Escape to the Movies: You Are Wrong About Spider-Man 3

Casual Shinji

Should've gone before we left.
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Jul 18, 2009
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Holy fucking shit, that new Spider-Man movie must be the worst damn thing in the world if it has you remembering Spider-Man 3 in any positive way.

I love the first two Spidey movies, but the third is terrible in every way no matter what angle you try to view it from.
 

tyriless

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Aug 27, 2010
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It's nice to see a different take on Spider-Man 3, even if I don't entirely agree with it. However, on most points I am totally with you. Peter Parker, or at least this incarnation of him, is a massive dork. It made perfect sense that he would be trying way too hard to be cool and I liked everything right up to the Jazz sequence.

For me there are three unforgivable flaws this film committed which allow it to earn it's reviled status.

1. The Mary Jane dumps Peter to save him. This was tired cliche by the time this occurred and it is handled so poorly. Peter weeping like a crushed child doesn't help either. Seriously, Peter is Spider-Man, why doesn't she just tell him, "Hey, our mutually crazy friend is trying mess with us, go punch him the face." or "Hey, I don't really mean it, Harry is just making me say this, sorry to make you weep like an 6 year old with a skinned knee."

2. Uncle Ben was really killed by Sandman, but it was totally an accident. This IS as bad as Batman's secret Joker origin. Worse even, because the original scene was perfectly handled, and this goes back and retroactively ruins it. Even worse yet, this is completely unnecessary. Just have the Sandman show up at a robbery and hurt one of Peter's friends. Boom: motivation.

3.The entire 3rd act. Seriously, it's terrible. The film by this point just goes by the motions, ticking off everything that happened in Spider-Man2, just done worse. Mary Jane get's kidnapped. Goblin Jr. learns he has the world's worst butler, that his dad was really the jerk, and he get's a last minute change of heart. However, the worst part about is, that the film resolves nothing about the Peter and Mary Jane relationship.

Like I said before, I appreciate a defense of this film, especially with all the dull-witted attacks that get dumped on it. Not everyone who dislikes this film is an idiot, but a majority of them really can't be bothered to say anything more than make a gay or emo Peter joke. However, despite it being a disappointment I will take watching this over Amazing Spiderman any day of the week. S3 is failure that could of been prevented had Raimi insisted on a rewrite and was able to fend off studio interference. Amazing Spiderman is a cynical cash grab made just to keep the license going.
 

Zontar

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Feb 18, 2013
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Ashoten said:
Zhukov said:
I'm so cool and independently minded that I didn't like any of the Sam Raimi Spiderman movies.

Seriously though, when I heard people talking about them years after watching them I was shocked to hear them referred to as "great" and "classics".

I'm pretty sure they lost me with the first movie in when the villain shows up looking someone wearing a mascot costume and commits villainous acts that consist of riding around on a hoverboard throwing grenades.
Your right. Bob is trying to retcon history here. No one ever took the Ramey spider man movies seriously. They were still goofy and entertaining now as they were at release.
Wait, you're saying that a guy who was bitten by a spider and then started wearing spandex while fighting crime is supposed to be taken seriously? Someone should have told that to Lee and Kirby.
 

luckycharms8282

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Mar 28, 2009
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Yes, yes, yes. I agree with everything you've said in this review, Bob. Tobey Maguire is and always will be Spiderman to me. New Spiderman looks too much like pre-teen twilight.

The subway scene in Spiderman 2 is still one of the best moments in all of the superhero movies that have come out in the 2000s.
 

vid87

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May 17, 2010
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I get why people were disappointed with it - I was too for the most part, especially when it ended up being the "last one" for this creative team and universe - but I'm starting to hate how people dismiss this outright when the good things, though few, stand out as magnificent. Mainly, why does everyone forget the Sandman origin scene? He's a goofy gimmicky roster-filler from conception, but put him on screen in the right way and he becomes moving and beautiful. That's a miracle as far as I'm concerned.

Also, is it me or between Bob and Jim we as a society are starting to re-evaluate our fanboy rage and give what we thought were "bad" movies leniency. Hell, with Bob Hoskins passing, I found myself asking why people never mentioned Super Mario in his filmography when, in retrospect, he was one of the best things about it.
 

hermes

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Mar 2, 2009
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I guess I accidentally clicked on the Movie Defense Force of this week...

And no, MovieBob. I get that your wound after seeing ASM2 is fresh, but that is no excuse to jump to the defense of Spiderman 3.

That movie is awful... really awful. The way they handled the new goblin is a mess, the way they retconned uncle Ben's death 3 times during the movie is a mess, the whole "can't decide if Peter is awful or cool being bad" is a mess, the way they made Mary Jane extra bitchy is a mess, the ending is a mess. The entire movie is such a mess its comparable with Schumacher's Batman movies in the pantheon of sequels so awful they almost singlehandedly burned a successful franchise to the ground.

This is not about a movie not being campy, this is about a movie that can't decide whether it wants to be campy or it wants to be dark and gloomy, and looking schizophrenic as a result...
 

RandV80

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Oct 1, 2009
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I haven't seen them but I get the impression that the new Amazing Spiderman movie series is corporate packaged specifically targeting today's ADD-orientated youthful audience. Probably why it irritates Movie Bob so much... myself included though since I'm not a movie critic I don't have to see them.
 

Diddy_Mao

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Jan 14, 2009
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The defense of "Emo Peter" is pretty much the exact defense I've been giving since I first saw it.
Yes it's stupid, yes it's hard to watch but it makes sense within the frame of reference for the Peter Parker character and I'll give it a pass. I'd still have preferred Venom to have been left out of the film entirely, but oh well.

I didn't hate all of Spider-Man 3 and everything I did dislike about it comes down to cramming too much into the allotted screen time. The Sandman plot should have been given much more development, same for the Harry Osborn storyline.

