Sunday, May 6, 2007

Spider-man 3: A bad rap for an enjoyable film

Unless you've been living under a rock, avoiding every supermarket, toy store, and television, you probably know that Spider-man 3 came out this week. Boasting a stellar cast of Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, Topher Grace, Thomas Haden Church, James Franco, Bryce Dallas Howard and a budget that seemed larger than life, Spider-man 3 certainly had large expectations to fill. Directed by Sam Raimi, the Spidey films have captured the life of Peter Parker and put it onto the big screen for all the world to see. The first two films were considered major success', and it was believed that the third installment would continue the characters dominance over the comic book-movie genre. The result...not exactly.

The Things I Didn't Like:
Although I am a huge fan of the series, and I certainly enjoyed the third film, there were some understandable gripes about it. The first and probably the most obvious was this, there were too many villains. I'm a huge fan of Spidey going up against all odds and I'm always up for a good "sinister six" issue now and again, but we're not talking about comics here. We're talking about a movie. This movie has the Hobgoblin (Harry Osborn), the Sandman (Flint Marko), and of course, Venom (Eddie Brock). This is fan boys dream, but it's not exactly the smartest move when you're trying to tell a good story and your short on time. The irony of the film is that the villain whose receiving the most publicity, Venom, didn't even have to be in the movie. Topher Grace did a solid job as Eddie Brock and Venom, but the movie might have actually come off better if the Sandman were the main villain. (In other words, if they had gone the same route they did with Spider-man 2, having only Doc Ock as the main villain) All in all though, adding Venom can't be looked at as a tragedy, because Venom is one of the coolest villains of all time. I can't say I blame the studio for cashing in on the villains popularity. In other words, what I'm saying is, this was inevitable that Venom show up in one of these movies.

Gwen Stacy. I love the character of Gwen Stacy. She's pure, she's loving, She's beautiful and honest, she's everything Peter Parker ever needed to survive. She meant more to him than Mary-Jane at one point in the comics. However, the problem is, only hardcore fans of Spider-man even know who she is. Gwen Stacy was killed by the Green Goblin way back in the late 70's. Her death was shocking and it became the most telling reminder of why Peter Parker will always be one of the good guys, because he lost the love of his life to a villain. But Gwen Stacy didn't even exist in the first two films, and it didn't even seem that her and Peter Parker were anywhere near falling in love in the movie. So one has to question why the studio even bothered throwing her into the mix.

The things I liked:
The storyline was surprisingly original. The Sandmans back story in this film is touching, and you actually feel something for the character. In the comics, Sandmans nothing but a criminal out to make money and rob banks for the sheer fun of it, but it's not like that in the film. The film shows that the Sandman is actually robbing banks to try and get the money his severely ill daughter needs to survive. This was a risk to turn one of Spidey's oldest foes into a sympathetic character, but I believe it paid off.

Sam Raimi's always had a corny and fun sense of humor, and he uses it well in this movie. When Peter Parker turns to 'the dark side,' you see him do strange and down right silly things. If your one of those people who wants this to be an ultimately serious movie, then you probably hated the entire 'dark side' Peter Parker completely. You probably think it was just stupid and corny, but I choose to believe that's exactly what Raimi was going for.

There's a lot more that I could go into here, but I'm trying not to give away any spoilers. Overall, i have to say that i thoroughly enjoyed seeing this movie. It was fun. I laughed and i was kept on the edge of my seat for most of it as well. The movie uses it's massive amount of characters well, I just think it would have benefited from having one or two less of them. If you go out to see this movie with an open mind and are looking for some action, then you should walk away pretty satisfied.

Rating: 8.3/10

Bender for Blunts...

In Mexico City, it seems, Bender from Futurama is a big supporter for the decriminalization of pot.