Director Report Card: Sam Raimi (2007)

12. Spider-Man 3

While the behind-the-scenes mechanics of mid-2000s superhero movies must seem quint compared to the vast cinematic universes that get planned out years in advance now, Sony clearly still saw “Spider-Man” as a franchise that could run for years. Before “Spider-Man 2” even came out, the studio had set a May 2007 release date for a third installment. Running high on parts one and two's blockbuster success, Sam Raimi would remain in the director's chair. However, the executes would begin to meddle. Marvel would insist Raimi insert the hugely popular black suit storyline into the film, despite the director being disinterested in it. The sequel's enormous scope would briefly make it the most expensive movie ever made, with similarly massive box office also following. Despite that success, “Spider-Man 3” would derail the franchise in such a way that it would take years (and two separate reboots) for it to truly recover.

Peter Parker is feeling uncharacteristically good about himself. Spider-Man has made the city safer and he's considering proposing to Mary Jane. That's when all the shit hits all the fan at once. Harry Osborn finally follows in his father's footsteps and becomes the new Green Goblin, seeking revenge on Peter. He's forced to fight his friend, temporarily giving him amnesia. It is revealed that Uncle Ben's killer is actually a man name Flint Marko. Marko has recently escaped from prison and, after stumbling into an experimental science project, gained the ability to shift his body into sand. Meanwhile, a strange black sludge attaches itself to Peter's body and begins to affect his personality. M.J. is driven off by his new attitude. He even looses his job at the Daily Bugle, to cocky start-up Eddie Brock. Spider-Man is surely going to face his greatest challenge yet.

Superhero movie sequels have a bad habit of shoving too much stuff in as the series progresses. It's an understandable impulse, as the comics provide an enormous amount of lore and filmmakers must be eager to get to it all. “Spider-Man 3” obviously falls victim to this superhero sequel bloat. The trilogy capper finally wraps up the Harry Osborn story line that had been brewing since the original. It introduces Sandman for Peter to tangle with. A greatly abbreviated version of the Black Suit Sage, with Peter wearing the alien symbiote suit that then spawns Venom, is also included. We aren't even done yet, as the sequel also introduces Gwen Stacy as a rival love interest to M.J. Worst yet, the film makes almost no attempt to integrate these divergent storylines. The Sandman plot will be temporarily resolved, so the Harry plot can take precedence. This is then paused, so the Eddie Brock/Venom plot can moved to the front. Things come together eventually but plot points are still forgotten for long stretches. It's truly feels like three story ideas smashed together in the most awkward fashion possible.

With so much happening, you'd think “Spider-Man 3” wouldn't mind building organic ways for all these story lines to connect to Peter and his friends. Instead, the script falls back on a series of hideously dumb retcons. The worst of which is the sudden revelation that Uncle Ben wasn't killed by the Burglar in the first movie but by the Sandman. It's a desperate attempt to connect Peter to a villain that has otherwise nothing to do with him. It also manages to fuck up a portion of the original, suddenly changing the impact of those early scenes in “Spider-Man 1.” If less blasphemous but equally stupid is the way, near the end, that minor characters are suddenly revealing vastly important information. The Osborn family butler, previously the most minor of minor characters, tells Harry plot-breaking information that he should've mentioned two movies ago. The final battle is so convoluted that it falls on news reporters to summarize its events. Sloppy, sloppy stuff...

Of the tangled mess of subplots that is “Spider-Man 3's” story, it's evident the symbiote story line is the one Sam Raimi is the least interested in. Peter gaining a spiffy new suit that makes him more powerful but slowly compromises his morals is a classic Spidey story... That hit comic shops two decades after Sam Raimi stopped reading. It's clear Raimi's idea of “Peter with compromised ethics” is very different from anyone else's. Instead of slowly pushing his crime-fighting tactics too far, this symbiote just makes Peter into a big goofy asshole. He becomes a cocky shithead. He openly flirts with the landlord's daughter and Betty Brant, while still ostensibly dating M.J. He struts like a douche everywhere he goes. In the film's most rightfully mocked moment, he performs an impromptu dance number while on a date with Gwen Stacy. Not only is it obvious that Raimi wasn't interested in, didn't understand, this story... He was actively making fun of it. Which is pretty disappointing for comic readers who are fans of this particular plot.

If you look at Raimi's film as a trilogy, the main plot of this third installment obviously should've been Harry Osborn's evolution into a proper super villain and finally coming to blows with Spider-Man. He's the first adversary to appear in the film and the only one whose emotional arc truly ties in with Peter's. Yet the script even handles that in a really goofy way. Harry is given amnesia early on, so the movie can go and focus on its myriad other conflicts. Yes, a major motion picture was using the ol' “bumped-on-the-head, loose your memory” plot device in 2007. The possibility that Harry is faking the whole thing as part of a villainous scheme is teased but his condition is quickly confirmed to be the real deal. As dumb as this plot point is, it's still one of the more entertaining parts of the film. Watching James Franco ham it up as a more lovable version of this character is amusing. Honestly, seeing Peter get his carefree best friend back is rewarding and a nice change of pace in an otherwise maudlin film.

