20 Movies Destroyed By Their Plot Holes

13. Spider-Man 3 - The Butler

Spider-Man 3 Harry Osborn Bernard Houseman John Paxton
Sony Pictures

What the hell was this?

Throughout Sam Raimi's Spider-Man Trilogy, Harry Osborn (James Franco) is seeking revenge on Spider-Man for supposedly killing his father, and yet, this whole villainous arc could've been avoided had someone else simply had a quick conversation with him. 

That is Harry's butler, Bernard Houseman (John Paxton). When the plot needs Harry to go and help Spider-Man, Bernard suddenly explains to him that his father was killed by his own glider, not by Spider-Man. He then says, "I loved your father as I have loved you, Harry." Did he really? Why didn't he tell this to Harry before? Why did he allow Harry to suffer for so long? 

Furthermore, it's jarring the way that this random background character suddenly becomes so important, and it also felt strange that he'd been the one to deal with Norman's body after his death. This character never appeared in the first Spider-Man, after all. 

Essentially, most of Spider-Man 3's story could've been avoided had Bernard actually done right by Harry. There's been an attempt to reclaim Spider-Man 3 in recent years, but no, it's actually even worse than you remember. Moments as dumb as Bernard's jarring exposition dump would not have come from a good film. 

Contributor

Film Studies graduate, aspiring screenwriter and all-around nerd who, despite being a pretentious cinephile who loves art-house movies, also loves modern blockbusters and would rather watch superhero movies than classic Hollywood films. Once met Tommy Wiseau.