This is a two-tiered review–the first part is for those who haven’t seen it and wonder if they’d like to. The second part is for those who have (or haven’t) and don’t mind my discussion of details of the plot.
Spoiler-free zone:
My good friend Thom has often summed up his reaction to a film, “Liked it, didn’t love it,” and that’s my response to the third Spider-Man movie. As I earlier previewed here, the degree of difficulty the film faced involved having so many new characters that would inevitablely result in a heavily plotted narrative, and indeed this is what resulted: the film’s overloaded cast created multiple storylines to serve them all and weaves a tangled web. The lumbering feel of the film is something like reading twelve issues of a Spider-Man comic in one sitting–incident follows incident, the audience is bounced between numerous characters and begins to wonder what exactly the film is about. The marvelous themes, taking responsibility for our moral choices and learning to forgive, are so buried by action and thick winding chords of story that near the end, Peter Parker has to provide a voiceover to remind us in words what the moral of the story is, whereas Spider-Man 2 only had to show us by it’s straightforward plot. There are some very nice moments in the film that remind us why we love Sam Raimi’s interpretation of the Marvel Comic’s everyman superhero. After Spidey first encounters the Sandman’s power, he sits on a ledge and shakes the sand out of his hair, mask and boots. When Peter, under the dominance of the malevolent black symbiote costume, barks back at his Landlord who’s asking for his overdue rent, we are surprised at the man’s reaction. But these small moments don’t balance out the film’s heavy plotting which means that most characters don’t get much time to shine onscreen before the next big action scene or plot twist yanks us away from them. I expect kids will enjoy the action scene enough to make it worth taking them, but don’t expect the sublime magic of Spider-Man 2, the best comic book adaption ever made.
SPOILER ZONE: (You probably won’t understand most of these points until you’ve seen the movie.)
When characters make us ask, “Why’d they do that?” there’s a problem with the writing. After two films, we have a pretty good handle on a character, but when Harry threatens to kill Peter if Mary Jane doesn’t do exactly as he tells her, I’d expect her to say, “I think my boyfriend can take care of himself.” Thus her complying with his threat which leads to MJ breaking up with a heartbroken Peter was a big hinge on which the plot turns–if we can believe it, which I couldn’t. And why doesn’t MJ tell Peter she lost her stage role? To make the audience work to try to understand such anomalies pulls us out of the film and seems like a writer’s arbitrary plot contrivance.
When the alien symbiote crashes to earths, about twenty feet from Peter and hitches a ride on his scooter, it’s unbelievably convenient. Even in a comic book movie, we expect a better sequencing of cause and effect. It would have made much more sense to more use Peter’s relationship with Dr. Curt Connors to draw him close to the alien symbiote. Then maybe, the black speck could have hitched a ride on Peter’s backpack instead of hiding in his room waiting for Peter to have a bad day. This plot point was badly handled.
When Peter turns to the dark side, er, suit and takes Gwen Stacy to the club where MJ is singing, he has been behaving like a caricature of a wannabe hipster–rather than radiating malevolence, he’s just dorky. And when he starts dancing with himself before kissing Gwen in front of MJ, you almost expect him to start doing flamenco moves. This is so silly that we are once again pulled out of the story as we scratch our heads at a film that isn’t taking the symbiote’s threat seriously.
One of the few surprises in a film whose trailers pretty much mapped out the film’s story arc was when Harry finally throws off his father’s control over him and comes to his best friend’s aid. I guess I should have known what was coming but I was quite gratified when it did.
I cannot explain how Raimi and his screenwriters, who had so well handled Spidey and company in the first two films, succumbed to the dread sequelitis of bloated, convoluted storylines that never heard the phrase, “less is more.” As I mentioned earlier, they buried their worthy themes and characters in a sandpile of plotting, cutting off most of the joyful exhilaration that kept Spider-Man soaring. I think for better or worse, we’ve seen about everything that can happen to Peter Parker on the big screen, and Sony, which has stated its desire to do a fourth film, should reconsider just what else they could possibly do with these characters now.
Not having MJ tell Harry to buzz off, or to ask Peter for protection from Harry, was strange since she knows he IS Spiderman. Her being a wet-blanket through most of the film was unfortunate. We’re also given hints about MJ dropping out and Gwen Stacey moving in to the sequels, but I don’t know how Peter will be able to convince GS that he’s an OK guy now.
One other head scratcher at the end was when Peter let the Sandman go after forgiving him. My 9 y.o. asked why he let him go, and my first response was “What was he supposed to do?” It’s a little difficult to catch a sandstorm. In thinking about it some more, it gave the wrong impression of forgiveness, in that it lacked a sense of justice. It’s one thing to forgive Flint for his “accident”, it’s another to expect justice and have him serve the remainder of his sentence.
Comment by Marc V — May 9, 2007 @ 3:23 pm |
I know I’ve been rambling about this. One point, and I’m trhough.
I hope this isn’t the last film, because it would be a sorry way to see the series end. I’m not sure what else they could do to poor Peter, but they have to do SOMETHING to redeem themselves. An epic tale deserves an epic ending. And I hope Spidey’s story gets one that fits better than that red-and-blue suit.
Comment by Ashley — May 9, 2007 @ 5:32 pm |
Yeah, Marc, they left the Sandman plotline too open-ended–”dust in the wind, all I am is dust in the wind,” he might be singing as he wafts away.
And, Ashley, have you noticed how most superhero movies have to have their masked man keep taking off his mask? Actors hate having their face and especially their eyes, covered. And Toby’s eye’s are his main asset–his gaze is a great substitute for the comic book’s thought balloon with the characters inner monologue. You don’t need that in comics but its becoming obsessive in the movies.
Comment by Alex — May 9, 2007 @ 6:26 pm |
You know, I hadn’t thought about it consciously, but now that you mention it, it’s actually very true. There’s only so much you can show with a pen and ink drawing of someone thinking. But expressions on a real human face, yeah, I kinda see what you mean. Especially not just Toby this time. All of our villains, even masked ones, are coming unmasked for the camera.
He he, I like the “dust in the wind” line. It does sort of fit the mood, doesn’t it? (I still say there wasn’t enough closure in that department. I mean, whatever became of his daughter? Sandman should have gotten his own movie! He’s too deep of a character for this short circuited ending.)
I know a lot of people seem to think that Peter is the “everyman” superhero. My brother and I sort of argued about this in the queue for the film (before the theater caught fire). We compared all the heroes of the recent films. And found out that it’s basically true. Case in point:
1)Batman is not a super hero. He’s a guy with a lot of cash and a serious grudge. He has no real powers.
2) Daredevil is not a super hero in the best sense of the word. Yes, he has super senses, but not really super powers.
3) GhostRider sold his soul. While he may how “powers” he doesn’t exactly use them to save people in a general sense. He’s more about fighting Satan and stuff.
4) Superman is from another planet. He doesn’t count as an “everyman”, because he isn’t human. (My brother debated me on this one for hours. He eventually won. Sorry, Clark.)
5)Every mutant in X-Men eventually runs into other mutants to be friends with. The “I can’t tell anybody about this” factor disappers. (Though this does happen in Spiderman, I kinda wish it hadn’t cuz it really ruins everything.)
I’m sure there others. But it’s 9 am, I haven’t slept in three days, and I have some Medicaid billing to do. I’ll check back later to comment on anything else you guys come up with about my favorite (ok, one of my favorites) comic hero.
Comment by Ashley — May 10, 2007 @ 9:04 am |