A spidery review

It's too early to start thinking about September, isn't it?

Spider-man 3 was a farce. I've been seriously looking forward to the release of a film that has my favourite villain in it : Venom. The first act plods along and suffers from exactly what many comic fans say has plagued the web-spinner in the comics over the last 5 years : things are too good. As a character, Spider-man works best when the odds are against him and life sucks. The viewer/reader can relate to him. There's little envy over radioactive spider powers - Peter Parker's life is just as messed up as our own. In the first act, things are just a little too good. The Gwen Stacy kiss just makes him come off as a jerk, which is fine as Peter has lessons to learn over the course of the film. However, the lessons are supposed to come from the symbiote experience (Act 2). Thus, Peter's actions with Gwen contradict everything the first two films taught us about our hero.

The second act itself I found hysterical. In particular the phone call scene in the hallway of his apartment building. More cookies please!! The build up with the costume and the clever way of integrating Eddie Brock were pleasing. This is where the film needed to go. Yes, Peter ends up utterly emo, but I actually found it amusing.

The third act is set up like something straight from the disastrous Batman and Robin. I won't say anymore about it as the action itself is quite cool. What this film needed to save itself was to completely eliminate the whole Sandman character and plotline (which ultimately results in some of the worst scripting I've heard from a film in years). Think if you will, whether you liked the film or not, as to whether editing out all the Sandman and related scenes would make the film better. It's blatantly obvious that this would result in a better film.

What saves the film from being a total trainwreck? Harry Osborn and Venom. I love all the scenes with Harry. James Franco did a great job with the character arc and really redeems the film. I also enjoyed the CGI with Venom. I think he looked great and the battle between him and Spider-man was well played out. If you took out Sandman you could devote a little extra time to illuminating why Venom is such a scary foe for Spider-man and play out some of Harry's arc over a little more time.

Overall a 6.5 out of 10.