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Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane Watson
and Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker star in
Spider-Man 3. Photo courtesy of Columbia
Pictures |
Goodbye,
story. Hello, action.
Spider-Man 3
has more mid-air fights, web-slinging aerials and Spidey
villains than the first two movies combined, and the action
sequences are spectacularly well done. The trouble is the
story, or lack thereof. Whereas the first two films were
burdened with too much whiny melodrama, this time there’s no
plot at all, which leaves the movie disjointed and without a
smooth, flowing narrative.
One problem is the
unfathomable number of characters. Of course,
Peter/Spider-Man (Tobey Maguire) and his beloved Mary-Jane
(Kirsten Dunst, whose teeth look awful) are back, as is
Peter’s loving Aunt May (Rosemary Harris). There’s also
Peter’s former friend Harry (James Franco), who wrongly
believes Peter killed his father, the Green Goblin, and
wants revenge.
If writer/director Sam
Raimi and co-writers Ivan Raimi (his brother) and Alvin
Sargent had concentrated on this central storyline, and
added one new villain, this would be a better film. But
aside from Harry’s “New Goblin,” Spider-Man must fight
escaped convict Flint Marko (Thomas Haden Church), who
becomes the “Sandman” after falling into a particle testing
facility full of sand. Peter also gets infected with a
mysterious substance that heightens Spider-Man’s powers yet
clouds his judgment, and he must deal with a rival new
photographer at work, Eddie Brock (Topher Grace), who will
eventually become the film’s third villain, “Venom.” And
there’s also the police captain’s (James Cromwell) daughter,
Gwen Stacy (Bryce Dallas Howard), whose presence is
completely irrelevant aside from annoying Mary-Jane because
she has a crush on Peter.
As a rule, sequels have
to be bigger and better, and at 140 minutes this is by far
the longest and most action-packed installment of the
trilogy. But at what price? Raimi has crammed so much into
the movie that it feels more like a Spider-Man grab
bag than the supposedly closing chapter of the
ultra-lucrative franchise.
If you’re of the “I don’t
care; I’m just there for the action” camp, that’s fine. But
bear in mind that one reason action scenes work is because
the story is suspenseful and we care about the well-being of
the characters. Because we aren’t involved with the
characters in Spider-Man 3, the action scenes (though
awesome to look at) lose part of their impact because
they’re not happening for a purpose.
It is for this reason
that the fight between New Goblin and Spider-Man is the best
in the film. Yes, other sequences are more visually
dazzling, but this is the only action scene in which we know
why the combatants are fighting and genuinely care about the
outcome. It may have taken two movies to get to this point,
but to see the friendship torn apart over a misunderstanding
is both heartbreaking drama and wonderfully entertaining
action.
Don’t make the mistake of
thinking this is where the saga ends. There will certainly
be a Spider-Man 4 (with or without the main cast) and
it will undoubtedly have even more elaborate action
sequences and visual effects. Hopefully by then the
filmmakers will figure out how to strike a balance between
story and spectacle, something they have not mastered for
any installment of the trilogy to date.
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Spider-Man 3
**1/2
Directed by Sam
Raimi. Screenplay by Sam Raimi, Ivan Raimi and Alven
Sargent, based on the Marvel comic book by Stan Lee
and Steve Ditko. Starring Tobey Maguire, Kirsten
Dunst, Thomas Haden Church, Topher Grace, Bryce
Dallas Howard. Rated
PG-13.
**** A genuine
must-see
*** Entertaining
** Mediocre but
not worthless
* A wretched
waste of time
Also opening in
Miami-Dade County this Friday: Gringo Wedding,
Lucky You, Offside. |
