After two solid installments to start the series, it seemed the web-slinger could do no wrong. Director had his cast intact for “Spider-Man 3”, he had a villain picked out, the Sandman and he had decided it was time, even if it was a little late, to introduce Gwen Stacy. Then everything went horribly, horribly wrong.
In the third, and what would ultimately final installment of Raimi’s “Spider-Man” trilogy, both Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst returned as Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson, respectively. “Spider-Man 3” would begin with everything going right for both of them. Peter was in control of his powers and the toast of New York City. MJ was thriving as an actress, but not so much as a singer… yikes.
During a goofy night of star gazing, a mysterious and small meteor crashes to earth and an icky black goo crawls from the space rock. Because Peter and MJ just happen to be nearby, the goo hitches a ride into the city with them. Meanwhile, Flint Marko (Thomas Hayden Church) is on the run from the law. He hops a fence and for some reason ends up in a test facility where some dumb scientists are conducting a particle accelerator experiment. Marko falls into the test site but the scientists think he’s just a bird and voila, he is turned into…Sandman.
So, anyway, the black goo is really an alien symbiote that attaches itself to a host and enhances its strengths. Needless to say, it really likes Peter Parker’s Spidey powers. Good thing too, because Peter is being challenged by a hot shot new photographer at the Daily Bugle by the name of Eddie Brock (Topher Grace). J. Jonah Jameson is willing to give one of them a staff job IF they can catch Spider-Man in the act of being the crook he is. Brock is on it. Parker isn’t happy.
So the symbiote takes over, but really it just makes Spider-Man’s suit black….oh, and it makes him a total jerk. He foils a robbery and embarrasses Brock in the process, which after a bunch of other stuff, gets Brock fired not hired. At this point its best to stop. This is about where the movie starts to get wildly out of control. Gone is the magic that made the first two movies successful. “Spider-Man 3” suffers greatly from a case of too many villains and a very weak script.
The movie culminates with the black goo attaching itself to Eddie Brock to become the villain, Venom and we get yet another bad guy who goes after Mary Jane to get to Spidey. Really though, Peter is too busy moping around and crying. Wow. I haven’t even mentioned the horrible subplot where Harry Osborn, who now knows Peter is Spider-Man, dresses up in a ski mask and goggles and flies around on a jet powered snow board.
“Spider-Man 3” is easily the worst of this series and a dark mark on what has been a great run for Marvel comics characters. It broke several box office records when it was released but the movie just never came together. The acting was bad all around and Raimi’s direction reeked of someone who was forced to included a bunch of characters and story lines he wasn’t in to. Avoid.
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Spider-Man 3 (2007) trailer:
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