Dir. Sam Raimi, US, 2007, 140mins
Cast: Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Thomas Haden Church, Topher Grace, Bryce Dallas-Howard
Review by Matthew Rodgers
Making close to 1.5 billion dollars worldwide and easily being the most accessible of the superhero adaptations the Spider-Man franchise has used a DNA splicing formula of angst ridden character study with silly season special effects that has proven a hit with fans and critics alike. What the sequel did was build on the original set-up established by [now] trilogy director Sam Raimi that didn’t follow the unsuccessful mantra of “more of the same but bigger” that blights most “Part 2’s”. You can throw as many proverbs as applicable to the hype web surrounding the third instalment; “too many cooks”, “if it isn’t broken”, so on and so forth, because they all stick with Spidey like precision.
“Oh what a tangled web we weave” Mr Raimi. Spider-man 3 picks up shortly after the last installment’s conclusion and aims for a Shakespearean superhero vibe by throwing our protagonists seemingly perfect lives into chaos. Peter (Maguire) is basking in the celebrity of being New York’s most beloved icon; Mary Jane (Dunst) is poised to make her debut on Broadway; Harry Osbourne ( Franco) has taken a convenient bang on the head that means he has forgotten his vendetta against Peter/Spider-Man for the supposed murder of his father/Green Goblin. Deep breath now. Bowing to fanboy/studio pressure Raimi also shoe-horns alien symbiotic Venom and early comic favourite Sandman (Church) into proceedings as swell as original comic book beau Gwen Stacy (Dallas-Howard) and rival photographer Eddie Brock (Grace) in a move that threatened Batman and Robin style overload of two movies worth of new characters. Don’t worry; it’s nowhere near that bad.
Of the original cast Maguire is loveably geeky albeit seemingly a little bored by proceedings, that is until he gets to test his comedy muscles with a bizarre middle act involving a hilarious Saturday Night Fever homage. Kirsten Dunst is given very little that is new to do and the pair’s relationship problems seem a carbon copy of the the obstacles confronting them in the first two installments, leading to unavoidable tedium. Throwing Franco into the love triangle is also obvious and extremely repetitive in regurgitating the first film's themes and as a result suffocates any chance of a decent performance from him.
The new characters are a mixed bag; CGI Sandman is an impressive creation, it’s just a shame that he engulfs the undeniable presence of a good actor in Church; Gwen Stacy breathes life into her limited scenes and Howard brings an infectious excitement to the role; Topher Grace proves to be a real trump card as the cocksure photographer and his scenes with the always brilliant J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson are a hilarious stand-out; finally Venom unfortunately suffers from “Darth Maul” syndrome by only appearing in the films mostly un-thrilling climax.
Taking off the serious mask for a minute Spider-Man 3 is the first blockbuster of the summer and that means special effects and “bang for your buck”. In this department, despite seemingly re-treading the same set-piece over and over that involves falling at a fast pace, the webslinger delivers with all of its $250M up on screen to see.
Raimi’s film swings to some spectacular peaks of excitement and some equally incredible lows but never quite reaches the heights that were expected.
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