Spider-Man 3

Measure for measure
Review by Vives Anunciacion
Inquirer Libre May 7, 2007

Spider-Man 3
Directed by Sam Raimi
Written by Sam and Ivan Raimi
GP/ 140 minutes
Columbia Pictures
*** (3 stars)

No, Spider-Man 3 isn’t the best of the series, no matter how entertaining it is. But if this is the third of a trilogy, then it deserves a fourth installment – if only to save a series that shouldn’t end with a loser. Spoilers beware, so proceed with caution.

In the movie, Spider-Man is the toast of New York City, Peter Parker (also Tobey Maguire) is getting noticed as a photographer, and he is about to propose marriage to Mary Jane (Kirsten Dunst) when three supervillains appear to change all that.

An escaped convict (Flint Marko, acted by Thomas Haden Church) literally jumps into the middle of a scientific experiment, becoming Sandman. In a few short lines, Flint’s wife explains his condition to the audience (“You are a convict, you are being chased by the police, and I don’t like you anymore”). Why he doesn’t have a job isn’t explained, but because he stole money for his sick dying daughter, we just have to accept this shortcut in the story that Marko is really a good person.

New Goblin (aka Harry Osborn, both played by James Franco) reappears in the movie’s first action sequence to settle the score between Spidey and Goblin Sr. Their brief tussle ends in Goblin getting a big bump in the head and a strong dose of amnesia. In the morning, Harry wakes up with no notion about the friction between Spider-Man and Goblin. Just like a Pinoy teleserye, Harry and Peter are best friends once again, setting up the next twist in the story.

Mary Jane’s career flops after critics pan her Broadway debut (wonder why), but Spidey is too busy with his New York popularity that Mary Jane finds a shoulder to cry on Harry.

And then a black blob of alien goo drops from the sky and mysteriously attaches itself to Spidey’s suit while he is sleeping (wonder why he sleeps with his suit on). The black suit amplifies the host’s power and dark side (check out the Peter Petrelli-style hair bangs). I think I’ve seen this in Superman 3.

At this point Peter learns about Marko being responsible for his uncle Ben’s death, a new photographer threatens Peter’s professional career as well as Spidey’s as Venom (both Topher Grace), and Harry and Mary Jane are hooking up. How does Peter cope? Thanks to the black suit, by dancing. Aunt May (Rosemary Harris) magically appears to give him inspirational messages (“I knew something was wrong when you called…”). And in one quick scene, Sandman and Venom unite to fight Spider-Man (Venom: “I know you hate him, too, Marko, that’s why I’ve been tracking you for weeks”).

Full of clichés, narrative shortcuts and terrible, terrible acting, one can only wonder how this could go wrong considering the same team made the first two installments. To top it off, literally every character cries or sobs in the end as if it’s a Hollywood version of Filipinas. Yes it’s entertaining and the effects are, as usual, way cool, but so is Firehouse Dog.

A few instances are indelibly inspired comic-book style, as when Marko eyes are shown close-up and when Sandman first appears, but the final battle scene is merely an extension of the first.

Spider-Man 3 suffers from being too busy all the time, having to weave so many storylines that any emotion is sacrificed simply because it has to cut to the next villain. Is that good editing for the sake of running time and the so-called pace? Definitely not.

What is most disappointing is that it’s a rehash of story one, plus Superman 2 and 3. By contrast, the Ghostbusters had more New Yorkers cheering for them.