Spider-man 3

I saw Spider-man 3 tonight and have mixed emotions about the movie. I really wanted to love it. Anyone who knows me or who has read any of my stuff knows that I’m bit of a comic book fan boy. Although my actual collecting is very limited now, I still love seeing all of the comic related movies, especially on opening day.

So I went to the movie yesterday right after work (I really should know better). I had to share the theater with giggling high school boys who didn’t know how to deal with emotional scenes, the parents who brought their talkative children and crying babies, the young couples who had to comment on every action scene (which there is a ton), and the mental midgets who find it necessary to flip open their cell phones every few minutes.

As distracting as all of it was, I pushed it aside for Spidey and my expectations of another great flick. The movie is comprised of five story lines which I’ll try to briefly recap for those non-fan boys out there.

First, Peter Parker (and his Spider-man alter ego) is still dealing with Harry Osborn Jr. who believes Parker killed his father (in the first movie). Peter battles Harry early on in the movie and the consequences are dealt with throughout the film.

Secondly, an escaped convict, Flint Marko, is discovered to have been the one who really murdered Peter’s Uncle Ben. Marko, while running from the cops, climbs the fence of a laboratory that is experimenting on a particle splitting process (if I remember correctly). Marko falls into the sand pit at the center of the test and is transformed via the splitting process into the Sandman. This is another classic comic cliché and you have to accept it for what it is: an explanation for a character to have neat powers.

The third storyline is of an alien symbiote. A meteor crashes in an early scene and a black, liquid-form symbiote attaches itself to Peter’s motor bike and later to Peter resulting in the black Spider-man costume. The symbiote heightens aggression which leads to a Superman 3 type story line. Peter becomes more violent and self-centered until he manages shed the suit.

The fourth storyline is that of Eddie Brock, Peter’s rival at the Daily Bugle. Brock hates Peter especially after Brock is fired from his job due to Peter. When Peter sheds the symbiote suit, it attaches to Brock and he becomes Venom, a more powerful anti-Spider-man.

The final story line deals with Peter’s relationship with Mary Jane. Peter overlooks Mary Jane’s needs early in the movie as he is caught up in the recent publicity of Spider-man. When the symbiote attaches to Peter, he destroys his relationship with her due to his selfishness.

The special effects were pretty good in the movie, although some of them were clearly computer animated such as the battle between Spider-man and Osborn Jr.’s Green Goblin. I talked about this in an earlier post, but it is distracting when computer animation is obvious. The scenes with Sandman and Venom though looked excellent, although the end battle with a giant Sandman is kind of silly.

The movie got too cute with Parker’s self-centeredness due to the symbiote. There is a scene with Peter walking down the street in an almost Saturday Night Fever way. It was ridiculous. Also, Peter attempts to make Mary Jane jealous at a night club and it falls to the Superman 3 level of stupidity and really breaks the flow of the movie.

The story line with Marko / Sandman was pretty nice and the Brock / Venom story line was dark as should be expected. There was a happy ending to the Peter / Harry story which I didn’t hate but certainly didn’t love.

Spider-man 3 had a great deal of story lines to deal with the underlying theme of a man struggling to do what is right versus what he wants. All of the villains help reaffirm this central theme as they give into their base desires. I wish the movie had stayed more consistent with the dark theme (a la Daredevil), but I’m sure a family friendly movie is a better financial bet. By the way it was a helluva a lot better than Ghost Rider.

If you’re a comic book movie fan, I would suggest seeing this movie. It’s worth seeing and I’m sure I’ll add it to my collection when it comes out on DVD. It will give you something to think about, but not much. If you want to see a better comic book movie with the same dark theme, check out the Director’s Cut of Daredevil.