By Edwin Hopkins
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Super

 “It’s me,” Peter Parker confidently conveys to the audience, swinging across the screen in the beginning of Spiderman 3. As if we don’t know the character by now.

Aspiring actress Mary Jane unfortunately, has hit an all time low. Her latest performance in a musical is not exactly hailed as the greatest and the critics let her know it (guess she should’ve stuck to straight acting). She feels overshadowed by her love’s popularity.
Harry Osborne still blames Peter for his father’s death despite attempts by Peter to convince him otherwise. He refuses to even talk to him about it. If you have seen Spidey 2 and the trailers for the third, you already know what Harry has in mind for his “best” friend.
If director Sam Raimi, Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst and James Franco had already signed for a fourth installment in this money making franchise, Spiderman 3, most likely, would have turned out much differently- and better. On that same token, If Raimi and cast had not returned it would’ve been a lot worse. Trying to achieve parity within a super hero movie between the principle good guys and bad guys can be difficult and The Evil Dead director faced the same problem Brett Ratner contended with for X3: The Last Stand. Trying to balance too many elements at once.

Raimi’s script, co-written by brother Ivan and Alvin Sargent does manage to break up this would be monotony with some of the best action/fight scenes in the franchise. Supplemented by even more dazzling special fx than the previous two movies from companies like Evil Eye Pictures (Pirates of the Carubbean: At World’s end) and Furious FX, battles between Spidey, Sandman, Venom and the New Goblin make Spidey 3 worth seeing alone.

I expected more of a back story or some kind of origin regarding the alien symbiotic that literally seizes Peter Parker’s body seducing him towards the dark side, ala Star Wars. From what I had read, astronaut John Jameson was supposed to accidentally bring it back from a space mission. Instead, the thing just drops from the sky like the blob back in 1958. You have no idea where it’s from or exactly why it decides to bond with our hero.

Three new faces were added, providing multi-storylines that, I’m sure drove out the symbiote tale. Most interesting was Topher Grace as Eddie Brock, Peter’s cocky rival at The Daily Bugle. He actually got to shed his good guy -That 70’s Show image. It was good to see him play a baddie. He did quite well although die hard comic fans probably thought he was all wrong for the role of Venom because of his physique. Next is Thomas Haden Church whose performance in Sideways was brilliant. His turn as Flint Marko aka the Sandman is not bad either. He’s graced with a backstory that fosters your empathy. Finally there’s the adorable Bryce Dallas Howard as the bleach blonded Gwen Stacy, rival love interest to Dunst’s Mary Jane. And what a rival she turns out be getting to replay a certain intimate scene with the web-slinger during his appreciation day.

Obviously the most intriguing and fearful aspect is Peter’s gradual change. Tobey Maguire lacks luster in some spots, but convincingly evokes Parker’s bad side which had always been there in the first place. All the aggressive mannerisms, actions, etc. he and his friends experience, just needed to be coaxed to the surface. He’s still Peter Parker and as this change progresses, you realize why most of us should stick to being ourselves leaving other types of behavior subdued basically because it looks ridiculous.

If there is a fourth chapter to Spidey, it won’t be the same without Maguire, Dunst or Raimi at the helm. Tobey is ambivalent about returning and Kirsten has already clarified that she won’t return unless both her co-star and director do too. The franchise itself has many more stories to tell. I just hope that the stories can be as absorbing as the action.

By Joe De Matteo

Solid

If you're a die hard fan of this new series, you're going to love this film.  I, however, can't believe what I see here, someone dropped the ball.  This could have been a HUGE film, and that makes me wonder, who the hell makes the final decision that this is the product that will be presented to the world.

Well, that's how it plays for me.  It's like that Woody Allen movie where he's directing a film blind, no one knows he's blind.  All the scenes they're seeing are terrible, but everyone figures he knows what he's doing.  Now director, so and so was a character in a comedy film, so I can understand that it happened there, but what the heck happened here.

Didn't someone, at least some ONE, say, hey, this needs something; it's not working as well as it should.

Here is what I want.  I want you to go see this Spider-Man 3 and write a review and send that review into me.  Not 2 lines, or even 5, but a real review. You're going to have an opinion, write it down like you're talking ot me, and send it in to me.  I'll publish it here,maybe.

By Alex Fung

Pathetic

I had a chance to see an advance screening of the last (hopefully) of the spiderman franchise movies. I'd like to start by saying the first movie might
be the perfect comic book popcorn muncher. The second left me with a bad taste in my mouth, and I'm not talking about the popcorn. The third... lets say I'd let Venom (a spiderman villian with one of the biggest followings.. but doesn't even get mentioned by name in the movie) eat my brains before I see it again. [I promised my GF I'd see it again in IMax with her after she told me she couldn't join us... I think I'd rather watch "The Notebook"]

Everything else
          -More musical numbers than a Disney movie w/ dance numbers (No.. really.. at least two songs sung by Kirsten "I'm falling apart" Dunst, a "We're hip... lets dance to The Twist" scene, and two "dance/ strut your stuff " scenes by Tobey "I richer than God and never need to work again" Maguire.

          -James Franco as Harry Osborn... from the beginning had big shoes to fill with William Dafoe as his father/ villainous predecessor but just lack luster... ( i guess next to Kirsten's acting.. that's still better)

          -Sandman could have been cut out completely (think... Batman and Robin... move villains and less plot makes sucky summer blockbuster). Why do we need a villain with a sappy story line? (Sorry Thomas Haden Church... but you need a good actor to pull that off a villain that you feel sorry for... i.e. William Dafoe) Why can't we have a bad guy who.. surprise... is a bad guy? (Not to mention that Sandman can fly now)

          -Emo-Parker?!? really? come on!

          -oh.. and the total disregard for the "With great power, comes great responsibility" premise... its replace "We all have to live with our choices"
WTF!?!?! The entire Spideman Mythos of Consequences and Responsibility... get replaced with "Eff it!... " and "Deal with it!"

    the best way to describe it.... It's garbage... plain and simple...