I saw Spidey 3 last night; at the Imax no less.
First things first, everything I’d heard about the Sandman effects are true and then some. Wow, wow, and wow. Honestly, the scene where he first reforms himself is oddly beautiful.
The action scenes are all tour de forces, the story felt like a good logical move forward from the last two films, and all of the acting is very good. Even small parts are given their chance to shimmer. (I’m looking at you, Mageina Tovah.)
But for all the spectacle, humor and pathos, you can’t help but get the feeling that Raimi indulged himself occasionally to the detriment of other plot elements.
Example: An extensive odd dance number where Peter rubs Gwen Stacy in MJ’s face lasts far too long, while Harry accepting his father’s death suffers from quick inattention, and a poor monologue/plot device to boot.
As a Spidey fan, of course I was excited about the inclusion of Gwen Stacy and Venom, but to be perfectly honest, neither were really necessary to the plot. My impression is that someone pushed for them, and Raimi acquiessed to a) please management, and, b) avoid a lesser director mucking about with them later. (Of course I could be wrong, but I seem to remember an online video of Avi Arad talking about convincing Raimi to include Venom.)
All of this being said, it is a really fun movie, and while lacking a final polish, is still better than 90% of the genre being ground out these days. It did not, however, manage to crack my top three superhero flick list:
1) Spider-Man 2
2) Batman (1989)
3) The Incredibles, tied with any Michelle Pfeiffer scene in Batman Returns
Go check it out in the theater; it’s worth it.
Technorati Tags: andertoons, comic books, movies, spiderman
I haven't seen it yet. I guess it's disappointing to hear that it isn't as good as the first 2, and I'm now not looking forward to going to the movie theatre, parting with my $11 (NY prices — Oy!) to get all disappointed and junk, y'know? I thought Spider-Man 2 was one of the best.
I would add THE ROCKETEER to the list of Great Superhero Movies. Although a flop at the box office, the movie has a lot fans who discovered it when it came out on tape (and then DVD). A great, fun adventure with lots of action and maybe the best looking female lead (who would later go on to be a real, serious actress) in any superhero movie. (All due respect to Pfeiffer, OK?)
DARKMAN, Raimi's warm up for Spidey, was a lot of fun too.
Would the INDIANA JONES flicks be considered "superhero movies?" Since Harrison Ford doesn't wear tights, I'm guessing the answer is no.
What about the Mystery Men?
I loved the Rocketeer, but I'm a die-hard Dave Stevens fan. I had no idea Betty Page was a real person, I thought Dave created her for the comic. And I agree, Mike, Jennifer Connelly did a great job in that movie.
I'm going to save all my comments but I'll say that I agreed with your assesment. At times I kind of felt like they really played down the symbiot too much. From SM2's Doc Ock "creation" scene being so damn creepy… why was venom so relatively UN-creepy. There really wasn't much done there and I thought that they made Peter (under the influence of the symbiot) WAY too much of an UBER-geek. Instead of increasing just his anger and strength… apparently it increases his geekiness too. I don't think it shouldve been that comical.
The other thing I'll say is that I HATED the black suit's theme music. Awefull! Everything else was a copy/paste from the first movie.
All in all it was good… but the impact it made on me was the worst of the series. That being said… it still makes the only existing trully successful comic book-to-movie trilogy out there. If you go see it… see it on IMAX. Eye candy is going to help.
OK, I tried to watch the Rocketeer, but maybe the medicine got in the way or something. Never really could get into it…
Although Connelly… Wow!
I didn't really like the movie, and in my opinion, they screwed over Venom really badly. He was LESS buff than Spider-man. HIS ARMS WERE LIKE MINE!! Someone wrote a review saying it's too much Peter, not enough Spider-man. Exactly what I was thinking. It has too much personal love hate stuff, and not enough Superhero action. There were barely any scenes where he swung around like Spider-man through New York City. The CGI looked rushed, but the best part was when Snadman was regenerating on that one scene. That had to be the best scene in the movie. It was great. So the movie gets three out of five stars from me.