Too caught up in the hype

In the publicity frenzy leading up to the release of this film, star Tobey Maguire was quoted as saying that the Spider-Man franchise would not survive without himself, Kirsten Dunst and director Sam Raimi. While that may well be true, on the evidence of Spider-Man 3, you’d have to question whether the series is worth saving.

To say that this film is bizarre and overblown (not to mention excessively long) would be a massive understatement. Spider-Man 3 positively waddles onto the screen, a bloated parody of its progenitors – a lazy problem child born to high-achieving parents.

We catch up with Peter Parker a.k.a. Spider-Man (Tobey Maguire) pretty much where we left him at the end of Spider-Man 2, in love with M-J (Kirsten Dunst). But he’s also still being pursued by Harry Osborn (James Franco), who’s discovered and developed some of his father’s toys to become “Goblin Jr”. Meanwhile, two new threats are emerging – escaped convict Flint Marko (Thomas Haden Church) becomes caught up in a strange experiment and emerges as the Sandman; and ambitious photographer Eddie Brock (Topher Grace) is after Peter’s job at the newspaper. It’s not all smooth sailing for Peter and M-J however, even though Peter is considering marriage. But when he is exposed to an alien symbiote, Peter undergoes a change that could mean the end of Spider-Man.

The problems start early on, with three of the most hackneyed devices in the writer’s armoury – the meteorite containing a strange alien life form, the proposal gone wrong and the bump on the head causing amnesia – all making an appearance. From there, it’s downhill as Raimi seems to lose control of the narrative material in favour of ever more elaborate (but ever less realistic) special effects.

Along the way however, he somehow also manages to go down far too many blind alleys. These include a totally out-there homage of sorts to Saturday Night Fever that segues into an even more oddball sequence that wouldn’t have been out of place in The Nutty Professor (either the Jerry Lewis or the Eddie Murphy versions, take your pick); and an equally bizarre meant-to-be-funny-but-isn’t scene involving Raimi alumni Bruce Campbell as a John Cleese-style French maitre d’. There are also plotlines left woefully unresolved, characters left undeveloped and coincidences far too convenient to sustain credibility.

But perhaps the biggest disappointment here is the transformation of Spider-Man, or more accurately Peter Parker, himself. The film is supposedly about his struggle with his “dark side”; but we actually get to see little of that. He becomes increasingly arrogant, even before the appearance of the famous black suit, and frankly doesn’t seem to change very much by the end. In addition, it’s difficult to accept the internal struggle premise when the cause of the struggle is something external to the character.

On the plus side, the action sequences are excitingly staged, and the special effects (mostly) spectacular. There are also some neat moments – a cameo by comic book creator Stan Lee; J K Simmons’ excellent appearance as newspaper editor J Jonah Jameson and a quite amazing physical transformation involving one character.

Amidst all the action sequences, the acting becomes secondary. Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst are undoubtedly still the rocks of the series, but they both looked like they were phoning in their performances here. James Franco fares a little better as Harry; but like Thomas Haden Church, a personal favourite, and Topher Grace has only limited opportunities.

So what about the future of the series? The ending of Spider-Man 3 leaves enough ambiguity for another instalment, but whether fans will stay with it after this muddled effort is debatable. Raimi seems to have run out of interesting ideas, papering over the script’s considerable cracks with more extensive action. Perhaps this is an aberration, but there’s little here to suggest that Spider-Man deserves another go-around.

David Edwards

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Spider-Man 3

Our rating:

Director: Sam Raimi
Cast: Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Topher Grace, Bryce Dallas Howard and Thomas Haden Church
Release: 3 May, 2007
Rated: M

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