Spider-Man 3 (2007)

They say the 3rd time is the charm.  Never has that saying been more true than with the very great and amazing Spider-Man 3 (not to be confused with The Amazing Spider-Man 2.  That's a film coming out this summer, but it is in a very different series.  Also, it has a different number at the end.).

It's so easy to forget that, prior to the release of Sam Raimi's Spider-Man in 2002, nobody expected a superhero film to be very good.  Before that release you literally could count the number of superhero films on one hand that were actually decent.  The good ones were Tim Burton's Batman, Richard Donner's Superman, and the halfway-passable original X-Men film.  Honestly, nothing else was even remotely good (though the argument could be made for Superman II).

Then Spider-Man came on the scene, and the superhero film came into its own.  It captured the character from the book faithfully and with great entertainment.  Following that success was Spider-Man 2 (2004), which kicked all the action and greatness of the first film up a notch.

But simply being faithful to the books and entertaining wasn't enough.  In 2007 Sam Raimi decided to knock the training wheels off and invest everything into giving us the biggest, most spectacular superhero movie since Batman & Robin.

Everything about Spider-Man 3 is an exercise in excellence!  Just by way of contrast with lesser films we see how this one shines head and shoulders above the crowd, like a shimmering, gossamer star in the cinema firmament!

• Lesser movies invest deeply into the origin of one villain, telling his/her story and ratcheting up the tension for the hero.  Spider-Man 3 is so boss that it can crowd THREE bad guy origin stories into the plot!
• Lesser sequels care about continuity and being faithful to the story already established.  Spider-Man 3 knows that the drama is so much more compelling if you contradict the story the previous films told.  After all, why would Spider-Man want to stop Sandman if he had no personal reason to hate him?  And why would the audience think Sandman was really a bad guy if he wasn't the guy who actually killed uncle Ben?
• Lesser movies think that when you have a character beloved by the fan base, such as Venom, great care should be taken to make him just as powerful and terrifying as he is in the comics.  Spider-Man 3 rewrites the rules, showing us how great a villain can be!  It completely overhauls Venom, removing the creepiness, scariness, and ultra-violence.  Without those things, the audience can better relate to Venom as a wounded soul.  
• Lesser films think that evil is best demonstrated by depicting violence, theft, or calloused depravity.  Spider-Man 3 shows us that an evil influence is shown even better by gothic-emo dance routines.
• Most superhero films have the hero overcome great odds to beat the villain.  Spider-Man 3 does one even better, having the hero need help from the bad guys to beat the bad guys.
• The average action film simply has exciting explosions, thrilling chase scenes, and high-wire tension to entertain the audience.  Spider-Man 3 is so far above the ordinary action film!  It does not need the ordinary conventions of movie-making!  It does't take long before a stupor of greatness descends on the viewer as we try to take in all its magnificence!

What more can I say?  Spider-Man 3 is the Gone With The Wind of superhero films -I for one really felt like Rhett Butler by the end!  The acting is an exercise in perfection, the screenplay is as well-written as it could be, and the direction is perfectly passable!  It is everything one could want from a superhero movie sequel -more bewildering action, more characters that can be made into toys, more bad guys, and an unwavering faith in the forgiveness of the fan base.

Entertainment: Spider 10/10
Artistic Value: Spider 10/10
Technical Merit: Spider 10/10

Overall: Spider 10/10*








*To calculate the value of Spider numbers, simply multiply the Spider value by 10, subtract 99, multiply again by 5, add 3, and then remove 87.5% of that last figure.