"Everybody needs help sometimes Peter, even Spider-Man"
The final part of Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy finds Peter
Parker finally enjoying life. Things are going well for him; he’s top of his
class, closer than ever to MJ and still has time to fight crime as Spider-Man.
If anything Peter has become over arrogant with his all round success and this
comes back to bite him when an extra terrestrial parasite which amplifies the
characteristics of its host attaches itself to Peter and turns his Spidey suit
black. Now more cocky and arrogant than ever Peter has little time for MJ and
they drift apart. At the same time an escaped criminal accidentally ends up in
a particle accelerator filled with sand. The sand fuses with his body and turns
him into the Sandman – Spider-Man’s latest nemesis.
This is generally regarded to be the worst of the Raimi
Spider-Man films but personally I’d put it second, slightly ahead of Spider-Man While there is an enormous
amount wrong with the film, I actually think that the story is the strongest of
the three. I like how the film looks at Peter Parker’s psychological state and
how the alien parasite is able to effect how and who he is. His relationship
with Mary Jane becomes fractured after ending on a high in Spider-Man 2 and this creates plenty of drama and commotion. Add
this to Harry’s ever growing disdain for Spider-Man and you have the makings of
a decent plot. As a result of focussing more on Parker/Spider-Man’s turmoil,
the villain characters suffer a little and the Sandman’s back-story is only
briefly touched upon. Venom is only really seen in a few scenes as an arrogant
up and comer before becoming a super villain.
The overall design is a little bit up and down. I really
like the black Spider-Man suit; it’s much cooler than the blue and red one. The
Green Goblin mark two has a much better suit too and one with which the actor
can convey emotion. Some of the CGI for the Sandman was excellent but a lot of
it wasn’t but Venom looked excellent. Parker’s evil Spider-Man look was quite
funny and didn’t really suit Tobey Maguire. A bit of black eyeliner and floppy
hair doesn’t really make him look very bad-boy and his mincing around NYC,
pointing a women was odd to say the least. For me the film relies too heavily
on CGI in this instalment, especially during fight scenes. My favourite fight
was the one that took place in Harry’s apartment and contained very little
obvious CGI. 
The low point of the film and possibly the entire series
comes when Spider-Man arrives to save the day and while swinging into the
battle stops briefly on a ledge in front of a giant CGI American flag. It’s an
excruciating moment and one that will make every non-US viewer just think “Ah
fuck off”. Perhaps US audiences were jumping off their seats, whooping and
chanting
Spider-Man 3 doesn’t
really have the fantastic climax you’d expect from a trilogy (perhaps due to
the possibility of a forth film) and overall it’s a bit messy but I have a bit
of a soft spot for it. I don’t think it is as bad as many people say but I
can’t say that I’d recommend it over the likes of Spider-Man 2 or more recent super hero films such as The Avengers.
6/10
It definitely wasn't supposed to end the trilogy - I've heard that Sam Raimi was planning on making part 4 with Dylan Baker as the Lizard (which I'd have loved to see). You'e right, this film isn't as bad as it's made out to be, Sandman has always been a great villain and was the right choice, it's just a shame Raimi was lumbered with Venom as well.
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