Spider-Man 3 (12A.)
Directed by Sam Raimi.
Starring Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Thomas Hayden Church, Topher Grace, Bryce Dallas Howard. 140 mins.
There are indications that this might be the last time the Maguire/ Dunst/ Raimi triumvirate tackle Spider-man and though they’ve done an incredible job there are also plenty of signs that it’s time for them to move on. 3 is a big, brash and at times beautiful entertainment, but it is also over long, unfocused and prone to indulgence.
It certainly packs a lot into its 140 minutes – 3 villains, multiple story arcs and some of the best action sequences around; what’s missing is some overall cohesion. You can feel the love that went into its making, but possibly they’ve become a little too fond of these characters.
Spider-man 2 was close to being the perfect superhero movie because of its balancing act between stunning action and cornball character stuff. So sure was Raimi’s handling that he could take an inherently duff villain like Doc Ock and turn him into something immense.
Here the balance is a bit off and both the new villains, Sandman (Church) and a late arriving Venom (Grace), get short shift, forced to blurt out their back stories in the brief lulls afforded them. Church always appears to be on the verge of turning in a great performance but every time he’s about to get going the film dumps him to rush off to yet another scene of the faltering romance between Parker (Maguire) and Mary Jane (Dunst.)
The story is credited to Raimi and his brother Ivan with experienced screenwriter Alvin Sargent coming in to help shape the screenplay, but it has so many plot contrivances you’d expect it to be credited to a Dewey Machina. The most blatant are a very convenient case of amnesia after a bump on the head and a previously insignificant character suddenly offering up a piece of information towards the end that would have saved everybody a lot of trouble if he’d thought to mention it a couple of films ago.
It’s a definite disappointment but the fact that it isn’t all you’d want it to be shouldn’t disguise the fact that Raimi’s Spider-man films are very special. No other superhero adaptation so fully captures the essence of its comic book origins. See it on the biggest, loudest screen possible because when Spidey comes swinging into action, Danny Elfman’s theme music thundering out, it feels close to being the best possible use celluloid can be put to.
Directed by Sam Raimi.
Starring Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Thomas Hayden Church, Topher Grace, Bryce Dallas Howard. 140 mins.
There are indications that this might be the last time the Maguire/ Dunst/ Raimi triumvirate tackle Spider-man and though they’ve done an incredible job there are also plenty of signs that it’s time for them to move on. 3 is a big, brash and at times beautiful entertainment, but it is also over long, unfocused and prone to indulgence.
It certainly packs a lot into its 140 minutes – 3 villains, multiple story arcs and some of the best action sequences around; what’s missing is some overall cohesion. You can feel the love that went into its making, but possibly they’ve become a little too fond of these characters.
Spider-man 2 was close to being the perfect superhero movie because of its balancing act between stunning action and cornball character stuff. So sure was Raimi’s handling that he could take an inherently duff villain like Doc Ock and turn him into something immense.
Here the balance is a bit off and both the new villains, Sandman (Church) and a late arriving Venom (Grace), get short shift, forced to blurt out their back stories in the brief lulls afforded them. Church always appears to be on the verge of turning in a great performance but every time he’s about to get going the film dumps him to rush off to yet another scene of the faltering romance between Parker (Maguire) and Mary Jane (Dunst.)
The story is credited to Raimi and his brother Ivan with experienced screenwriter Alvin Sargent coming in to help shape the screenplay, but it has so many plot contrivances you’d expect it to be credited to a Dewey Machina. The most blatant are a very convenient case of amnesia after a bump on the head and a previously insignificant character suddenly offering up a piece of information towards the end that would have saved everybody a lot of trouble if he’d thought to mention it a couple of films ago.
It’s a definite disappointment but the fact that it isn’t all you’d want it to be shouldn’t disguise the fact that Raimi’s Spider-man films are very special. No other superhero adaptation so fully captures the essence of its comic book origins. See it on the biggest, loudest screen possible because when Spidey comes swinging into action, Danny Elfman’s theme music thundering out, it feels close to being the best possible use celluloid can be put to.
