Spiderman 3

Oh Lordy what a movie this is! I have to tell you first, for those that aren't aware, I am a very big comic book fan, I've been one since I was 6 years old and now, at 30 years young, I am loving the whole comic movie craze, sure alot of them suck, yes Ghost Rider i'm looking at you, but I always end up going back and forth in my mind on how to review this genre for the masses, not just the comic fans, people that aren't going to know the difference between the comics and the movie and such, so I figure I'll have abit of sarcastic fun with this and just dive right in and if you can follow, then follow if you can't, get your wiki on... Anyway here we go...

First off I must tell you, visually, this movie is incredible, the F/X were amazingly done and grab you from the start, but as anyone thats been last grade 8 knows, Special Effects don't make a movie, you need a story as well, and that brings me to my first point, the story itself. How don't get me wrong, there is alot of story in this, there is alot crammed into this movie, and though I could argue that for three villains this movie really doesn't give each of them enough time for a proper story of some kind, and others could argue it does, personally, I always thought the other two Spiderman movies did well with one villain and didn't need 3 given the complexity of most of them and their back stories. And though there is alot story crammed in here and I feel abit of rushing, they do cover things well and make it feel like one big story, not three mini ones hashed together like I was fearing they would do.

They also do alot of good tying in more of the supporting cast, spiderman's true power as a character has always been his supporting cast, and to see more here, is great, plus, it also means that though we didn't get the true story of Gwen Stacy or her father, we do have them included in the movie mythos now, and I do love that, for those that don't recognize her, Gwen is played by Bryce Dallas Howard, the daughter of Ron Howard and star of The Village, which I just loved her in. With that said, ok, onto the story now!

it starts out with Peter being happy, yes, we know it doesn't ever last but its nice to see this side of Pete now and then, its important to the character, him and Mary Jane are out on a date one night, when a meteorite crashes near by them, why there were no warnings for the area or why this wasn't noticed by the government is not mentioned, out of it oozes a symbiote, and it for whatever reason follows Peter and MJ home, logic would denote it had a symbiote equivalent of a full on superhero chubby for MJ, but no, its all about Peter.

Next Peter and EmoHarry Osborne (the son of Norman Osborne the Green Goblin from the first Spiderman movie for the non-comic readers) have a fight that leaves EmoHarry with a light case of short-term amnesia, he forgets he blames spiderman for his dad's death in the first movie and the vendetta against Spiderman that came from it, however he still continues to be emo. Poor Harry, poor rich beyond even god but still sad cuz his crazy father died, harry. I'd assume he goes home and cuts himself to my chemical romance at this point.

Next we meet The Sandman, well, he's not the sandman yet, but anyway, we meet Flint Marko (who's real name is William Baker for those who are comic purists), as Flint runs from the cops he somehow ends up stumbling into a particle accelerator which turns him into sand, this amazed me because I always thought when you stepped into particle accelerators you like, quantum leaped into the past or whatnot, putting things right that once went wrong and hoping each leap will be the leap home, but apparently you just become sand sometimes too, the last bit of my childhood died at this moment. Ok no it didn't, it did make me kind of look at the screen funny.

From there we head to a party thrown for Spiderman because he saved Gwen Stacy, at the same time Sandman attempts to rob an armored car near by, Spidey all of a sudden jumps into action and fights his new fashion victim of a villain, Sandman beats Peter pretty good and gets away, Pete is later informed that Sandman is the robber that killed Ben Parker (Mr. Caradine did it in the comics), this makes Peter rather mad as to be expected, and wile he sleeps that night, the symbiote bonds with his spidey suit. Pete wakes up to discover this and that his powers are greatly enhanced as well, he as always, sets out to use these new amped up powers as Spiderman. Everyone loves the new black outfit...

Peter slowly becomes changed by the new suit and the new power amping. He becomes more violent and aggressive and has an almost leathal fight with the sandman, all of this new found anger and darker attitude alienates Mary Jane, who goes running to emo Harry Osborne seeking help, and ends up dating him, because, well, you know, that happens all the time in real life. Peter finds out and is REALLY pissed off, understandable really, i'd be pissed off too if my best friend and my woman were knocking boots like a Candyman song, well ok the only candyman song, but anyway i'd be really pissed off. Somewhere along the way Spiderman meets Eddie Brock, who's camera he breaks and such...

Alot more angry words are said between Peter and Mary Jane and Peter decides its time to get rid of the symbiote, heads to a church to dump the suit, because well, thats what you do when you're a superhero, you dump your old suit in a church and get on with your life with your new or old outfit. He discovers that the sound of the bells weakens the suit and uses it to get rid of it. The suit gets mad and eventually the suit finds and bonds with Eddie Brock, and in that moment, Venom is born.

The rest of the movie is a mix fighting with Harry and eventually team up with him and dealing with Venom and the sandman who have also teamed up, I won't give away the ending but its a mix of mindscrew, comic faithful comic history, and an odd coming to terms. its not the ending I totally liked, but it was none the less a good ending. You won't be let down or feel cheated by any means.

With this all the tongue in cheek humor said and done, my thoughts on the movie as whole are very positive, yes there are some things the comic fans will hate, yes there is way to much story for the allotted time the movie runs, and at times it moves to fast for its own good, and sure there are things that are half assed, but all and all, the movie is a great story about how Ben Parker was right, with great power comes great responsibility, and that when ultimate power corrupts. it corrupts absolutely. I would gladly go see this again, though I am not sure if the non-comic fans will respond well to it, I'm thinking it might be to much spiderman history crammed into one movie for them to take in all at once, not degrading non-comic fans by any means, just saying they might find the mixing of characters abit convoluted and marred for their liking, but thats just a guess anyhow.

so basically, if you would like a good afternoon out, go have a look, you won't feel let down. And if you are, oh well, go see something that sucked like Slowburn or something...


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Laz