Finally got to see Spiderman 3 tonight and it was...all right. Clearly a step down from #2, but really that one left the bar a little too high for anything to go over it.
The major problem I had with the film was that chemistry between Peter and Mary Jane seemingly vanished in this film. Part of what made 2 so great was because you truly felt the strong bond between them and you were vested in seeing what happened to them. This time, their love feels hollow and you're left uncaring about them being torn apart. Part of it I blame on Dunst, who seemed to phone it in here. Part of it, is on some uncharacteristic actions on both their parts early on that seem to be there to create problems in their relationship, yet the motivations behind them aren't explained. The most telling aspect of how I viewed Peter and MJ's relationship between this film and the last is through the female side characters. Characters like Ursula, Pete's neighbor, and Miss Brant, the newspaper secretary in 2 appear to me like threats to the relationship, whereas in this film they seem like appealing alternatives.
The relationship storyline unfortunately sacrifices screentime for the film's top-notch villians. And with three of them this time, their appearances are even more limited. When they are there, the film is great. There are a number of tremendous action sequences that appear to leap right out of the comic books. One interesting note, though, is that once again the villains are made sympathetic. We have yet to see a villian in the Spiderman series, who is just outright evil. That point, aside, Thomas Haden Church works well as the lumbering Sandman and his visual effects are just awesome. Topher Grace is just fantastic in the film and really deserved to have his character be more fleshed out.
On top of the great action, I was pleased to see some returning favorites. Of course, Aunt Mae, Jameson, Dr. Connors, and Ditkovitch are all back doing wonderful jobs in their small roles. But we also had cameos from Stan Lee (in a speaking role this time) and Bruce Campbell. Bruce's appearance is one of the highlights of the film. Perhaps, most important of all, Maker's Mark made it back for its third appearance. I was getting worried when there had been two scenes involving Harry and alcohol and it wasn't there. But it finally showed up in a blink-or-you'll-miss-it cameo.
Overall, a good start to the summer movie season, but there's certainly room for other films to top this one. B
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