Film review: "Spider Man 3" almost too much bang for the buck

Thursday, May 17, 2007

The often-exhilirating and exciting second sequel in the hugely successful "Spider Man" franchise could have also used a helpful dose of that old saying, "Sometimes less is more."

The third film in the series (trilogy?) excels in the action department and when it shows our main character, young newspaper photojournalist Peter Parker (aka the famed webslinger) battling with his emotions and his newfound powers and persona. Of course I'm talking about Spidey's new black suit, which seems to be tinged with some sort of inky-black goo that fell from the sky encased in a meteorite.

And whatever it is, this stuff ain't nice, because it causes whoever it comes in contact with to do some very bad things.

Where the movie falters, in my opinion, is when it tries to pack too much into a two-and-a-half hour film. Sometimes the film gets so convoluted that we're not sure what direction it is headed next. Now don't get me wrong, the movie is full of surprises, often funny and mysterious twists, and marvelous special effects, but it seems to me that a less confusing solution is to just incorporate one villain into the storyline, (as was done with the slightly better "Spider Man 2") which would allow the filmmakers to concentrate on character development and the progress of the story rather than simply create a giant ball of eye candy.

One case in point here is the "Venom/Eddie Brock" character, one of Spidey's two powerful foes in this film, which we really don't see develop until the last 30 minutes or so of the movie. At one point toward the end of the film, it becomes obvious that there are at least three characters who want to see Spider Man spin his last web, so the odds are obviously stacked against everyone's favorite friendly neighborhood hero.

While the movie did a decent job of showing us how the Flint Marko character eventually becomes the "Sandman," there still seems to be too much going on that the film begins to lose its focus. Is the movie really trying to aim its focus on the tenuous relationship between Parker and his best buddy, Harry Osborne (who takes over for his dead father as the new Green Goblin) or even his best girl, Mary Jane Watson?

Is the movie about Spider Man caving in to his deepest, darkest feelings and thinking only of himself? Maybe it's about Peter Parker secretly wanting to find the man who killed his beloved Uncle Ben and exact his revenge.

Then you have the Brock character, a photographer who becomes jealous of Parker and his success (not to mention angry that Parker eventually tries to steal his girlfriend, a new character named Gwen Stacy, when Parker loses himself in the trappings of the black suit.) and whose own selfishness eventually gets the best of him.

The thing is, all of the aforementioned plot lines are going on at once, but we almost don't have time to care since the film moves at a very rapid pace with action scenes leaping at you at nearly every turn. For it's fairly long running time, (is 2 1/2 hours really that long for a movie these days?) the movies does an adequate job of hooking the viewer and letting us just live a comic book story for a couple of hours.

Director Sam Raimi has always been very adept at telling entertaining stories and he's become an expert at working with the actors and actresses in the "Spider Man" films and getting to the real root of the Spider Man character. He probably could have easily made this film at least three hours long if he wanted to, but would audiences really want to see that? I'm sure even the most devout Spider Man fans want to see a movie that delves fairly quickly into the meat of the story, and not one that goes in too many directions for one film.

All in all, Spider Man 3 is a very entertaining and absorbing "popcorn" movie that ends with all of the main characters finally coming together for one big dramatic climax. And it left me with the feeling that maybe this is the right time to end the series because another film might feel repetitive and like "more of the same."

Still, a fitting end (?) to one of the most financially and culturally successful big screen comic book adaptations in movie history.