Spider-Man 3 Weaves Tangled Web Posted by: Joe Tracy, Publisher

In this installment, life seems great for Peter Parker. He’s getting ready to propose to MJ and the people of New York love him. Life’s great! But what goes up must come down, and in the matter of a few minutes, Peter Parker’s alter ego is battling old and new forces alike.

It seems filmmakers these days feel that the ingredients to creating a better sequel are “more of everything”. No matter how many Batman & Robin movies they see, they still have this underlying belief that audiences want to see “more heroes,” “more villains,” and “more stories.”

Spider-Man 3 suffers from TMC syndrome – Too Many Characters. Multiple heroes and multiple villains can only bring down a sequel in a movie series that is known for focusing on strong character development. The more villains and heroes you have, the less time you have to develop those characters. It’s a lot like the movie Batman & Robin, which failed fans because too many villains and heroes detracted from telling a really good story (plus the dialogue was cheesy).

By having so many stories, the filmmakers missed a prime opportunity to develop the story of Flint Marko (aka Sandman), which has a touching and emotional premise (his sick daughter who he wants to help). But because of so many concurring storylines, we are left with teasers into what could have been a great story.

Another fundamental problem with this installment of the Spider-Man franchise is that the filmmakers decided to completely change the impact of the original Spider-Man movie by saying someone else killed Peter Parker’s uncle Ben. Changing that storyline is a slap in the face to the original film and the impact that story had on the film. Are the filmmakers running out of ideas already that they have to alter storylines of earlier films in order to tell another story?

In the original Spider-Man movie, we saw Peter Parker face a strong internal struggle that made us really feel for him. The filmmakers decided to repeat that struggle in Spider-Man 3 by exploring the dark side Spider-Man (via Venom), but the impact of this struggle is never felt like it was in the first film. In fact, the whole Venom storyline and character is a waste of space in this movie and only drags the film down. It creates several sub plots in a movie that lacks a central focus.

But it’s not all bad with Spider-Man 3. The Sandman visual effects and story are incredible and every time Sandman enters a scene, the movie immediately picks up. The film is also still a visual feast and has its moments of greatness. In fact, Spider-Man 3 is one of those movies that you like, but you can’t quite figure out why because there are so many problems with it. It’s a tangled Web, but one that sticks nonetheless.

Pros
- Excellent visual effects
- Good storyline with Peter’s friend, Harry
- Has some humorous moments
- Despite many problems, still has likeable feel to it

Cons
- Been there, done that feel
- Too many “main” characters
- Altering of original Spider-Man story to tell new story
- Peter’s internal struggle not as engaging as his struggle in the first movie