 2.0), neglected Mary Jane, hate-fueled alien symbiote, and surprisingly likable Sandman (Thomas Haden Church). Sounds pretty good, right? Nope! These forces align themselves against our beloved Parker, and we see a dark side of him we haven't seen since he hunted down his uncle's killer in a blind rage. This route itself isn't necessarily a bad one, but Raimi doesn't give it the gravitas it deserves. Instead, all of these elements are hastily jumbled together, with even more elements thrown in: a new rival at the Daily Bugle (Topher Grace, who will turn into Venom) and a new beauty to vie for Peter's attention (Bryce Dallas Howard). What we are left with is a Peter Parker/Spiderman who we like less than the villains he fights, who mopes and smolders and acts like a grade-A jackass. Raimi apparently thinks this will be hilarious, as evidenced by a tremendously ridiculous scene in a nightclub where Peter tries to make a scorned Mary Jane jealous. Think The Mask, but not funny.

Spiderman 3 does have its strong points. The special effects keep getting better and better, and the fight scenes are as wonderfully nimble and explosive as ever (although the final showdown is a bit of a disappointment). Sandman is a welcome addition to the cast of villains--most people I've talked to wished they had seen much more of him, in fact. And Bruce Campbell has his best cameo yet. In the end, though, Raimi piled on when he should have boiled down, and what we are left with is over two hours of adrenaline-fueled confusion.