Authorized newspaper of Fort Lewis, Washington
If “Spider-Man 3” was the first “Spider-Man” movie, it would be the best “Spider-Man” ever.
The action sequences are knockouts. The cast, led once again by Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst and James Franco, is in fine command of its various roles. Director Sam Raimi’s affection and respect for these characters and their situations is apparent in every frame.
And yet …
And yet, this isn’t Spidey’s first outing. (See that “3”?) And unlike the previous two movies, there’s a sense that this time Raimi & Co. may have gone to the well once too often.
Till now, “Spider-Man” movies have been “wow” events. As in: “Wow! We haven’t seen that before.” But now, after two of them, we have.
You get a feeling Raimi is trying too hard to top himself this time around. The fight scenes, full of high-in-the-Manhattan-skyline webslinging acrobatics, are a little too over the top and numerous. By the time the big brawl that is supposed to wrap things up rolls around – you’ve got a damsel dangling from a high place, screaming; you’ve got villains pounding Spidey to jelly – you might find yourself saying, “What? Again?”
Haven’t we already seen a damsel dangling? In fact, yes. Hasn’t Peter Parker aka Spider-Man, already had the stuffings whomped out of him? Again, yes. A time or three.
Also, with what amounts to three villains taking turns using poor Peter as a punching bag, the scent of overkill is strong in the air.
The new villains, Sandman (Thomas Haden Church), a shapeshifting golem made of tons of grit, and Venom (Topher Grace), a black-clad nemesis with a mouthful of nasty fangs, have to have their origins spelled out. This takes time, and it makes the movie feel cluttered.
It’s hardly a waste of time because it helps to humanize the villains. That’s always been the series’ strong suit. Spidey’s baddies are not cackling madmen. They’re tormented souls, and their torment makes them interesting.
It’s torment that makes Peter Parker interesting as well. In the first picture, he was tormented by feelings of dweeby inadequacy. Spider skills helped him to overcome that. In “Spider-Man 2,” the torment comes from understanding that with his Spider powers came great responsibility to use them wisely. In “Spider-Man 3,” all conflicts seem to have been erased. He’s in love with the girl of his dreams, Mary Jane Watson (Dunst), and more important she loves him back. He’s in the top of his class at college. Best of all, New York adores him. Whenever he appears, crowds applaud. “They love me!” he rhapsodizes.
He’s a happy camper. Content. Optimistic. And just a little boring. It takes a while (too many adoring crowd scenes), but Raimi and credited co-writers Ivan Raimi (the director’s brother) and Alvin Sargent (he also wrote “Spider-Man 2”) take care of that.
Peter loses the affection of M.J. when his sense of contentment blinds him to her distress over being fired from a big Broadway musical. He’s once again targeted for death by his one-time best friend Harry Osborn (Franco), who still blames him for causing the death of Harry’s dad, the Green Goblin. Riding a rocket-propelled surfboard and hurling pumpkin bombs, Harry means to put his old pal in the ground.
And then some mysterious black goo from outer space gets hold of him and turns him to the dark side. In the grip of the goo – nasty tentacled stuff – his ego swells, his anger rises and his libido goes into overdrive. Also, his Spidersuit turns jet black. Very cool.
Oh, and one more thing: His inner Travolta is unexpectedly unleashed. That would be the Travolta of “Saturday Night Fever.” Spidey’s got the strut. He’s got the dazzling dance-floor moves. He’s got a clingy black suit – not the Spider kind, but rather the disco kind – that signals to one and all: Here comes the stud.
Maguire, whose performances in the other “Spiders” have been remarkably restrained, glories in playing a swaggering bad boy. It can’t last, of course. Spidey is goody-goody at the core, and no amount of alien glop can permanently change that. But during the time he’s walking, and webslinging, on the wild side, Maguire and “Spider-Man 3” finally find an arresting groove and work it for all its worth.
And when they do, “Spider-Man 3” finally takes off.
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