There was a very funny YouTube clip I found recently, which was a parody of the “I’m a Mac… and I’m a PC” ads Apple has been doing for a couple of years now. In it, Superman and Spider-man banter about and talk about their respective movie franchises. Ah, heck – here it is:
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The funniest line in the video was Superman talking about the planned sequel to Superman Returns… “In the next one, I actually fight a super-villian.” Spot on. The one thing that was sorely missing in Brian Singer’s revival of the man of steel was a non-enviromental threat. Seeing Superman lift lots of heavy things is not that exciting the sixth or seventh time. Now Spider-man’s movies, however, THOSE are exciting, and the fights in Spider-Man 2 was the best super-hero fights ever…
Until the end of Spider-man 3, of course. The movie concludes with a thrilling sequence where Spidey faces two villians as well as tries to rescue the obligatory damsel in distress… It is amazing, and, as oppossed to some movies where you can’t possible imagine what the filmmakers spent their mammoth budgets on, a very significant chunk of that rumored $300 million budget is on screen.
Too bad the movie is wildy uneven getting us there.
Now I want to clarify, like Drew/Moriarty posted on his review at AICN, my feelings are mixed. Unlike Moriarty, I do want to see it again, mainly for the five action sequences. But I know, unlike this first shhowing, I will have no problems identifying when I can take bathrooom breaks, or grab snacks from the concession stand. There’s, unfortunately, PLENTY of time to do such things.
My impression is that Sam Raimi, the director of all three films, felt this was his last shot, and wanted too squeeze as much stuff into the film as possible. Hence we get the Harry/Green Goblin arc, the Venom origin, the introduction of Gwen Stacy, a nice tip-of-the-hat to Superman the Movie, a fantastic Bruce Campbell cameo (“I’m French,” indeed), and two music numbers. Oh, and a Spider-man parade. And a twist to Spidey’s origin story. And so on and so on… It’s like he bought a licensed Spider-Man breadbox, and shoved as much fiber and starch in it that he could fit, and then shoved in even more, and then served it for dinner. Some of it is a delightful pastry, and some of it is day-old bread. It’s hardly bad for you, but not very good for you either.
The action is great, when it comes… but wow, does it take some time to get us there. The pacing is uneven, the film is overlong by at leats ten minutes. I can think of three scenes – one with Professor Conners on the phone with Peter, one with Harry talking to his butler, and one with Venom “teaming up” with Sandman – that are there only to push the plot forward and could be cut with very little impact to the film (and other scenes could be rewritten to “explain” what these scenes told the audience). The previous films at least had some chemistry between the Mary Jane and Peter Parker characters – such chemistry is nary to be seen here (I’ve also heard that the actors have a pretty strong dislike for each other nowadays, which may explain it). The plot is contrived to the point where the coincidences stretch all credibility – and yes, I am aware that the original comics have the same coincidences, but this is not a comic book – you can’t transfer these conventions to a film without some obligatory audience eye-rolling and groaning.
Like I said, I’ll see it agaiin, but the film reminds me of two other “3” movies that ultimately disappointed: Star Trek III and Return of the Jedi (especially Jedi). Each film had it’s high points, but each film also had lots of problems with their respective scripts and pacing. As I said, I will revisit Spider-man 3, and hopefully I will enjoy it more the next time for what it is, instead of be disappointed for what it could have been.