The moment that everyone’s been looking forward to is finally here. The
third movie of everyone’s favourite friendly neighbourhood Spiderman is
here and it’s hard to resist the theaters to catch the web slinger in
real action. Wikipedia and IMDB had probably registered big hits to
“spiderman3” and we all know that the big knowledge box that is The
Internet had provided us with almost limitless knowledge on almost
anything that circles this globe.
Great powers, great responsibilities.
Unfortunately it wasn’t so with the cast and crews of this third Spidey
project. Of course, for some of the ever faithful fans and moviegoers,
they would proclaim this to be the best of three, but I’d doubt the
hardcore fans would really appreciate the way Venom was pictured or the
unusual alliance between Spidey and his greatest nemesis. Let us not
forget the big change in Goblin Jr.’s costume and role.
Story wise, it looks and feels (feel free to add anything else) like as
if the whole story is rushed, crushed and compacted to a single entity
to give it a glorious finale (I hope) for the movie franchise. The
plots are too thick: three villains and Spiderman, Parker’s emotional
distress dealing with the news Mary Jane delivered and coherently
allowing the alien symbiote take total control of him, Marko Flint’s
escape and his side of the story, and then there’s Harry, Gwen and Aunt
May. Oh wait, the list goes on.
It’s just too much for one single movie to portray all these. But of
course, you can’t make a comic or a book into a full fledged movie true
to its original story so tinkering must be done. Die hard fans are not
going to be happy but it’s a fact that can’t be refuted. A comic is a
comic and a movie is, well, you get the picture, but cramping the whole
story in two plus hours just doesn’t justify it. Still, Sam Raimi did a
commendable job of telling us the whole story and gave it a fitting
finish, although I must say that the whole product looks like it’s been
rushed to production.
The CG is impressive with Sandman and the vertigo inducing action
scenes, but downright disappointing with Venom. The most anticipated
villain (and certainly one of the strongest and feared most by
Spiderman) has not lived up to the expectation. One would expect more
spotlight on the infamous possessed Eddie Brock, but most of the scenes
were reduced to a suited Brock showing his real face (with fangs) most
of the time instead of that feared lizard like appearance. Even when
the symbiote was fully suited, the CG resemblance is rather
disappointing.
Green Goblin Jr. dons a different suit and a snowboard like glider for
more maneuverability, plus more firepower complementing with the
chemical that gives him the extra strength and agility. Sadly, the
alter ego plays second fiddle to Harry Osborn and his drama portrayal
by James Franco, while the turn-of-the-tide from baddie to goodie is
simply not acceptable.
What was supposed to be Peter’s first romantic relationship was turned
to a crush that was elevated to a short lived relationship-like
attachment geared towards jealousy inducement. Mary Jane didn’t fit,
but oh of course we’re talking about Gwen Stacy. Her role in being
Peter’s best friend and an object to MJ’s increasing jealousy towards
her was the only part she played. Sorry guys, no death for her in this
one, but oh wait, is this Ultimate Spider Man? No it can’t be, but
then…..(ring-ring Carnage!)
The supporting cast of Jonah Jameson (J.K Simmons), John Stacy (played
by the talented James Cromwell – not so talented in this one though
since the character is reduced to a supporting role), Dr. Conners
(Dylan Baker) and of course Aunt May, has either more involvement or
none whatsoever in this edition. The twist with Harry’s butler
revealing the secret of Norman’s killer was unexpected though, almost
resembling the Bruce-Alfred connection with the two of them towards the
build-up.
The storyline is pretty boring. Comic adaptation are supposed to be
full of action, and although the final stand off in the construction
site didn’t disappoint, the movie was riddles with too much emotional
content, and although it’s a Spidey movie, in which emotion is a huge
part of it, combining with Raimi’s effort to make it true the comic, a
large part of the movie should have been more fast paced (not to
suggest more action scenes), but to just “get on with it”. That being
said, Parker’s rejection on the symbiote at the church was classic, as
well as the transformation of Brock to Venom, but 20 minutes of Venom
is just not enough. The narration of the story through various
characters can somewhat be annoying, but it’s a sureshot way to deliver
the story to the masses.
No doubt it was a good watch, but a lot of improvement should have been
made. The first two movies were great, and everyone expects the third
to be the greatest (some does anyway). Still, we are lucky that this
wasn’t the disaster known as X-Men 3 or as mediocre as Superman
Returns, and senseless like Ghost Rider. There is nothing left to be
salvaged from this part though, so we won’t be expecting another part
for a very long time.
Entertaining, but not exceptional as some anticipated it to be.