One of the things that I loved about the Sam Raimi Spider-Man films was that they kept the central "with great power..." theme through the entire film series. Spider-Man's villain roster is frequently full of street level dudes who suddenly find themselves with powers and then proceed to fail spectacularly in delivering on the "great responsibility."

The Amazing Spider-Man series, on top of failing to provide a tolerable Peter Parker continues to fail at this as well. Yes they came close with the Electro story in AMS2 but given how disjointed his plot is, it's hard to chalk that up as a win.
 

Burnouts3s3

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You know, I've heard the "Peter Parker is not cool" argument before. A lot of fans contest that when John Romita replaced Steve Ditko, that Peter became more social able and was not the nerd Ditko drew him to be, at least not anymore.

So, the question remains is how anyone can say Peter is simply 'one thing' when Spider-man has been going on for so long that different artists/writers/editors, etc. make out to be something different each time. I will contest that Spider-man's origin, i.e. being the indirect force that gets Uncle Ben killed always works because it's a self contained morality lesson that was very in-sync with Ditko's Objectivist viewpoints (i.e. Evil happens because we allow it to happen and will eventually punish your selfishness).
 

punipunipyo

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Jan 20, 2011
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so... you are... reviewing spidy 3? ok... fair enough... I didn't like Garfield as peter too... I think Tobe is better Peter... this new hipster-parker is lame... However, Garfield-spidy is REALLY GOOD! I like the punk-cocky-joker/dissor that he is that ONE SCENE battle in school in Amazing 1, almost remind me of the animation of the 90s! given... the final fight is crap... just angry spidy throwing Super fit... I think what I am trying to say is... Tobe is great Peter Parker, Garfield is Great spidy...and I think SONY REALLY NEED TO be respecting the source material... and really care for their villains... 50% more like the first trilogy
 

Dandres

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Apr 7, 2013
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Called it, and in 20 years we will be talking about how the ASM's are better than what has come out in the next bunch of Spider reboots. Nostalgia raises the appraisal value of everything.
 

Korastus

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Dec 4, 2013
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None of this is surprising. I can count the times I've agreed with ANYTHING MovieBob says on one hand. Spider-Man 3 was garbage.
 

Suhi89

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Oct 9, 2013
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hermes200 said:
I guess I accidentally clicked on the Movie Defense Force of this week...

And no, MovieBob. I get that your wound after seeing ASM2 is fresh, but that is no excuse to jump to the defense of Spiderman 3.

That movie is awful... really awful. The way they handled the new goblin is a mess, the way they retconned uncle Ben's death 3 times during the movie is a mess, the whole "can't decide if Peter is awful or cool being bad" is a mess, the way they made Mary Jane extra bitchy is a mess, the ending is a mess. The entire movie is such a mess its comparable with Schumacher's Batman movies in the pantheon of sequels so awful they almost singlehandedly burned a successful franchise to the ground.

This is not about a movie not being campy, this is about a movie that can't decide whether it wants to be campy or it wants to be dark and gloomy, and looking schizophrenic as a result...
I completely agree with this. I was never a particular fan of either of the first 2 Spiderman movies but I hated Spiderman 3. I hated the romance(s), I hated the many many villains (there were, what, 4?) and I hated everything about MJ. Seriously she came across as so needy and pathetic. The totally ridiculous emo scene was the highlight for me because it was the only part of the film that I didn't find mind-crushingly boring. I payed money to see this at the cinema and it probably shares joint worst cinema going experience for me with Pirates 3.
 

Scarim Coral

Jumped the ship
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Oct 29, 2010
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Wait you thought that was better than the Dark Knight Rises? I thought you liked that or at least think it was ok?

Also danm, I thought the stinger at the end was going to be Bob opinion on the latest Godzilla trailer.
 

Sejborg

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Jun 7, 2010
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Picking Spider-Man 3 over Godfather 3 and The Dark Knight Rises. You just keep surprising me with your reviews Bob. :) Sooo incohesive.
 

Buizel91

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Aug 25, 2008
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Kumagawa Misogi said:
Also Spiderman in comics has been around for 52 years with Peter Parker being a wuss for less than 20 years of that.

The Peter Parker from the Amazing Spiderman films is far closer to what people are familiar with from both the 90's and onwards cartoons were lets face it most people had seen Spiderman before the 2002 film and the comics since the 80's.
^This.

Peter is still the science geek we all know Peter Parker to be, it's just that he isn't the typical "I am Nerdy and can't defend myself geek" like Toby Maguire portrayed.

Andrew Garfield has so much more character than Toby's did. I really think he does an excellent job. It's just the writing and script isn't the best. Which i hope(even though i doubt they will) Sony greatly improves on in the 3rd film.
 

SonOfVoorhees

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Aug 3, 2011
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Have you seen Happy Days? Imagine acting like Fonzi? You would look really dumb because that version of cool isnt what "cool" is today. I guess thats what they were going for in the movie. Personally i think the ASM2 will be a fun watch, same as i enjoyed ASM1 though its not as good as the first two raimi movies. But then im not a die hard Sidey fan. I liked Spidey 3 to a point, just lots of mess in it. From a crappy small venom, stupid flying hover board goblin and the recon death to name three. I lay most of this at the hands of suits meddling in things they no nothing about.

Venom should have been in number 4, that way there was no need to force Raimi to do it.
Why a hover board? I think if he used the same green goblin costume/board as his dad then they would work better, for starters it would have more effect being that peter thought he was dead.
I liked Sandman, but why connect him to Peter? He had his own reason to get money to save his daughter, why make it more personal by having him kill the uncle? So stupid.

Its a shame, but 3rd movies always seem to fail.