Spiderman 3: No Batman Forever
Cressa and I saw Spiderman 3 last night at the Imax theatre in Mississauga with some friends. Compared to all of the movies in the superhero genre it was pretty good, but it doesn’t quite live up to the expectations set by the first two movies in the franchise, or other recent franchise “reboots” like Batman Begins and Superman Returns.
The special effects and fight scenes (and most of the time the two are the same thing) are worth the price of admission, particularly those involving the Green Goblin or Venom (Sandman is just kind of big and smashy). Unfortunately, they’re about the only thing that can be said to be really good about the movie.
Overall there’s just too much crammed into the film: too many villains, too many love triangles, too many supporting characters, too many people who are good – no wait, they’re evil! – no wait, they’re good! None of those on their own kill the movie, but trying to cram them all in means that some things fell out the other side; things that could have made certain plot points seem a lot less random and a lot less contrived.
The first two Spiderman movies benefited from not taking themselves too seriously, but it feels like Spiderman 3 doesn’t take itself seriously enough. All of the movies have their slapstick moments, but “3″ goes so far as to include an over-the-top dance number during what should be a very serious point in Peter Parker and Mary Jane’s relationship.
I don’t want to make the movie sound like it was bad, because it certainly doesn’t warrant being grouped in with movies like “Batman Forever” or “Elektra.” It’s biggest fault is really that it just doesn’t live up to the quality of its predecessors.