Spider-Man 3 (2007)

#1 - 2007 Box Office: Gross $336,530,303

One man will fight to find the hero within

Things are good as Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 3 begins—Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) has finally learned how to balance his personal life and the responsibility of being Spider-Man.  He's actually about to propose to Mary Jane (Kirsten Dunst)—who herself has finally landed a starring role on Broadway—when Harry Osborn (James Franco) attacks.  As New Golbin, Harry attempts to avenge his father's death once more, using equipment he has found in his father's house.  After a blow to the head erases Harry's recent memory, the two become friends once more.  More conflict arises however, with not one, but two more villains—an alien symbiote called Venom leeches onto Peter and makes him stronger while an escaped convict (and Uncle Ben's actual killer), Flint Marko (Thomas Haden Church) gets caught in a particle accelerator and becomes The Sandman.  Marko goes on a crime-spree, attempting to get money for his daughter's medical treatments, and Spidey turns black as Venom turns him vain and vengeful.  Eddie Brock (Topher Grace) and Gwen Stacy (Bryce Dallas Howard) join the adventure; he, a rival photojournalist and she, a new love interest to Peter.  After mistakenly striking Mary Jane, Peter realizes that with the extra power Venom gives him, comes extra responsibility.  He ditches the new suit, but Venom soon finds Eddie and transforms him into a super-villain.  Meanwhile, Norman (Willem Dafoe) appears to Harry and urges him to remember what Spider-Man did to him.  Will Spider-Man be able to face off against all three at the same time?


Trivia (mostly courtesy of the IMDb)

• Set a new record (since broken) with $59,841,919 for its opening day in US theaters
• Set a new worldwide record (since broken) for an opening weekend, with a total of $382 million
• The film's IMAX screenings reached $20 million in 30 days, faster than any other 2D film remastered in the format (at the time)
• Ground corn was used as sand because it reflected well on camera
• All of the screams Kirsten Dunst had for this film were recycled from Spider-Man 2
• The photograph of Mary Jane next to Peter's police scanner is the picture he took of her at the science exhibit in Spider-Man
• The font of Venom's web message is the same font used for the title of the comic, Sensational Spider-Man
• Bryce Dallas Howard performed her own stunts during the crane accident scene, unaware that she was pregnant at the time of filming
• Sam Raimi is the first director to helm all three installments in a superhero franchise. Bryan Singer made 2 X-Men movies and Tim Burton only did two Batman movies. This will change in 2012 when Christopher Nolan completes his Dark Knight trilogy
• Sam Raimi is the first director to helm three installments of a superhero franchise (Bryan Singer and Tim Burton each only made, respectively, two X-Men and Batman movies). This will change next year after  Christopher Nolan completes his Dark Knight trilogy

Yes, I am the best thing about this movie....

It's almost too trite to mention, but once again a superhero sequel tries to add more villains to make a more exciting film.  Unfortunately, more villains means less story dedicated to any of them.  Green Goblin and Doc Ock in the first two films were well-formed characters, each with their own struggle between good and evil.  Here, you get a glimpse of Sandman's good-natured side (he's just trying to help his daughter and he seems to show real remorse for accidentally killing Uncle Ben), but his plotline is crammed into just a few minutes of screentime.  Eddie is an interesting foil to Peter at the start, but he soon turns into a plagiarizing douchebag and quickly becomes this strange alien who still looks a lot like Spider-Man.  The set pieces are pretty boring (Mary Jane in danger again?!) and this film, sadly, introduced us to Emo-Spidey.  I applaud Maguire for his dedication, because there were several scenes that were actually a little painful to watch as he acted smug and aloof.  The story presented in this final part of Sam Raimi's trilogy probably could have made a decent 6-hour miniseries, but with a runtime of 139 minutes, it lacked what made the first two films great—characters you care about, heart and intentional humor. 

Ponch's Rating: