Spider-Man 3 (2007) Review

Spider-Man 3 (2007)

Spider-Man 3 follows Peter, who is endued with a new symbiote suit that gives him power but also brings out the dark side in him, as Sandman and Venom rise up to destroy him and all he holds dear. 

The third and final entry into the Raimi trilogy is a movie that had loads of potential, but due to some bad casting, shoddy studio interference, and too many villains trying to share the spotlight at once, it’s left an awkward, convoluted mess. After the spectacle of both 1 & 2, the idea was to go bigger and bolder, which apparently called for introducing Venom, Sandman, and Harry’s rushed turn as the New Goblin. Whereas the previous two centered on their one villain, to give them time to flourish and grow, this rather haphazardly trudges on, skipping through and rushing what could have made any of these villains great. 

Venom was used more to make others bad, than being evil in his own right and while it was cool to see Spidey ‘go bad’, the whole emo Peter shit is beyond terrible. On one hand because it’s just so fucking hard to look at, but also because it makes our protagonist detestable for most of the film, which I’ve said time and time again, will only hurt your film in the end. Sandman's entire backstory is pretty much shafted in order to make way for other villains and while he does get a bit of humanizing there at the end, it feels too little, too late. Much is the same with Harry, who has spent the past 3 movies hating Spider-Man, only for what should've been an amazing character arc to be wrapped up with the butler's revelation (finally!) that Norman practically killed himself.

The cast here is pretty hit or miss too, with much of the returning cast falling back into line, while the newcomers really stick out like a sore thumb, as it stars Bryce Dallas Howard, J.K. Simmons, Kirsten Dunst, Topher Grace, Thomas Haden Church, James Franco, and Tobey Maguire. Maguire obviously did the best with the direction given, but his turn as emo Peter is still one of the cringiest things ever put to cinema. Grace as Venom is also severely miscast, turning one of Spidey’s coolest villains into a joke. That isn’t to say it’s all bad though, as Church and Franco actually put forth some excellent performances that bring some much needed humanity to the villainous side of things.

Spider-Man 3, directed by Sam Raimi, definitely suffers from too much camp, and while it has garnered some great meme potential in the years that have followed, it’s not enough to save this from being a rushed, comical dumpster fire that sadly ended such a great series on a sour note. 

5.7/10