A Quick Spider-Man 3 Review!

So, I'm just back from the film. I'm still trying to digest it all...it seems like there was a LOT of movie.

I liked it. I enjoyed the entire thing, and I'm sure I'll watch it again, but I don't think I liked it as much as Spider-Man 2. I can't tell you why, though. It just didn't leave me quite as satisfied as that film did. Here is a quick synopsis (I'll keep the spoilers to a minimum!)

The Good
The Villains! - Christ, you can really see where the money went in this movie. Venom and Sandman look amazing. I couldn't believe some of the Sandman scenes. To be honest, if there is one reason to see this film, it is Sandman. Not only because he looks fantastic, but because Thomas Haden Church did an amazing job of fleshing out his character in the few moments of character development he was given in this film. There is a pretty quick scene in the very beginning of this film that tells us pretty much all we really need to know to enjoy Flint Marco.

Black Spider-Man! - Spider-Man in the black costume looks really, really good. I've always thought they did a pretty good job of making me buy the classic red and blue costume, but the black costume? Freakin' awesome!

Mary Jane! - OK, I still have a hard time buying the Peter / MJ romance. They don't have a lot of chemistry together on screen. But wow, do I enjoy looking at Kirsten Dunst. At least in the Spider-Man films.

The Bad-ish
There was very little that was really bad about the film, but there were a few things that made me cringe.

The Cheese - OK, I love the fact that Sam Raimi isn't afraid to get corny. Hell, he built and entire career off of it! And Spider-Man is by NO means some dark and gritty hero a-la Batman. But Peter dancing down the road, pointing to every hot chick that passes by? Even the great Bruce Campbell would have trouble pulling that off (by the way...the Bruce Campbell cameo in this ROCKED!)

Gwen Stacy - I don't think I can really blame Bryce Dallas Howard for this. She wasn't given a lot to do here, except show up and be pretty. I would have liked more of this story, and a little more character development. Maybe that would have saved her?

Three Villains - The villains may have been the best thing about this movie, but having three of them hurt it, as well. I bought the reasons they were all there, and the film did a good job of making the whole thing feel organic, but as I said earlier, there was a LOT of movie going on, and I think they could have narrowed the focus a bit more and had a tighter plot. The Hobgoblin material could easily have carried a shorter, tighter movie.

Overall, I'm hardly disappointed. This is a great summer popcorn movie. I just wish it could have been a great movie. Period.