Spiderman 3

*Before reading this rambling, be sure that either A) you have seen Spider man 3, or B) you have no interest in seeing the movie, because I will spoil part of the plot line for you. So, consider yourself forewarned.


Like many of you I'm sure, I saw the third installment of the Spider man movies. I have been looking forward to this film quenching my thirst for the Spider man story to reach a new level, yet I left still wanting to order a Vault to fill that need.

I felt that Spider man 3 fell into the same trap that Batman and Robin did. That problem was having too many characters and thus too many story lines. What I saw was essentially two Spidey movies crammed into the time they had for one. When I was in my comic book reading days my friend Jason introduced me to Venom, one of the baddest villains around. I quickly grew found of Venom and loved his storyline, even when it appeared to fight for good rather than evil. Venom was a twisted character and one tough dude and he hated Spidey. This movie did not give Venom his justice. And rather than leave themselves open for a, dare I say it, a fourth Spider man film focusing more on Venom, they killed him off. To me, a lot of potential died with him.

The whole Sandman character, to me, seemed kind of forced on us. It seemed that the character was thrown in there to either fill up space, or try to force another threat on us. To me, I feel there could have been stronger characters to put in the movie instead of Sandman, some more powerful Spidey foes. I would have liked to see Peter Parker's professor, Dr. Curt Conners, be written in to take his role as the Lizard. If a fourth movie is done, maybe that's the way they will go.

As I mentioned, Venom and Sandman were the two main villains, but the movie starts off by Harry settling his score with Peter, and then Peter knocks him out and that results in Harry losing his memory. How convenient. It's not like Spidey could have three enemies at the same time, right? And as if that weren't enough they introduce the black Spider man, sort of the evil alter ego of the friendly neighborhood Spider man. Again, the story line is jumbled enough as it is. Then of course there is the strained relationship between Peter and Mary Jane Watson.

Two movies could have easily been made out of this film. One movie could have dealt with Harry and Sand-Man, and then the other could have centered on the love story and Venom (as wella s the black Spider man).


Here is my hope for the fourth movie (if there ever is one). Carnage needs to be brought in. He is the toughest and most vicious of all the Spider man villains I think. And since Venom was already written off, Carnage would be the next best thing. I would have had Spider man and Venom fighting each other first but then have them team up to take out Carnage, but then again, I'm not a Hollywood writer am I? I wish another hero could be brought in, like Ghost Rider or Dare Devil, but the fact that those characters have been in their own movies surely will prohibit form that happening.

There were some excellent previews before the movie though, including Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer and the latest Harry Potter film, both due out this summer. And the popcorn wasn't too bad either. If you like the Spider man movies, you should still see this one, however I remain thinking that the original is still the best.