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"Spiderman 3" is about the power of choice and the ironic thing is that it grossed $150 million over the first weekend, proving people, like me, will watch anything.

What you get is a cinematic horn-of-plenty featuring no less than three villains, two damsels in distress, two super heroes, a cosmic sludge with transformational powers, and one James Cromwell who looks like he wandered onto the set. Why not include him too? Everything else is in, even Stan Lee!

When it's all said and done "Spiderman 3" manages to nullify its powers and settles safely into "Superman Returns" land, where, by the end of the movie the viewer is wondering what the hell just happened.

For example, the film gives you villain Flint Marco who has been a victim of circumstance, leading to a life of crime. You get a chance to see how he really does care for his daughter and how he would probably do things better if he could. So it only follows that, later, when he is transformed into Sandman, essentially a second chance on life, he goes on a city-wide crime and killing spree. In-fact, Sandman grows so powerful the writers couldn't figure out how to kill him off. That seems to be the problem with this movie: too much. Too much money, too much power, and it grows unwieldy for even the writers or directors.

Most of the plotlines seem either half-brained or re-hashed. Once again we have the Peter Parker / Mary Jane / Harry Osbourne triangle. Once again we have Harry spending the entire movie trying to avenge his father's death. Once again Peter Parker has a momentary transformation into an alter ego of sorts (this one speaks jive).

The first two Spiderman movies were compelling because we the characters were convincing. Even the Green Goblin had a certain credibility. "Spiderman 3" doesn't really ask to be taken as seriously and it knows it doesn't really have to be. It's chocked full of enough CGI to make even George Lucas envious (he called the movie "Silly."), but haven't we learned by now with great power comes great responsibility? This movie abuses it.

Learn more about this author, Fred Krone.
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