Spiderman 3
During my career as a consulting movie detective, my qualifications for investigating a given movie have, on occasion, been called into question. Take summer blockbuster “Spiderman 3,” for example. What possible credentials would the great-grandson of Sherlock Holmes have for looking into a spider sequel?
More than most . . . the observant student of Holmeses and film will recall that “Sherlock Holmes and the Spider Woman” was the only Sherlock Holmes movie to rate a sequel without its original hero, entitled “The Spider Woman Strikes Back.” Having thus established my bonafides, let us proceed with the case at hand.
“Spiderman 3” has both the makings of a good movie and a rather trite sitcom crammed into its two and a half hours. The good movie is a dramatic tale of revenge and forgiveness. Thomas Haden Church, who started his career in the sitcom “Wings” turns in a serious and solid performance as the Sandman, a classic Spiderman villain. A second sitcom veteran, Topher Grace, does a decent job as that newer fan favorite Venom. And James Franco carries on his role from the previous movies as heir to the Green Goblin’s powers and gadgetry with all the ability he showed in the earlier films. Together, these three villains could very well be the best part of “Spiderman 3,” as director Sam Raimi treats them fairly well.
On the other hand, when Raimi turns his attention to the main characters, Peter Parker (Spiderman) and Mary Jane Watson, he too often strays into a sheer goofiness that’s frighteningly reminiscent of what started going wrong with the Batman series. Peter tries to propose to Mary Jane and sitcom wackiness ensues. Peter gets dumped by Mary Jane, attached to an alien parasite, and starts acting like one of those “wild and crazy guys” from an ancient Steve Martin/Dan Ackroyd “Saturday Night Live” skit. Raimi favorites Bruce Campbell and Ted Raimi are dragged in for doofy bits that could easily have been left out.
In fact, at least a good half hour (length of the standard sitcom episode) could have be cut out of this movie’s two-and-a-half-hour length. Mary Jane sings. Peter Parker dances. Spiderman rescues Gwen Stacey for some comic fan nostalgia’s sake, ignoring the runaway crane and every other victim on the scene, taking off after he’s got Gwen on the ground. Did we need any of this?
Having been so successful with the first two “Spiderman” installments, Sam Raimi seems to have been given such a free hand with this one that he’s begun to abuse the privilege, making one wonder if “Spiderman 4” might head into the self-indulgent realm of such films as “Cannonball Run” and “Lethal Weapon 4”.
“Spiderman 3” is one of those movies that will be wildly successful in any case, based just upon the momentum of its predecessors. But when we look back on it, years from now, it is definitely a movie whose flaws may outshine its strengths.
What Great-grandfather Sherlock would have said:
“Often it was only the smallest trace, Watson, the faintest indication, and yet it was enough to tell me that the great malignant brain was there, as the gentlest tremors of the edges of the web remind one of the foul spider which lurks in the centre.”
Past Investigations