by Darcie Duttweiler

Created on: September 07, 2007

A lot of superhero trilogies tend to start out strong with their first two films and then waver significantly on the third one (ahem X-Men), usually due to some part of the creative team getting frustrated and leaving the franchise in a huff. With Spider-Man 3, however, the unity and cohesiveness of Sam Raimi and his creative forces are evident as our good ol' friendly neighborhood Spider-Man and his cohorts definitely do not fail to entertain, although perhaps a fairly clumsily so.

The opening credits quickly recap the events from the previous two films, from the origins of Spider-Man, with Peter Parker's (Tobey Maquire) evolution from insecure nerd to confidant superhero, to Spider-Man's tussle with Doc Ock and also to Peter and Mary Jane's (the nauseatingly toothy Kirsten Dunst) declaration of love. Quickly the cumbersome multiple plots emerge as Peter tries to gain courage to propose to MJ, Harry Osborne plans to exact his revenge on Spidey, and Mary Jane's paltry acting career takes a tumble. On top of all of this, escaped convict Flint Marko (an incredibly beefy Thomas Haden Church), who has ties to poor deceased Uncle Ben, accidentally gets turned into a man made out of sand. Oh, and also Peter competes with annoying Eddie Brock (Topher Grace) to become the staff photographer of the Bugle, and some parasitic symbiotic black ooze has attached itself to Spider-Man making him aggressive and "bad." Whew

This all sounds like a lot, and it is. While sort of heavy on amazing action sequences and incredible special effects, Spider-Man 3's downfall is definitely just too much stuff. And to top it off, Peter/Spider-Man is not the most intriguing character of the film. Flint/Sandman has a more compelling storyline as a down-on-his luck convict trying to save his dying daughter and just happens to get turned into sand.

Also, Spider-Man in this film is annoyingly cocky and even rams his cockiness down his girlfriend's (and the audience's) throat. And when that evil black goo attaches itself to our hero, he becomes, wait for it, a dancer. Somehow aggression and over-confidence translates into a penchant for shooting the guns at women in the street a la John Travolta circa Staying Alive and putting his tap shoes on for an eye roll-inducing tap scene at a jazz club. To better convey moodiness, Spidey also switches up his hairstyle to give himself Conor Oberst-esque bangs that he uses to cover one eye. How can this evil, aggressive symbiotic alien ooze create huge wicked teeth in some and make dancers out of others? It truly boggles the mind.

However, despite these complaints, Spider-Man 3 is an okay film. It is pretty entertaining, and it still contains similar nuggets of comedy that made the other two films enjoyable with a cameo from Bruce Campbell as a snooty maitre d' as well as the talents of J.K. Simmons as brash J. Jonah Jameson, Editor-in-Chief of the Bugle. Also mixed in with the action and comedy are some pretty touching moments with Aunt May.

All in all, Spider-Man 3 is a fairly well rounded summer blockbuster even with its mistakes of a cluttered plot and a weird teeth theme with MJ and Venom (who has perhaps too few of scenes). While definitely not the best of the franchise, the third installment is still a treat to watch.

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