Comic book movie fandom has all but agreed by now that Spider-Man 3 sucks. On the whole, it has too many villains, too much plot and far too many needless tangents (no one needs a five-minute Aunt May monologue, and even less need to see a subplot where Mary Jane gets fired from her Broadway show). The reasons for the over-stuffed, over-convoluted trilogy ender have been well documented; the story goes that director Sam Raimi wanted Sandman for the villain, but Sony insisted on Venom to appease the fans (thanks for the old college try, Sony), and as a compromise, the film ended up having both. Harry Osborn naturally required a resolution to his story arc too, after finding out that his best pal was actually Spidey, so he also gets thrown into the mix. Separately, none of these additions are bad ideas, but trying to cram them all in is like trying to put two pairs of feet into one pair of socks - and because of that, Spider-Man 3 is an uncomfortable watch with awful pacing. Looking past the forest to the trees, however, and there's a ton of great ideas that really work away from the whole. If ever you're brave enough to attempt a re-watch of Spidey 3, simply try and appreciate the following elements on their own, rather than as the jumbled mess they all come together to create.
Cinephile since 1993, aged 4, when he saw his very first film in the cinema - Jurassic Park - which is also evidence of damn fine parenting. World champion at Six Degrees of Separation. Lender of DVDs to cheap mates. Connoisseur of Marvel Comics and its Cinematic Universe.
