Spider-Man 3: A spider’s greatest villain isn't within, it's corporate greed

We come to the end of a time before the Marvel Cinematic Universe stole the talk when it comes to Marvel movies, and (at least at times), superhero movies in general. Unfortunately, many see it ending more with a whimper than a bang. Views on both Spider-Man 3 and X-Men 3 are mixed at best, but do they still deserve it? You’ll have to wait until Sunday for X-Men’s chance, but for now, let’s see how Sam’s Spider-Man trilogy ended, with Spider-Man 3.

Starting with the plot, while things are going great (overall) for Peter, Mary-Jane is going through a rough patch in her career, which does cause a fracture in their relationship in the movie. At the same time, Harry Osborn has turned himself into a new Green Goblin, sporting his own variations of Goblin Tech (I will admit the snowboard version of the glider does look a lot cooler then Norman’s glider from the first movie), and sets out for revenge against Peter… for a grand total of two fight scenes, a talking scene, and then reappears after becoming more of an anti-hero for the final battle (the joys of memory loss ladies and gentlemen). Encase one “villain” wasn’t enough, there are two more in this movie, the Sandman (who has been retconned into being the actual killer of Uncle Ben, and I, like many, agree that it is a stupid, not necessary retcon), and the Venom Symbiote, an entity that Sony seems to love because of that oh so marketable black suit. Though it bonds with Peter for a large chunk of the movie, fracturing his relationships even more due to the personality changes that come from it, closer to the end of the movie it bonds itself with Eddie Brock Jr. who in this timeline is a competing photographer at the Daily Bugle. As a result of the new Goblin, Sandman, and Venom, the movie does feel crowded and needed more time to breathe. Ideally, what would have worked (potentially at least) was to introduce the Black Suit this movie, and then have Venom be the main villain in a potential “Spider-Man 4”. But seeing as a fourth movie never happened due to Sony being Sony, we can at least be thankful that it was dealt with and there weren’t any cliff-hangers.

I do like the idea of one hero against multiple villains. The problem is that you either have the villains pre-established or have one villain be the big bad and the others just as grunts. With this movie, I can see the potential of a compromise, with the villains just being Harry and Sandman, but the problem comes down to Sony’s desires for Venom. Why are they so fascinated by Venom? It seems to cause them nothing but pain. Seriously, how long was that Venom movie in development hell for again? The only way I could see Venom’s inclusion working was if, again, he was introduced here, and became the villain in a fourth movie. The ideas are here, and are great ideas, leading to some nice payoffs near the end of the movie, but they’re rushed.

For the cast, this was a great movie to go out on as the performances are excellent in this movie. I’d even argue that with… “That scene”. For those who don’t know, as Peter becomes more addicted to the Black Suit’s powers, his actions more and more “strange”. You know how you as a teenager probably had that “oh please stop, what do you think you’re doing?” moment when your parents tried doing something cool by modern standards? Imagine Tobey Maguire doing things like that for a scene of the movie. As much as people hate it, I can’t bring myself to call it a flaw with the film because, after watching all three movies recently, it does come off as a thing that Peter Parker would do when he’s trying to be cool. I will also admit the Jazz club scene was very impressive in terms of choreography. In terms of weak links in the cast, I’m not a fan of Topher Grace as Eddie Brock, and he does kind of get worse when he becomes Venom. Thomas Haden Church as Sandman though is a nice pick for the role. He pulls off the “good guy who did bad things” character very well, but again, he didn’t need to be retconned into being Uncle Ben’s true killer.

In terms of the production, anything I could say about it already has been said. The presentation is great visually, with the one exception being an overly long use of shaky cam for a part of a scene, but the major battles like Parker vs. the new Goblin, along with the final battle, do make up for that by huge amounts. The blend between CGI and Live action is also a lot more seamless here. Not perfect, movies nowadays are still struggling with that, but it’s harder to spot the splits unless you know anything about how technology works. The biggest crack is the Sandman, as it seems like the bigger he gets, the less realistic he looks. By comparison, when the effect is just parts of him being blown off or when he’s waking up for the first time after the science experiment that turned him into Sandman (for it is always science…), it looks fantastic and was an excellent shot in terms of direction. No words, just music, and the actions of the character showing his thoughts. On that matter though, once again, this is an excellent soundtrack.

Is it the worst of the three movies? Yes… but that doesn’t make it a bad movie. I still really enjoyed it overall. It’s a “worse by default” situation rather than a label of its quality. It’s honestly a shame that we never got a Spider-Man 4, but at the same time, because we didn’t, we did get Spider-Man Homecoming. Some have said that they wish this trilogy was retroactively put into the MCU, and I can see why because of how well these movies have held up. Easily still worth watching even up to almost two decades later. As for right now though, or at least for in a few days, it’s time to make our Last Stand with X-Men 3.