Film Review: Comic book Spidey Returns
By Alex Ben Block

Spider-man 3 reaches a bit too far

HOLLYWOOD, CA. (Hollywood Today) 4/27/07 – The third Spidey will spin a wide web. However, it will be difficult for this wildly expensive movie to climb to the same heady levels as “Spiderman 2,” which grossed $784 million worldwide. Despite its visual treats, the web-slinger’s third outing for Sony is unlikely to trap the same range of adults who embraced the last one. This is the Spidey from the comic’s books.

Kicking off a summer full of high profile, big ticket sequels, “Spiderman 3” delivers spectacular special effects, awe inspiring visuals and loads of action. That should be enough to ensure that it blasts off with huge box office driven by its appeal to young males, even though the movie’s attempt to explore Spidey’s dark side fizzles. Advance ticket sales on the web are already heating up to an even higher degree that before “S2” opened.

The third installment is great fun but it doesn’t have the same magic. The whole affair feels forced, as if they felt they had to stuff in more just for show. Instead of lifting all boats, the quality of the writing by director Raimi’s brother Ivan with an assist from Alvin Sargent, brings Spidey back to his comic book roots, making it feel like a live action version of animation. The sparse dialogue stops just short of being laughable in places.

No wonder Spidey will be back again and again. The dark side device in “3” does ooze onto Peter’s nice boy image, but inevitably cleans it up by the end. That leaves the door open for Sony/Marvel to make Spidey 4, 5 and beyond, although probably without Maguire, the replaceable Dunst (despite her boast in Tokyo) and director Sam Raimi who aspires to make “The Hobbit” next.

“Spiderman 2” was that rare sequel that really was better than the original, and the original had been surprisingly good. “2” avoided the perils of sequelitis: higher costs for a dumbed down version. Instead, it delivered characters, story and plotlines that elevated the genre to the level of a credible quality live action flick.

The characters in “3” are shallow, plot lines are often not fully developed and an overly complicated collection of villains spurs action, but doesn’t engross as in Spidey 2. This is not a deepening of the characters as say “Batman Begins” achieved in 2005 elevating the Batman series once again. Instead, this is a return to Spidey who spins (plods) from one panel of dialogue, drama and action to another in comic book style.

There is less humor and the romantic sparks don’t really fly, despite M.J.’s jealous rage when Spidey kisses another girl (Ron Howard’s daughter Bryce Dallas Howard) while hanging upside, as he had kissed her in the past. It’s part of the thin stuff that passes for plot turns before we veer off for another big action set piece. It was hard to tell if it was Dunst who had gotten dull; or if they had just written poor Mary Jane into a corner.

There are a whole host of great actors doing side characters who are for all intents wasted, including Daily Bugle Editor J. Jonah Jameson (played by J.K. Simmons) and James Cromwell as the police chief. White haired gentle Rosemary Harris gets a chance as Aunt May but the scenes with Peter lack energy.

The sizzlers on this screen are still the villains. James Franco’s Harry Osborne, Thomas Hayden Church’s Flint Marko, and Topher Grace’s Eddie Brock.

Things start off well enough. The title sequences are smart and intriguing leading into a clever flashback that turns out to be a TV screen. The early action piece with Osborn, still blaming Spidey for killing his father, is a spectacular introduction to his flying Goblin rig which includes the ultimate extreme skate board.

The first clue that something is out of tune comes with an overly long scene of M.J. (Kirsten Dunst) singing a moaning jazz number in an over-staged Broadway play. It was the kind of out of nowhere musical number movies included in the 30s to provide entertainment in case the action sagged.

Here, it doesn’t sag very often. There is a calculated feel as if someone with a chart and graph has mandated when to return to action to keep everyone awake. The visuals are spectacular but the back stories are not well developed for the sand man, and the black goo, never properly explained, was apparently sent from Planet Prop Shop.

M.J. is shocked, shocked when she is replaced in the Broadway musical after dreadful reviews. She is so shocked she can’t bring herself to tell her beloved boyfriend she had been sacked, even as he makes clumsy moves to propose.

Her firing could not have been a surprise for anyone else after seeing her perform. The choice of low, slow jazz for her musical career was out of tune with the pace of the movie.

We do see a lot more of Peter Parker and less of Spidey this time. Tobey Maguire’s dorky, doe eyed, dead pan acting style once again passes for the Clark Kent mild mannered photographer secret identity, although his gal pal and others seem to all know his secret.

Parker is still a college student, although we see little of him actually studying or going to class, and he is starting to look a bit old for a college kid (unless he is now on his PhD which isn’t specified). He does finally seek a real grown up job which sets up his confrontation with “That 70’s” guy Grace. His Brock is a street photographer who wants to beat out Peter for a staff job at the Daily Bugle at any price. Brock later finds the black goo, or the black goo finds him, and he morphs into Venom, the mirror image dark side of Spidey.

Stuff happens along the way. A burly Russian-American accosts Parker for back rent on the apartment house stairs, and Parker promises to pay. It is never mentioned again. The Russie has a tall, pretty daughter who gets doe eyed around Peter. Though the scenario appeared in a previous movie, it never goes anywhere.

But then the star here is the visual effects and CGI work. The prison escapee who needs money to save his little daughter’s life who killed Pete’s pop morphs into the sand monster, a brilliant special effect that has sand shape shifting to create characters that are original and bizarre in keeping with the movie’s fabulous visuals. It is unclear where the sand rally comes from or where it goes in between fight scenes, but it is a blast when it blows by.

So if you want to ride a visual roller coaster, and see sand morph as never before and bring the Spidey trilogy to a conclusion, spin aboard this cinematic web. Just don’t expect the sand castles to still be standing when the morning tide comes in.