Date: May 5
Location: Muvico Boynton Beach
First, the good part. Our Muvico is open, and it's very nice. It's literally 5 minutes from our house and we didn't have any problems parking or getting in. In fact, we were the first people in the auditorium without even waiting on any lines. We will be going to this theater for a long time to come (especially in 2 years, when Fiona will be eligible for the kids' room). Now for the bad part: the movie. There were all kinds of elements here that could have been assembled into a good film, but they would have had to start by not trying to include every one of them. Three villains (four, if you count Dark Spidey) is way too much. I wish they had given Topher Grace a lot more screen and plot time and just scrapped the Sandman altogether. And why is it that the evil alien goo turns Peter Parker into John Travolta? I expected so much more from the team behind the wonderful first two films. The summer blockbuster season starts off with a whimper. Bring on Jason Bourne!
6 comments:
While I agree that Spidey III was no II, I was not disappointed in the film. I think you got your money's worth in action and I thought the plot was interesting enough, though admittedly darker than the predecessors (by design). I thought Peter doing Travolta was a welcome light moment in the movie and it made sense given that the goo exaggerated characteristics lying under the surface, in Peter's case, ego and cockiness. It was interesting to me that, in cotrast to Viper, Spidey didn't really become "evil," just self-absorbed, cocky and thoughtless, all traits he was showing in a more subtle way before he became infected. I thought Sandman was a GREAT character and disagree that he should have been deleted from this movie. He was worth it not only for his complexity, but also for the great line of Spidey after his first entanglement with Sandman (something like Where do these guys come from? as he pours sand from his boots. While, again, this film was no II and maybe not even on par with I, it was not a Godfather III or even a Return of the Jedi type trilogy disappointment. Nor did I see the type of fall off I saw in the Xmen or Matrix. At the end of the day, I felt Toby was great as always, Dunst was also great...really the whole cast was great. effects great. movie was too long, but I wasn't bored, just concerned about Daniel who was cowering in a corner with his mom after being severely affected by Spidey/Parker turned bad.
Dana said most of what I feel about this Spidey. I enjoyed this one the least of the three, but that's because the other two explored much of this territory already (Doc Oc was certainly a multi-faceted "bad guy," as was the original Green Goblin). Still, I enjoyed the addition of Gwen Stacy, and Sandman seemed like the quintessential comic strip antagonist. My favorite scene in the film was when he attempted to pick up the locket with his daughter's picture, only to have it initially sift through his "fingers." How technology plus Haden Church made sand seem despondent, I don't know, but it was movie magic for me. Personally, I would have axed Venom (Viper?), since he wasn't developed nearly as well as Harry's Goblin or the Sandman. In the end, however, you need to have the reunion between Harry and Peter, as they fend off the combined forces attempting to harm their beloved MJ. So, all in all, I enjoyed the film, and I think Clay is being waaaayyyy too hard on it.
I agree the initial Sandman moments were effective. They could have made him the primary villain instead. Either one would have worked, but trying to pull off both led to neither working. And don't get me started on the New Goblin plotline, from the silliness of Harry becoming overnight as skilled at high-speed flight as Spidey to his strange amnesiac behavior to probably the worst moment in the film, when the butler steps into the frame and clears up the whole festering "I must avenge my father's death" plotline with two lines of dialogue. As for Gwen Stacy, where did she come from and where did she go? Did Peter have feelings for her, as evidenced by him hiding her existence from MJ and inviting her to recreate the famous kiss? If so, why does she just disappear halfway through the movie? The humor in the first two films was perfectly integrated. Here it felt forced and bordered on parody. The disco dancing was the biggest culprit. Jameson haggling over a camera in the middle of the climactic fight was another. The scene that worked best in that vein was Bruce Campbell's great cameo as the French maitre'd. I enjoyed Topher Grace's performance and as I said, I think the film would have been better had they singled him out and better explored that character. But it, too, was ridiculous in its details. Alien goo happens to land 20 yards from Spider-Man? That's the whole premise of this takeover? I know it's a comic book, but at least try to make it somewhat believeable. The action scenes weren't very memorable, especially in contrast to the great fights with Doc Ock in the second film. Nothing here came close to the elevated train sequence in that film. The first chase with New Goblin looked and felt like something out of an ADD-inspired video game. Overall, I found Spider-Man 3 about as effective as the third X-Men film (and nowhere near as good as the second). But because this series has thus far been such a standout, a drop-off like that is amplified.
....Sandman was great, not just at the beginning, but even more so at the end. Great last scene with him. And of course Peter didn't really care for Gwen. She was part of his what was feeding his ego. This is why he seemed so genuinely perplexed by MJ being jealous. The kiss wasn't about romance to him. It was about his self absorption as Spidey. As for humor, I thought the whole restaurant ring scene was very funny, while being poignant at the same time.
I agree we could have lived without goo or Viper, although I think it added interesting dimension to the movie (at least as it affected Spidey). And as for the coincidence of the goo landing, yes, Clay, it is a comic strip and this is no more far fetched than the fact that Superman occasionally finds himself near Kryptonite. Let's not take all this too seriously, now.
I think, unfortunately, you had your hopes way high up after the amazing II and there was really no where to go but down for you. Your ranking of this at the bottom behind such relatively mediocre fare as Music and Lyrics and Meet the Robinsons shows the depth of your disappointment, but not the quality or lack thereof of the flick. Oh and, let me guess, as opposed to Sophia adoring the better ranked Robinsons, I'm assuming your movie mate for Spidey hated the film as well?
This conversation was moved to private e-mail, to avoid such ugliness in public. Dana eventually admitted that he hated the film and said he liked it only to appease Amy. Amy has yet to rank the film, or any movie she's seen this year.
Hey! I said no such thing!
Though Clay did privately admit that Alex's loud grunting sounds of displeasure during the entire film may have distracted a bit and influenced his rabid hatred of Spidey III.
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