Tries to do too much in one film. (minor spoilers) - Spider-Man 3 Reviews

As a life-long Spidey fan, I loved the first two films - they were thoughtful, well paced, had great character development (especially the villains), and wove intricate yet 'believable' stories that added a very human touch to a comic book storyline. Unfortunately, Spider Man 3 does none of the above. The plot points in the storyline are too contrived and seem to consistently pop out of nowhere. Even for the die hard Spider Man fan, the film really stretches your suspension of disbelief. For example, a meteorite happens to fall right where Peter (Spidey's alter-ego) and Mary Jane (his longtime crush and girlfriend) are stargazing in Central Park; Flint Marko, an escaped con, is running from the cops in some field where he literally STUMBLES into a concrete basin where some random scientists are conducting genetic experimentation (which ultimately turns Marko into the Sandman). When I heard that there were going to be three villains featured in this movie, I was excited but a bit concerned about whether director Sam Raimi could adequately develop their characters. I mean, he did such a good job in Spiderman 2 with Doc Ock, he should be able to pull this one off too, right? Wrong. Among the villains, only the "New Goblin" Harry Osborn has any meaningful character development (and that's because he was in the last two movies). The film mentions Marko's true motives as to his villainy (he's not a bad guy, just desperate), but nothing more; which, is a shame because Thomas Hayden Church did a pretty good job with the lines that were given him. Venom, they completely botched. There was so much potential with the Venom character - an entire film could have been about Eddie Brock and the alien symbiote. Instead, Spider Man's greatest comic-book rival is in and out in an hour, and you really can care less him. Again, it's not the acting, as Topher Grace did his part very well. The whole situation was just rushed. The dramatic undercurrent was pretty good, which really speaks more to the potential this film had. Mary Jane and Peter's relationship struggles were true-to-form, the love triangle angle between the couple and Harry was interesting, the best friends/bitter rivals relationship between Peter and Harry was well executed, and of course Aunt May is still there to give Peter advice (though that's all she seems to do in these films). However, I really did not like the way all of these individual plot lines were resolved at the end of the film. It just wasn't natural, feeling more like a rush to the finish line. And, if this is indeed the last time we see Tobey McGuire don the Spidey suit, this series definitely deserved better than that. The special effects were incredible though - especially the last battle scene, which was amazing from a visual standpoint. And the fight sequences were pretty unique as well. All in all, if you're a Spidey fan, you're going to see this anyway. If you're not, don't expect too much.