It doesn't last long though, as Harry soon gets his memory back and returns to his quest of vengeance against Pete. The first thing he does is make Mary Jane break up with Peter, forcing her to lie and say she's dating him instead. Sadly, that level of overheated romantic melodrama is present all throughout “Spider-Man 3.” Remember how cute and charming Peter and Mary Jane's relationship was in the first movie? Even though Peter is acting like a selfish prick in the film's early scene, having Mary Jane only react to her boyfriend with scorn and annoyance does not endear her to the audience. Kristen Dunst's performance seems to float around that same level of perpetual irritation. Naturally, the movie turns the character into a damsel-in-distress yet again before having the two work out their differences and get back together. Even without the alien goo corrupting his mind, you really get the impression Peter and M.J. should split up anyway. Bitterness and resentment has already taken root in this once delightfully playful romance.

The action was the highlight of “Spider-Man 2” so, surely, there's at least some neat fight scenes in the third film, right? Yes and no. Many of the fight scenes are nicely acrobatic. The first scuffle between Peter and Harry features the two swinging around each other and dodging in and out of tight alleyways... It also features some shocking janky green-screen effects, as Maguire and Franco grimace at each other while being awkwardly placed in an artificial, CGI environment. It's that way for most of the film. For every scene that utilizes the characters' superpowers in neat way – Spidey literally cloths-lining a foe with some webbing, the Goblin projecting flames from his hover board – there's another where our heroes and villains stand in place and trade computer-generated blows with each other. The action highlights of the film are probably Spider-Man's daring rescue of Gwen Stacy from a crane accident, which features similar thrills to nice sequences from the last two movies, and the fight with Sandman in the subway.

In fact, I suspect the main reason Raimi chose the Sandman as the third film's primary antagonist is because of the special effects opportunities. A villain that can transform into a limitless amount of shifting sand lends itself very well to cool visuals. HeSuch as the first sequence where Sandman pulls himself back together. Or a daring daytime bank robbery, where he creates a massive sandstorm in the streets of New York. Raimi essentially gets to insert a giant monster movie scene into the middle of the film with that one. Since he's made of sand, Spider-Man can punch straight through him or grind his face against a moving train and not threaten the movie's PG-13 rating.

Yet, for all the neat moments he produces, Sandman is the film's least interesting villain. He's given a sappy backstory, stealing money in order to take care of a sick daughter. Sandman frequently had sympathetic aspects in the comics, so that's not too far of a change. However, the sickly little girl stuff is so maudlin in execution, even if it only ends up occupying a few underwritten scenes. (That was clearly a subplot that largely ended up on the cutting room floor.) Thomas Haden Church, a wonderful performer who probably would've been delightful hamming it up as a comic book villain, gives a largely flat and emotionally constipated performance. He's still not the weakest new addition to the cast. Bryce Dallas Howard, another very talented actor, is totally wasted as Gwen Stacy, an iconic comic character shoved into this plot just for the sake of a cheap and underwritten love triangle.

Which brings us to Eddie Brock and Venom. Being but one of the film's many subplots, Eddie Brock's own journey is greatly abbreviated. The bond he shares with the discarded symbiote suit, the two beings united by their hatred of Peter Parker, isn't given much room for expansion. (Raimi barely treats the symbiote like a character, contributing to the problem.) The personal grudge he has against Spider-Man and the unique threat he poses, such as immunity to Peter's spider sense, is ignored due to the character being shoved into the back of the film. Mostly, this version of Eddie doesn't resemble the comic book original much. No matter how much muscle he packed on, Topher Grace doesn't resemble the hulking illustrated Brock. A complicated man who hid his self-hatred and cancer diagnosis through bodybuilding, Grace mostly plays Brock as a petulant and pathetic wannabe. The character is reduced to his least interesting elements: An evil copy of Spider-Man with pointy teeth and a long tongue.

Truthfully, Venom should've been saved for a fourth “Spider-Man” movie, perhaps after being introduced in this installment. In fact, Sandman probably shouldn't have been in this movie either,  operating largely as just another physical threat to Spider-Man. Honestly, the entire movie should've been devoted to Harry Osborn taking up his father's Goblin-y mantle and finally seeking revenge on Spider-Man. (The film attempts to connect the two villains with a theme of forgiveness, which could not be more ham-fisted.) By forcing this plot to share room with so many others, it's left underwritten too. And it certainly doesn't help that the so-called New Goblin design is so uninspired. Harry looks, not like a goblin, but a snowboarder. There's not much intimidating about that. If not letting the younger Osborn become the Hobgoblin or another related character, he should've at least gotten a cooler costume.

While Raimi's first two “Spider-Man” movies remain generally beloved among superhero cinema fanatics, consensus on the third film is far less unanimous. Critical reception was divided, with most agreeing the movie was an overstuffed mess. Fan reaction was outright hostile in some parts of the net. Over the years, there have been some attempts to reclaim “Spider-Man 3” as a misunderstood gem. Raimi himself wouldn't buy that. During a 2018 podcast interview, he himself referred to the film as “awful.” While I don't hate “Spider-Man 3,” it undoubtedly exacerbates many of the issues I had with the second film while shoving in enough plot for two or three films. [Grade: C]