Conventional wisdom be damned, Spider-Man 3 is not the worst of Spider-Man series so far. That distinction belongs to the awkward and uninspired original Spider-Man flick. What Spider-Man 3 is, is a bunch of good, even inspired moments and set pieces cobbled together in such a way that they almost make sense; giving us the illusion that we’re watching one film rather than three unrelated movies all projected on the same screen at the same time. The many competing plot lines of this third Spider-Man picture have barely anything to do with one another, other than that they incidentally involve some of the same characters.

In the marketing of this film most of the noise being made was about the addition of Eddie Brock / Venom. He was the hook to get all the excitable fan boys talking on their internets. Also, a lot was made about the special effects for Sandman as well as the addition of Bryce Dallas Howard as Gwen Stacy. Lost in the mix was James Franco as the less flashy third villain, who was just a rerun of the Green Goblin from the first one.
Therefore I’d say it’s ironic that the New Goblin story arc is the heart and sould of this movie and the only part that consistently works. And it’s not just because the Goblin vs. Spider-Man fight scenes are perhaps the best of the series either. The character is just intriguing; he’s charming while dangerous, he presents the most palpable danger to our hero, his fight scenes are the most visceral and there’s a psychological edge to Harry / Goblin’s adversarial relationship to Spider-Man because we’ve got two films worth of history. Franco plays nearly the entire film wearing the same shit-eating, school boy grin that manages to work both as endearing or sociopathic, depending on what the scene calls for.
There are none more surprised than I that the performance by James Franco (an actor so bland that I was previously unaware of his existence) is the standout but there’s no doubt in my mind that the film is at its best only when he’s on screen.
Besides the rivalry between Peter Parker and his best friend / mortal enemy there’s also plot lines about trouble with Mary Jane, trouble at work with some new hot shot competition, two super-villains to fight, a new romantic interest, Aunt May pops up to provide some much needed boring filler and embarrassingly syrupy dialogue / Forest Gump-esque platitudes. The movie veers between action, melodrama, dance sequences, romantic comedy, and slapstick absurdity. It’s a busy chaotic mess cobbled together awkwardly with ridiculous plot contrivances, outrageous coincidences pulled out of either thin air or some screen writers ass, and a factory assembly line of deus ex machina.

And it’s also consistently entertaining and a lot of fun. The considerable backlash against this film has less to do with a drop in quality from the first two films and more to do with the fact that the public has begun to take movies about Spider-Men way too seriously. And I say that as a superhero fan and life long comic book reader.
The other two villains do fine except that they’re practically superfluous. Topher Grace and Thomas Haden Church are both excellent actors but they’re relegated to background characters. In particular Topher Grace as Brock / Venom just seems redundant next to Franco who also plays a rival threatening to supplant our hero. The biggest difference is that Harry Osborn’s hatred towards Spider-Man actually makes sense within the context of the film. As a character Venom is really just a plot device thrown in to give our characters something to do in the third act. And the effects that bring Venom to life are lame. The CGI grin plastered across his face is only a fraction better than the infamous Green Goblin mask from the first movie.
At least Thomas Hayden Church as Sandman gets some neat effects as well as a cool moment or two especially at the end. But he’s really barely a villain.
Honestly I feel less like a defender of Spider-Man 3 and more like an apologist. I recognize that this film, in particular the screenplay, has huge problems but the truth is that those problems just didn’t significantly hinder my enjoyment in the theater. Who cares if the film barely makes sense from minute to minute; or if the origins for both major new villains are insultingly preposterous? It’s not like I came to the theater hoping for an informative lesson on the physics of sandman-ology so that I can avoid that sort of thing happening to me. In fact a guy walking along only to fall into the middle of an underground nuclear reactor is exactly the sort of contrivance that would’ve been right at home in the pages of a Stan Lee / Steve Ditko issue of Spider-Man.
That’s not to say that none of the problems count for anything. In particular, fan loathed Kirsten Dunst seems fed up and bored. And Tobey Maguire doesn’t do much better, of all the super powered characters he’s the weakest link. I never thought of Maguire as the ideal choice for Peter Parker / Spider-Man and this film is the last straw (he’s a weak link and a last straw). I’m glad he wants out. But that said; all of the bitching about the excessive screen time devoted to their romantic woes is misplace in my humble opinion. The romantic antagonism actually works fairly well in parallel with the antagonistic relationship between Peter and Harry which is the heart of the film. I didn’t care much about Mary Jane’s stupid and self involved problems but I did like seeing Harry exploit the situation to his advantage. And yes, that goes double for them doing the twist. I love that scene.
Spider-Man 3 is a troubled film but every single quality that made Spider-Man 2 such a success is present here, even if they were fewer and further between.

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