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Spiderman 3 flounders in tangled web of plot complexities
By Danielle Baudhuin
posted 11:25:58 AM CST, May 24, 2007
Three years since audiences last witnessed the trials and travails of Peter Parker, the much awaited Spiderman 3 bursts onto the silver screen, to the delight of arachnologists everywhere. With epic fight sequences, more bad guys, and a new psychological conflict, the movie seems to provide the recipe for instantaneous cinematic success. However, just as too many cooks spoil the broth, so too do too many plot strands ruin a film. Rated “PG-13” for scenes of intense action violence, potential viewers should be more greatly concerned with the shaky cameras and chaotic plot which, among other things, suck the life from any moviegoers trapped in its web.
After the opening credits recap the first two Spiderman flicks with random clips and still shots, the movie begins its long haul into the confusing plotline. First, a mysterious meteor crashes to the ground and a strange, oily black mass springs from the rock. It attaches to Spidey’s suit and turns it black, giving him more strength than ever. Then, audiences discover that Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire, Seabiscuit) and Mary Jane (Kirsten Dunst, Marie Antoinette) are beginning to hit a rocky point in their relationship. In addition to these personal trials, Spiderman 3 brings villains like Sandman and Venom into the fray to plunge the city of New York into chaos. As internal struggles and outside forces push Peter Parker to the brink, Spiderman faces challenges the likes of which he has never known.
Content overload is Spiderman 3’s greatest weakness. Writer/director Sam Raimi, a veteran of the first two films, simply crammed too much into this edition. By bringing in multiple villains to all gang up on Spiderman, Raimi was forced to create a variety of backgrounds for each, thus taking away from Parker’s story. Not only did this create confusion among audiences, but many viewers can expect frustration when they find themselves asking, “What does this have to do with Spiderman?”
This aside, Raimi does an excellent job of incorporating a more “human” theme to the movie. The black suit that Spidey has the option of donning is the epitome of evil human desires; when Parker puts it on, all of his “bad” characteristics are exaggerated to an almost unreal degree. After putting it on, his anger, greed, power, lust, and ego all grow to enormous sizes (not to mention, Spidey turns “emo”). After seeing what this new personality does to those around him, including Aunt May (Rosemary Harris, Spiderman 1 & 2) and Mary Jane, Parker has to make the decision to try and face his demons on his own.
Nothing takes away more from an action flick than poor camera handling. Audiences will find themselves having flashbacks of The Blair Witch Project during certain sequences in Spiderman; apparently, Raimi decided to give some scenes a bit more movement than was already there.
This means that in addition to seeing Spiderman flinging all over, cops chasing the bad guys, and of course, the bad guys themselves, the cameras that are capturing all of the action are moving every which way. Raimi should have avoided this technique of free moving cameras to save viewers from motion sickness.
The exaggerated traits of Parker that are evoked by the strange black substance seem to fill the role of comic relief in the film. First, Parker seems quite agitated and angry. Then, he moves on to a darker side of himself, experimenting with a variety of new hairstyles and wardrobes. From there, Parker becomes Rico Suavé, hitting on everything in a skirt.
Audiences will most likely find this painfully funny, the key word here being “painfully.” The awkward humor actually takes away from the serious nature of the film. Dealing with internal demons by oneself is an important theme, but Raimi shows a disappointing tendency to belittle the matter.
Parker’s internal conflicts provide a new angle to try out on the trilogy, but are inhibited by the excessive external conflicts taking place. Action scenes are done fairly well, but often times hindered because of poor camera shots. Overall, the themes are strong, but Spiderman 3 simply fails to live up to its predecessors. Unfortunately, Raimi’s plot weaves a web of such complexity that audiences will find themselves trapped in their own ignorance.
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Reader Comments:
| This movie is another brilliant addition to the Spiderman series. It provides another side of Peter Parker people have never seen before and allows you to further analyze the character. While the plot may be confusing, so is Peter Parker's life and he himself. The shaking of the cameras only adds to the action of the movie, which no doubt is portrayed through the whole film. Not only is it filled with action but doubles at a sometimes heart breaking love story which most people can relate to and understand. True fans will love it, new fans will want to know more, and and those who do not understand the movie shouldn't be there in the first place. |
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| This film is quite easily the best out of the 3 and probably the best film to come out in 2007. The actors are great, the special effects are brilliant and the story itself is though somtimes confusing is also a lot of fun. I'm very dissappointed to see that this film has gotten so many bad reviews, the problem with most of these film reviewers is that they obviously haven't seen the previous 2 films, because if they had then they'd have nothing bad to say about the script. There were NO questions unanswered, there were no dodgy shots and the plot was not crammed. Overall I give SPIDERMAN 3 a 9.5 out of 10 and I give my regards to the director and to everyone involved in it. |
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