By Faith McQuinn
So, I saw SPIDER-MAN 3 this summer. I was all jazzed about seeing this sequel because I really enjoyed SPIDER-MAN. I thought SPIDER-MAN 2 wasn’t so bad, so the third installment has to be just as entertaining, right? Wrong.
Now, five months later, I thought I’d give the movie another try. Who knows, maybe I was just having a bad weekend. Well, no. SPIDER-MAN 3 is still the worst of the trilogy and by far the most boring. I was entertained for approximately 20 minutes, and I think a good ten of them were during the first fight scene between Harry as the Goblin (James Franco) and Peter (Tobey Maguire) sans his Spidey suit.
Most of the movie felt forced and far longer than its actual 140 minute running time. Nothing can kill a movie like your good guy going bad. What doesn’t help is your good guy going bad and wearing eyeliner while sporting a really bad Emo haircut. The bad boy strut down a crowded New York street, though, is quite hilarious.
Not so hilarious is the terrible script. If this movie had been about 45 minutes shorter, I think it may have gotten a little less confused. The action scenes are great—far better than the first two put together. The love triangle (or square, rather) is OK. The slapstick comedy parts are decent, but the balance among the three gets pretty rocky.
No matter how weak the script, SPIDER-MAN 3 definitely looks incredible on Blu-Ray. If you are going to rent it, and you or your friends have a Blu-ray player, watch it this way. Even the boring stills gallery looked amazing.
As far as the other features go, there’s a good mix. The blooper reel made me laugh out loud a couple times. There’s a cute music video with kids doing a stage version of the first two movies. Also, you get two commentaries: one with the filmmakers and one with the cast (all the main people are present) and director Sam Raimi. I didn’t listen to the filmmakers’ commentary, but the cast/director one had a promising start, but plummeted pretty rapidly.
It starts off funny with the actors all introducing themselves and quickly getting off subject. But then it becomes a praising competition. Bryce Dallas Howard can’t stop complimenting Sam Raimi, and then Tobey Maguire can’t stop giving props to Howard, and then Sam is throwing out comments to Kirsten. The noses got a bit brown there. Even with all the over complementing, I learned some interesting tidbits. If Tobey Maguire ever stops acting, I think he’ll become a director. Every time the topic strayed from the movie, he’d bring it back asking questions about the effects and the sound mixing and the cinematography. Also, it turns out Bryce Dallas Howard was pregnant while shooting all those action scenes, and Sam Raimi got overly nervous when dad Ron Howard kept dropping by.
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For a mediocre movie, the DVD is pretty good, so if you liked it in theatres, you might as well go ahead and rent it. If you missed it in theatres, I’d personally say wait until it’s on HBO ... unless you have a Blu-ray player.