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Sam Raimi's Spider Man 3

by Kathryn Durfee
05/13/2007

Swinging into theaters this past weekend was Sam Raimi's Spider Man 3, kicking off yet another summer of sequels. Though it aims high, Raimi's latest installment fails to deliver.

This chapter features four separate personas played by Maguire. First, there is the delicate, soft-spoken Peter Parker we all know and love. He is complemented by the heroic and humble Spider-Man, protector of the city. After saving Gwen Stacey (Bryce Dallas Howard) a model, fellow student, and daughter of the Chief of Police, Spider-Man is given the key to the city and a huge boost to his ego.

In addition, Spidey is being used as a host by some black, gooey, alien substance that makes him aggressive and, well, even more full of himself. Now we see different sides of both Parker and his alter ego: Parker struts down the street like an extra from the days when disco was cool, pulling his bangs over his eyes and dressing in black. As for Spidey, his suit is also jet-black.

In addition to infuriating M.J. with his antics both as Spidey and Stacey's classmate, Spidey also incurs another enemy in Eddie Brock (Topher Grace): a competing photographer at The Daily Bugle and supposed boyfriend of Stacey.

The evil side of Spidey seems too good to pass up, but Raimi fails to make the most of this grand opportunity. This side of Maguire's character only plays a small part in the movie; he rids himself of the substance before we can truly see its effects. Sure, he can make M.J. jealous, but what else does this suit enable him to do? The alien goop is transferred to Brock, who becomes Venom, a villain with a vengeance against both Parker and Spider-Man.

Along with Venom, Spidey must fight back against The Sandman, a.k.a. Flint Marko, the escaped convict responsible for the death of Uncle Ben. Fed up with Spidey's constant thwarting of his plans to get money for his sick daughter, Sandman teams up with Venom to plot our hero's demise.

Meanwhile, feeling left out and forgotten is M.J. Watson, Parker's girlfriend, who has been kicked off of Broadway and into the arms of Harry Osborn/New Goblin, the former best friend but now-nemesis of Parker and Spidey. Watson is a one-dimensional role played flatly by Kirsten Dunst.

While Maguire's handling of four separate personalities is successful, too much time is devoted to his alter egos, creating an overdone and sometimes embarrassing element to the film. In addition, Maguire does not seem to have lost his childlike quality with age. His outbursts that result from the black stuff seem more like angsty-teen tantrums than serious anger. Franco shines despite relatively short appearances; his internal torture from his father and his anger towards a best friend he believed betrayed him is played with understated but powerful emotion. Finally, Grace, known best as good-natured and slightly geeky Eric Foreman of TV's That ‘70s Show, seems to be the perfect match for the success-hungry photographer Eddie Brock and the vengeful Venom.

In the end, this film will go down in the record books for profit and ticket sales. Those enamored with the comic books and the first two films will flock to theaters no matter what reviewers say. However, after almost two and a half hours of frenetic action and pieced-together romance, audiences will hopefully realize that it's just another big-budget sequel without much heart.

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