Film review: Spider-Man 3

I thought I'd try my hand at writing a film review. I certainly watch plenty of them, so here are my thoughts on the film I watched last weekend: Spider-Man 3.I will begin by saying that I am a big fan of the first two films, especially the second. Simple stories; snappy action; an appealing central couple of Tobey Maguire's Peter Parker and Kirsten Dunst's Mary Jane; memorable and slightly tragic villains; and a believably awkward and ordinary hero all made the Spider-man franchise a success.Let's take those elements in turn. The story in Spider-man 3 is too complicated for its own good. One storyline sees Peter Parker's relationship with Mary Jane deteriorating, as Peter's growing ego and Mary Jane's Broadway flop put a strain on things. Another strand has Peter Parker develop a rivalry with a new photographer, Eddie Brock. An alien creature that attaches itself to those with negative energy becomes involved here too, with the emergence of a new villain, Venom. A third storyline involves another new villain called the Sandman, who is an escaped convict trying to gather the money to cure his daughter's disease by robbing banks and the like. A fourth storyline follows the friendship/rivalry of Peter Parker and Harry Osborn, son of Willem Defoe's villain from the first film. All these storylines compete with each other rather than blend into the overall plot. It's a familiar problem: in trying to do so much, the film ends up doing little of anything. It also swells the length of the film to an over-long 2 and a half hours.The action in this film is similarly uninspiring. An opening chase sequence at night is so frantic and poorly lit that it's tough to make out what's happening; and the climactic battle lacks momentum, mainly because it just feels like the customary battle stuck on at the end, rather than a natural conclusion to the film's tale.One aspect of the film that works quite well is the central relationship, in which Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst do some good work. Maguire is amusing and plausible as the geeky Parker whose head is a little swollen at the public adulation, meaning he isn't paying attention to Mary Jane's unhappy situation. Dunst does a good job of conveying the frustrations of a Mary Jane whose career ambitions come undone and who feels neglected by her boyfriend. The relationship receives a couple of big jolts along the way, with James Franco's Harry Osborn excellent as the third member of an emerging love triangle. He exhibits the greatest emotional range, with great affection, dark humour, determination and savagery in equal measure.
Unfortunately, the villains, who take up a lot of the screen time, are exceedingly weak in this film. The Sandman character is not at all engaging and is very uncharismatically played by Thomas Haden Church. The revelation of how he gained his superpowers is so bad that they ought not to have bothered. The Eddie Brock/alien creature storyline, though, is possibly the worst-handled aspect of the film. The Venom villain emerges late, and his motives are poorly explained.Peter Parker himself goes through a change, discovering his dark side through the alien creature, which amplifies his vengeful feelings about Uncle Ben's murder. Sadly, though, the dark side isn't very dark and so not really worth doing. If you want to see what happens in the Peter Parker-Mary Jane relationship, this film may, just about, be worth watching. However, the resolution will leave you feeling cheated. If you enjoyed the pace and lightness of the first two films, don't go to see this ponderous and clumsy effort.