Review by Theo Kallström

Spider-Man 3 2007

SPIDER-MAN 3
Nailed it, bailed it or failed it?
Let’s play!


Writing: FAILED IT!
Lazy writing; stupid tinkering with the plot (rewriting Ben’s death and the decision to give Harry amnesia); terrible character arcs for Harry Osborn and Eddie Brock; the unforgivable villain problem (THREE new villains in one film and an absolutely terrible Venom); the romantic tensions between Peter and MJ that still go nowhere and the unnecessary introduction of Gwen Stacy as a supporting character. Oh, and don’t even get me started on that horrifying Peter-goes-emo thing.

Characters and Acting: BAILED IT!
Maguire and Dunst are still stiff in their parts but at least I started to believe in them as a couple.
Sandman is the best-handled villain and Hayden Church fits the part well. James Franco ruins his take on Harry Osborn and his turn into the Goblin makes little sense and means nothing until the end of the film. Topher Grace is miscast as Eddie Brock and gives us an annoying performance, coupled with a terrible misuse of fan-favourite Venom.

Direction: NAILED IT!
Sam Raimi knows his franchise and his characters (well, apart from Venom, but that’s really not his fault).

Visuals: BAILED IT!
We get bigger and more inventive actions scenes, but they’re also messy, shaky and surprisingly plastic-y.
Parts of the film look like an over-the-top video game, which is odd considering that the CGI works fine otherwise.

Sound: NAILED IT!
The score is still as awesome as always.

Pacing: FAILED IT!
It just doesn’t work. They set up things that go nowhere until much later in the film; the final act comes from nowhere and leads to nothing. The quieter dramatic parts are actually he best parts of the film, which says lot of who badly they treated Spidey and the villains.

Themes: FAILED IT!
With great power comes a black suit and great emo-bility. ‘Nuff said!

Atmosphere: FAILED IT!
The forcibly darker tone and terribly handled depressiveness of the film is laughable. After the black suit is introduced, it stars going downhill very fast – they make Peter cringeworthy and give us the worst scene in any super hero film ever (hint: the scene contains dancing).
I get that they’re trying to portray the tough time Peter is going through emotionally, but the way it is illustrated is stupid, silly and not very believable.

Rewatchability: FAILED IT!
Not really, but I’m probably still going to.

Expectations: FAILED IT!
Well, it’s a HUGE let-down after (the amazing) Spider-Man 2.


Bottom line: BAILED IT!
It's a bit of a mess and fails to impress the way Spider-Man 2 did, but at least it's never boring and still quite enjoyable.

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