Spider-Man 3 [Blu-ray] [2007] [US Import]

Sam Raimi's Spiderman revival was a great success with two films which exceeded expectations in many ways. The third film is seen as the weakest of the three but it would be unfair to call it a complete failure...

As with Spiderman 2 the opening sequence shows brief snippets from the previous films - this cements this as a true continuation of events rather than a standalone film. The last film saw Peter Parker reveal all to MJ as the two officially get together. As one relationship got off the ground another ended as best friend Harry promises revenge for the death of his father. It's clear that there's unfinished business in Peter's private life which can only get more complicated for him when powerful foes emerge.

As before we are treated to incredible visual spectacles as Spiderman glides through the sky via his organic webbing. Good use of CGI is employed for the creation of the headline baddy of this film - Sand Man. The creation of Sandman shows the deconstruction and subsequent reformation of a human figure, it's a grotesquely beautiful sequence and in high definition it's particularly impressive. Some of the mid-air fight scenes look a bit fake but they aren't as obviously computer generated as some from the first film.

Previously we saw Peter Parker struggling with the attention he had been receiving as Spiderman, but with the Daily Bugle finally on-side he is evidently loving being the city's hero. Perhaps guilty of being self absorbed, his relationship with Mary Jane is stretched. It's a romance which has provided a strong romantic element to the films so far but it doesn't seem as strong here. I was less convinced by their closeness and I was willing Peter to ditch MJ and go for the geeky girl in the flat opposite - at least then he might get discounted rent!

The film has many strengths but is ultimately let down by its weaknesses. There are simply too many coincidences to make it plausible, ridiculous chance meetings which exist only for convenience and compromise the quality of the film. There seem to be loose ends and unanswered questions in a film which crams a lot in and doesn't quite manage to make it all stick together. There were cheesy moments in the first two films but here there's much more, there's some clumsy scripting which is overly sentimental, but in amongst it there are some beauties too: "you want forgiveness? Get a religion".

This doesn't feel like a serious Superhero film, instead of being a superweight it's a featherweight which relies on eye candy and action sequences. It does try - you can see attempts to bring depth to Sandman and complexity to the lovelife of Peter and Mary Jane, but it's too obviously done and lacks the subtly which would've allowed it to work. Peter himself remains a strong character though and it's interesting to see how his life is being affected by the celebrity status of his alter-ego. When he is `contaminated' by a symbiotic alien life-form (which just happens to land near him) we see a darker side to Peter. Tobey Maguire seems to enjoy playing the bad boy and revels in strutting his stuff. It's amazing what a bit of eyeliner and hair brushed forward can do! It's a chance to see the character in a completely different way - and although the jazz club dance scene is cringeworthy, it's still hugely entertaining.

This Blu-Ray release looks superb like the previous films, and we finally get some bonus features and they warrant a second disk here. There are short featurettes about the three specific baddies cover the story of these villains and touch on the effects which brought them to life. A feature I thought would be little more than a few trailers was the promotional material for the films - but it was fascinating seeing how the media was used to generate such a buzz. The best feature however has to be the two hour documentary which covers all areas of production, most probably won't watch it and that's a shame as there's another evening of entertainment in that feature alone!

In a nutshell: The film has problems; villains are shoe-horned in meaning that none could be satisfyingly explored, some moments (especially towards the end) are so cheesy that they look like a made-for-daytime TV special, and where romance has simmered over the last two films it doesn't grab your interest quite so much in this one. There's a drop in overall quality for Spiderman 3 but to be honest I don't mind saying that I still really enjoyed it. This might not be the best film in the trilogy but if you take it as a fun-filled bit of entertainment then it's still better than most others out there. You certainly can't accuse Spiderman 3 of not being creative.

...and for the most part delivered. Being a huge Marvel fan, I queued on the opening day, with a horde of shouting kids, to see what promised to be one of the best films ever. And it almost was. Sure, I could gripe about the minor details that don't agree with the comics, but that's neither here nor there. The one thing that did disappoint me was the lack of screentime for Venom, who could and should have been amazing. But he was as scary as a bouquet of flowers. Having said that, I do like the way it's left open for a certain other symbiote to appear in the future... To finish, although it's not as good as the second installment, it's certainly worth a look.

Peter Parker is very happy, he's in love with the sensual Mary Jane Watson, his studies are going great, and America loves his alter ego, Spider-Man. But his world is quickly turned upside down as he comes under attack from Sandman, Goblin Jr and an alien substance that transforms Peter into something far darker than his super hero better self.

There is a school of thought that says that sequels are always the tricky films for directors to take on, that may be so in most genres, but for comic book adaptations, all films are tricky. By the time of director Sam Raimi releasing Spider-Man 3, he had not only shown the world that he clearly loved the Spider-Man characters, he showed that he also knew how to better the franchise with the second instalment. So really, if we are all honest here, it was going to take a monumental effort to not just only better parts one and two, but to merely make a film to sit alongside those finely crafted pictures as well! That he managed neither is no great surprise when watching it now after the dust has settled a few years later. In his over eagerness to entertain us the fans, and with studio interference that Raimi to date refuses to over elaborate on (Venom-AKA Eddie Brock-it was-ahem-requested he find room for), Raimi lost sight of the less is more policy that made the first two Spidey movies great.

When I first came out of the cinema after my original viewing, my head was chocked full of villains, not only that, but also Peter's love life struggles, it is in short, way too much for one movie. I had enjoyed myself for sure, hell! Raimi knows how to give his fans a good time, but when you break it own there are so many missed opportunities it grates substantially on the discerning movie watching fan. Thomas Haden Church is a fine actor, but as Marko he has little to do, so come the excellent transformation into Sandman, Church is a forgotten prop. Then there is the almost unforgivable act of losing James Franco {Goblin Jr} in amongst the collage of goings on, his Harry Osborn has a neat complexity to him and more attention to detail with this character arc would have provided great rewards I'm sure. Kirsten Dunst returns as Mary Jane but appears to be regressing in acting ability, is she bored I wonder? Or is she just not that very good an actress? The less said about Topher Grace as Eddie Brock/Venom the better, tho in fairness Raimi never wanted the character in the film, so it's hardly surprising that the best thing about the character is the entertaining effects as Venom snarls and snaps. Bryce Dallas Howard is sparky as Gwen Stacy, and J.K. Simmons as usual owns every scene he is in.

Yet in spite of my grievances, after my HD revisit to the film I find myself warming to the Raimi franchise misfire. Clever themes such as power and its devilish off shoots are fleshed out, while the humour here is possibly the best of the three films thus far. The romantic angle between MJ and Peter is given serious thought and dare I say it, an adult make over. Whilst Tobey Maguire really has improved as an actor with each subsequent film, not withstanding an ill advised Saturday Night Fever sequence, Parker's venture to the dark side is excellently realised by Maguire. But ultimately it's with the action sequences that many younger viewers judge a Spider-Man film by, and part three is not found wanting, with a double team ultimate smack down raising the bar in gloriously over the top enjoyment. 7/10

At the time of writing the above Raimi had agreed to do Spider-Man 4, I feel sure that lessons would have been learned, as it is now, both Raimi and Maguire have left the franchise. The head honcho executives have other ideas for the next instalment.......