Retro Film Review: Spider-Man 3 (2007)

Experience has taught us that it is usually the third instalment when the film series starts its downward trajectory. There are many such examples, and one of them is provided by the immensely successful and influential cycle of Sam Raimi's Spider-Man films. In 2007, Spider-Man 3, the third part of the superhero saga, proved to be the end of what had been one of the most spectacular successes of Hollywood at the start of the 21st Century.

The plot begins with Peter Parker a.k.a. Spider-Man (played by Tobey Maguire) enjoying his status as a New York City hero and having a blissful relationship with his beloved girlfriend Mary Jane Watson (played by Kirsten Dunst), whom he intends to marry. However, it doesn't take long for Parker to see his life going very wrong. His relationship with Mary Jane becomes complicated due to the collapse of her acting career, as well as the presence of young billionaire Harry Osborn (played by James Franco), who can't forgive his former friend for his father's death. Meanwhile, Flint Marko (played by Thomas Haden Church), a criminal responsible for the death of Peter's beloved Uncle Ben, escapes from prison, and, due to a freak accident with a particle accelerator, transforms into the unstoppable sand monster Sandman. Finally, there is also a sinister black symbiotic substance from outer space that grants miraculous powers but also increases aggression among people, including Peter himself.

The secret to the success of Spider-Man, both in the original comic books and the first two films in the trilogy, lies in its combination of a story about a superhero endowed with miraculous powers and everyday romantic, school, and similar problems faced by a protagonist who, beneath his costume, is still a young man with whom ordinary people can easily identify. This is why the 2002 Spider-Man was looking unusually human and down-to-earth compared to Hollywood's other special effects-laden summer blockbusters.

However, in the second and especially in the third instalment, the effort to make Spider-Man a film more "significant" than an ordinary summer blockbuster has rendered the film too long and unconvincing. What should have given legitimacy to Peter Parker's story—youthful problems with his girlfriend—has turned into soap opera material, and many scenes feel as if they have fallen out of textbooks about Hollywood clichés. To make matters worse, many of these scenes unnecessarily occupy space and time that would traditionally be filled with less lofty but genre-appropriate action in a Hollywood blockbuster.

To make things worse, the script for "Spider-Man 3" reveals the filmmakers' fear that this might be the last film in the series or that a new Spider-Man film will likely be made with a new team. This was supported not only by Tobey Maguire's statements after the premiere, but also by the obvious lack of chemistry in Maguire's scenes with Kirsten Dunst, who is just as worn out as her character.

The authors—who are avid fans of the source material—attempted to compensate for this by including as many characters from the original comics as possible; thus, in the film, there are not one but three high-calibre villains (four if you include the "crazy" alter ego of Spider-Man). And when there was room for them, they decided to insert Spider-Man's comic alternative/rival love interest—Gwen Stacy, whose character, played by Bryce Dallas Howard in a thankless role, mainly serves as a punching bag.

For all these reasons, Spider-Man 3 is not only disappointing but also overly long, leading many comic fans to wonder whether Raimi's approach would have been more suitable for a mini-series format. In the end, Spider-Man 3 was successful at the box office, but critics were significantly less enthusiastic, which rubbed not only hardcore fans, but also on Raimi himself, who ultimately gave up on the fourth sequel.

The Spider-Man saga instead of a sequel got a reboot in the form of the 2012 film starring Andrew Garfield, which itself will be rebooted in a roundabout way by adding a new incarnation of Spider-Man, played by Tom Holland, as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Captain America: Civil War.

RATING: 4/10 (+)

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