Spider-Man 3

Spider-Man 3, much like the previous two Spider-Man films, is based on Peter Parker (Toby Maguire) struggling to balance life as Spider-Man and his relationships with everyone else in his life. However, things are actually going quite well for Peter, which is a welcome change. The city has stopped thinking of Spider-Man as a villain and has come to accept and celebrate him. He’s with the woman of his dreams, Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst) and is preparing to propose to her. Plus, he’s at the top of his class in college. Things don’t stay so good though as Peter is soon attacked by his once best friend Harry Osborn (James Franco). Harry, who discovered that Peter Parker is Spider-Man in the second film, believes him to be responsible for the death of his father, Norman Osborn. Norman was a psychotic villain named The Green Goblin and Harry has discovered his late father’s technology and strength increasing drugs. Harry, thanks in part to the haunting specter of his father, has crafted himself into a new version of the Green Goblin and sets out to kill Spider-Man. Peter’s life is further complicated by a strange black substance that is alien in nature. The substance is a symbiotic life form from outer space and needs to attach to a human host to survive. It attaches to Peter but has several negative side effects. The substance amplifies aggression and negativity, causing the kind and responsible Peter to give into his violent and mean spirited urges. This also hurts his relationship with Mary Jane, who is feeling disconnected as her life takes several negative turns. Peter is also besieged at work, where a new freelance photographer is doing his best to take Peter’s job. Finally, the police discover a second person who was involved in the murder of Peter’s beloved Uncle Ben. The man, Flint Marko, is transformed into the villain known as Sandman. Peter, urged on by the dark black suit, seeks out Sandman to gain revenge on him for killing his uncle. With so much stacked up against him, it’s not only a fight for survival but also a fight for his own soul as Spider-Man struggles to overcome these many threats.

I had set this movie up to fail in my own eyes. Being such a huge fan of Spider-Man comic books and the previous two films, I had very high expectations for this movie. That’s generally a situation that leads to me being disappointed in a film. However, I’m happy to say that wasn’t the case at all with Spider-Man 3.

As you can tell from reading the plot outline above, this movie is packed. There’s not a single wasted moment as the many plotlines play out on the screen. Even though it is an extremely busy film, each and every character and story seems to play out naturally. There was never a point where I felt too much or too little time was being spent on any given thing. Impressively enough, each of the many plots flowed together.

The thing that made the other two Spider-Man films so great in my opinion was the characters. There were so many wonderful character moments that made the people on screen easily relatable and likable. That was one thing that this movie did not disappoint on. The relationships between characters were at the center here and it was handled beautifully. From the relationship of Peter and Mary Jane, to the on again/off again friendship of Peter and Harry, even to the dark seductive power of the black symbiotic suit, this movie delivered.

The action, as expected in Spider-Man films, was top notch. The effects are unbelievable. Spider-Man moves gracefully and athletically through the air and the fight scenes are a joy to watch. The computer effects used to create the Sandman were particularly astounding. The scene that shows his transformation into the Sandman is one of the more amazing effects scenes you’ll see all year.

Truthfully I could go on for hours about every little thing in this movie that I loved. This movie has everything the previous films had, but to a larger degree. It had wonderful character moments, hilarious comedy, mind bending action sequences and high emotional scenes. If you at all enjoyed the previous films then there is absolutely no reason you wouldn’t enjoy this one as well. I could not have loved it more.
 

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