Last night I drove down to the great mall with some friends to check out this highly anticipated film. Being a hardcore fan of the comic books, I was very much looking forward to seeing the Sandman on screen. His visuals looked amazing (as I could tell from the advertisements), and Thomas Hayden Church is a dead ringer for Flint Marko.
Overall, this film was mediocre. The high points were high, but the lows were low. It was easily the least impressive of all of the recent Spider-films, and probably a disappointment for fans hoping that this third film would be the best of them all.
On the positive side, we have some of the best action scenes of the entire series. The first battle between Peter and the new Goblin were simply amazing, and probably worth the price of admission alone. Watching the Sandman in action was astounding, as he moves just as one would imagine the Sandman to move. Another hugely enjoyable part (I’m warning you, stop reading if you don’t want the movie spoiled) was when Peter and Harry fought side by side!! They are best friends since childhood, and it was jubilous to watch them in action together- especially since we know they are so evenly matched. We have become attatched to both characters and it was painful to watch them fighting. I am glad that in the end they were able to reconcile to join forces.
Also positive were some very campy song scenes, and some humorous hijinks (I’m thinking the Bruce Campbell bit). I LOVED watching badass Peter tear up the town with his cheeseiness, and bust his smooth lines at Betty from work. While mainstream movie goers may have found these parts to be stupid or corny, they effectively captured comic book silliness and emphasized the larger than life fantasy that superhero stories are supposed to embody.
Interestinly, when the movie took itself seriously, things started to suck. Many of the romantic parts that were intended to play out seriously were just terrible. Topher Grace makes a terrible villain and at no point in the movie did he seem scarey (even with the Venom constume on). Topher’s voice is just silly coming from the Venom monster- not to mention that Venom’s visuals were just goofy. He did not come off half as frightning as he does on the comic page; we never really get a sense of the danger that he poses to Parker.
Too many subplots were crammed into this story, and almost every one of them was poorly executed. The entire film was predictable, to begin with. Aunt May’s little lecture scenes were light cheese in the earlier films, but since they were endearing, they worked. In 3, they were pointless and forced. The entirety of Marko’s development as a character was crammed into 2 scenes- a far cry from the attention he deserved. The entire theme of this second film was redemption, and the Sandman is the one villain who embodies redemption. So how do you squeeze his development into two scenes!! It felt like I was watching a Will Ferral movie.
The development with Harry, his buttler, and Peter was rushed as well. Unfortunately it was needed for the final confrontation, and despite efforts to mask it, the Osbourne’s buttler was painfully exposed as the plot device that he is. Throw in the Gwen/Peter/MJ love triangle and there is no room to breath in this film. I’m amazed they found time for some minor characters to shine, such as Peter’s landlord and her daughter.
Overall, this movie is well worth the money for fans of action flicks or comic books (or Spiderman in general). In no way shape or form does it stand up to the better comic book movies to have been released over the past decade: X-men 2, Batmand Begins, Spiderman 1, etc. I left the theater looking forward to seeing the Silver Surfer in action in the Fantastic Four sequel.