Summer Movie Review - Spider-Man 3

The first movie of the summer is out and despite the box office records set, the movie itself is just kind of okay. I saw it on Sunday at the IMAX theatre at Universal City in a packed theater. Happily, for once the chair-kicking and talking people who usually hound me when I go to the movies were blessedly absent.

I found a seat just before the lights went down and the movie began. I don't have enough experience with IMAX to know if this is the norm, but there were no trailers before the movie started (yea!). In the opening credits we see little snippets of the first two movies interspersed within a spider web that basically remind us how we got to this point in the story. I thought this was clever and quite well done, like most of the effects in the movie. The problem for me was that it seemed that the filmmakers put more emphasis on the effects' wow-factor than for their place in telling the story.

The performances were fine for the most part. I still like Tobey Maguire as the nerdy, but endearing Spidey. That said, the ‘evil’ Spider-Man didn’t really work for me. Kirsten Dunst has always been a very bland Mary Jane, and in light of her pissy comments about the films, if there is another sequel the producers should kick her ungrateful behind to the curb and find Spidey a more worthy love interest. The villains (new Goblin, Sandman, Venom) were all rather dull. None were particularly interesting or menacing.

All in all, I can’t say to rush out and see it. If you liked the first two, you may find something to interest you in this one. But I doubt that this film will bring any new fans to the table.