Spider Man 3 review

I went to go see Spider Man 3 with a couple of my female friends who aren't afraid to be seen at a superhero movie. I figured they just liked Tobey Maguire, but they both denied it. Must be true, then.

Most of the reviews I've seen of SM3 panned it, some pretty badly. It seems to me that it does its job very well, stuffing as much action and twists in as possible, while advancing (though by the two steps forward / one step back method) the relationship between Peter & MJ. The story certainly doesn't fit the canon - for example, Gwen Stacey is Peter's rebound girlfriend after he & MJ split up, rather than being the original girlfriend snuffed by the elder Green Goblin; or Venom showing up at the same time as the Sandman, a villain introduced much earlier in the comic. Those sorts of twists do keep the comic reader guessing. I'd wondered in the first one whether the Goblin was going to kill MJ, since that was the fate of Gwen Stacey.

The special effects were stellar, with both the Sandman and Venom being rendered in great detail. I don't know if I quite bought Thomas Haden Church as the Sandman. He did grow on me as the movie progressed. Topher Grace as the slimy photographer out for Parker's job was a good pick, though I always get him and Maguire confused. Not in this movie, I mean, but in shows in general. Kirsten Dunst was hot, as usual, though having her do musical numbers was a bit much. I guess it was in furtherance of the plot, right? Yeah, right. Finally, Billy Campbell had a great bit, but I'll leave that for the viewers' pleasure.

So, they've mixed up generations a bit, and they've resolved the Goblin storyline. They've had the professor (I've forgotten the character's name) a number of times in the movies, so I'm wondering when they'll finally get one of my favorite villains, the Lizard, into the mix. There are a bunch of good candidates from the old days, including some cross-overs:

• Electro - Zap guy, who'd probably work very well with CGI.
• The Kingpin - He was the big bad in the Daredevil movie, but he was originally a SM villain, I believe.
• The Punisher - Yes, he started out as a villain. To have him, though, you'd probably need...
• The Jackal - And therein lies a problem, as part of the Jackal's motivation was Gwen Stacey's death. Still, he was a great villain.
• Kraven the Hunter - He's kind of a lion tamer / big game hunter. He probably won't translate too well.
• Doctor Doom - A staple of the Fantastic Four, but he tangled with Spidey a number of times.
• Hammerhead - Now that I think of it, this guy was really a Dick Tracey villain gone bad (or wherever villains go to get worse). Someone who attacks with the top of his head isn't likely to get much respect, either.
• The Rhino - Speaking of attacking with your head...

Yeah, that about exhausts my memory of those villains that were around while I was reading Spider Man. I'm sure I could check on-line, but why? It's a good enough list as-is.

So, I'd recommend seeing this movie, especially if you're a comics geek, or are a recovering one. It isn't as fresh as the earlier two, but frankly, Defoe and Molina made really compelling villains, and that's what really makes things interesting.