Spider-Man 3

Spider-Man 3
Director: Sam Raimi
140 minutes
2.39:1


This little spider spins a tangled web indeed.

The film adaptations of the Spider-Man and the X-Men comics have kept the genre prospering to levels unseen before. Apart from the X-Men films, the Spider-Man films have also made this genre respectable due to the depth of their dramatic arcs. (These same arcs also contributed to the less than stellar reviews of other film adaptations of comic books even though those films stayed true to their origins.) Spider-Man 3 simply continues the intricate storytelling tradition of the previous Spider-Man films.



Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) has got a good thing going. His Aunt May (Rosemary Harris) is sorted out in a nice apartment, his grades at school have improved, his love life with Mary Jane (Kirsten Dunst) is just sparkling and at long last, Spider-Man has become a beloved NYC hero. Peter can sing “Oh What A Beautiful Morning” for a Rogers & Hammerstein revue and meant every word of it.

Trouble however is brewing just underneath the surface. His best friend Harry (James Franco) is bearing a deadly grudge against him. Peter finds out that Flint Marko (Thomas Haden Church), his uncle’s actual killer, has escaped from prison. Peter also faces a fierce competition against Eddie Brock (Topher Grace), a dangerously determined freelance photographer, at The Daily Bugle. To top it all off, a gooey stringy black substance from space has grown attached to Peter. Can he handle all of this by himself?



Working with writers Ivan Raimi and Alvin Sargent, who also worked on the first two Spider-Man films, director Sam Raimi once again tells a great story that is full of drama and action. In fact, with a running time of 140 minutes and all of the plot points and new characters, it almost feels like the movie would collapse under its own weight. Almost, but thanks to Raimi, it didn’t. Some of the scenes were laugh out loud moments while some of the action sequences were enough to give you sweaty palms and acrophobia.

Helping Raimi to sustain the look and feel of this alternate New York that Peter Parker lives in is the production team. Director of photography Bill Pope makes each scene look fresh and beautiful every time, even in Peter’s crappy apartment. Production designers Neil Spisak and J. Michael Riva’s work is invisible most of the time because it can’t glaringly pop-up, with the exception of two nail-biting cliffhangers. Costume designer James Acheson delivers in spades again, not only for the non-descript wardrobe for the entire cast but also for the creation of the tough-to-shoot black Spider-Man and Venom costumes, and the not-so -green New Goblin costume. Editor Bob Murawski must have had a tough time to deliver scenes that are concise yet full of meaning and impact at every level.



The visual effects of Spider-Man 3 also reached dizzying heights, figuratively and literally. Visual effects supervisor Scott Stokdyk and visual effects designer John Dykstra brings a new look and feel to the film’s many effects shot. Created mostly by Sony Pictures Imageworks, the effects are almost seamless and realistically done. Using signature elements from Danny Elfman’s original Spider-Man score and his own, Christopher Young crafts a score that helps sustain and create tension and drama. Supervising sound mixers Kevin O’Connell and Greg P. Russell, and supervising sound editor/designer Paul N. J. Ottosson deliver a powerful sonic rush as well as subtle environmental cues that make the film come alive.

The original cast is excellent and that is to be expected, having comfortably performed the roles in the first two movies. Even so, Franco finally proves that he is an actor worthy of praise after all, at least in these films. His character has more range than before. Grace and Church’s performances are great, delivering subtlety and quiet sadness in their very short and few scenes. Another great performance comes from Bryce Dallas Howard as Gwen Stacy, Peter’s lab partner. Unlike most of her other film roles, she is vamped up as the beautiful and smart blonde.



The world that Peter Parker lives in may never be normal and permanently free of danger. That is the beauty of these Spider-Man films, in that it is a reflection of the everyday struggles of regular people striving to be happy and stay happy to the best of their abilities. That is why the first two films were blockbusters.

With Spider-Man 3, another fantastic trilogy is complete. Assuredly more sequels are being planned, but whether or not the actors or director involved will come back is yet to be seen. Regardless of the outcome, Spider-Man 3 is a great and satisfying film that bookends these incredible stories of a humane superhero.