Written by Sam Raimi And Ivan Raimi And Alvin Sargent
Directed by Sam Raimi
Venom (to Spider-Man): "I like being bad. It makes me happy."
Ah, yes, has there been a more divisive movie for the webslinger than this one? Well, there was The Amazing Spider-Man 2 but prior to that, there was this movie. After two movies for Tobey Maguire's Spidey that really set a gold standard for Superhero movies, it's not hard to see why in a lot of respects that this one didn't quite cut the mustard.
For a start, it has a lot going on. Often too much for it's own good and there's a certain repetition with some of the character dynamics. Not to mention, it technical'y has three villains fighting for screen time and not enough development among the lot of them.
Let's look at Harry Osborn (James Franco). He was still bitter about his father's death and still held his former best friend responsible for it. Taking on the guide of New Goblin, Harry's attempts of making Spider-Man pay only resulted in temporary amnesia. When he did regain his memory, he made an attempt to keep Peter and Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst) apart but getting royally humiliated by the former really didn't make it worth it.
Then he got something of a rushed redemption arc when Spider-Man and Mary Jane both needed his help against the real villains of the piece - serial criminal Flint Marko/Sandman (Thomas Haden Church) and embittered rival photographer Eddie Brock/Venom (Topher Grace). Only the latter really embraced the idea of being a villain and even then, he lagged by comparison, in spite of some great visuals as Venom. Not to mention a really horrible defeat as well.
Villain wise, Sandman's story was far more tragic and it's connection to Ben Parker saw both Peter and Aunt May (Rosemary Harris) on the opposite side of things. Ultimately though, Peter showed compassion to Marko and the latter expressed remorse for his involvement in Ben's death. It's a good arc but it's a bit smushed together in a movie with a lot going on for itself.
Another huge component of the movie was Peter's temporary influence of the symbiote that would later destroy Eddie. You can tell Tobey Maguire had fun with the bad boy Peter Parker, even going as far as to use Gwen Stacey (Bryce Dallas Howard) in order to make MJ jealous, which was definitely a step too far. The plot is very Superman III in parts and the Peter/MJ drama was definitely the weakest we've seen in the trilogy even if their relationship status quo was restored by the end of this one.
As for Spider-Man himself, he was definitely seen in a more favourable light in spite of J Jonah Jameson (JK Simmons) and Eddie's attempts to discredit and even got the key of the city. He might have went through something of a minor bad boy phase but he still remained every one's favourite neighborhood Spidey.
- The movie's opening credits recapped the previous two movies. We even got another Norman Osborn (Willem Dafoe) cameo for good measure.
- Speaking of cameos, Bruce Campbell as a maitre d and Stan Lee having a brief exchange with Peter Parker. Not to mention appearances from Curt Connors (Dylan Baker) and Flash Thompson (Joe Manganiello).
- Despite being the high grossing movie of the trilogy, plans for another trilogy and a Venom spin-off were all scrapped in favour of a reboot.
- Chronology: A year since the events of the second movie.
Spider-Man 3 without a doubt probably will remain the weakest live action Spider-Man movie we've had to date but it's not a train wreck. It's actually pretty fun in parts but easily could've done with a bit more focus and losing at least one villain. As a final outing of sorts for Tobey Maguire, it's mostly average at best.
Rating: 7 out of 10
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