SPIDER-MAN 3, is it better than Star Wars Episode I- The Phantom Menace, we'll find out today.
This film was hyped for the better part of three years, I have seen it four times, never spoiled it for me beyond the TV spots and trailers, and never picked up the book, but is it the best, and how does it compare to The Phantom Menace? Well, that's why I'm here.
Overall, Spider-Man 3 is a great film, when taken at face value it stands above its previous, older brothers, if you will, and shines as the best Spidey film, but that's only at face value. Spider-Man 3 is by no means the best Comic Book movie of all time, but it does feel the most comic bookie, it is better than X3, DareDevil, and Elektra, but, well, that's an easy one.
The film is filled with too many odd coincidences. Even the black suit is all one major coincidence, but I'll get to that later. Peter's head getting bigger, and his internal challenges really shine in the film, his arc with MJ progresses in a natural progression. The Spidey festival and how Parker acts with Gwen shows how much of a jerk he is becoming, and slowly he begins to neglect the people around him.
Harry's arc finally comes to a head in this film, and we see the young Osborn at his worst, or is that his best? I dunno. His short term memory loss was a great addition and it felt like I was reading an issue of Amazing when that happened, it felt completely in place in a world like Spidey's, and Harry is truly the most developed villain in the third entry, his character makes up for the many flaws of its other villains.
Harry's death and his final good-bye are truly heart-tugging, and the addition to his memory loss early on just adds to the depth of the man's journey and Peter's only real friend.
Next up, the Sandman, a villain that I never cared too much about, this film intended to add a much needed depth, and certainly succeeded, somewhat, this is where the film starts to fall apart, not enough time is given to the characters, and Sandman suffered for this, this also brings up one of the most controversial matters of the film; Flint being Ben's real killer.
That's fine and dandy with me, and since I don't care what any of your opinions are on the matter, oh well. There's no argument here. Spidey and Ben's relationship, aswell as Peter's morality never really phased me, personally I think he needs more of a spine. I remember in S2 when Harry slapped him, I screamed, in the theater, for Peter to smack him back. Ah, good times.
This is where the Phantom Menace succeeds, none of their characters are wimps and doesn't mess with the fabric of pre-existing continuity, point to Star Wars.
Flint could have been taken more seriously if he had more screen time, we're given only ONE family moment and are meant to accept that for the rest of the film, we get no real journey with the character, and it's a true shame, since he killed Ben and all, he sort of deserved some more screen time, this also makes since for Peter, his path of forgiveness in the film called for him to forgive Sandman, rather than kill him, as he did with the first guy in SM1, who was innocent, and it was clear that Peter believed that man deserved to die, and never forgive him, as implied by Mary Jane's statement early in the film.
So, I understand why Flint was retconned, even if it wasn't handled the best.
Next up, the suit and Venom, the meat and potatoes of the film. The BIGGEST coincidence of the film, and which proved me right all along; the suit falls from an asteroid in space and, luckily enough, Peter's bike is right by, and guess what? The suit manages to latch on and ride away into the night with our hero. What's that? SCREAMS COINCIDENCE.
The core to the film and is handled quite poorly. This proved me right all along, and my distaste for the alien was justified, it was all too much of a coincidence. Since even before Venom was confirmed, I said if he was an alien, it would ruin the film, I was right.
The sense of drama was ruined by the pure coincidence of its origin. It was clear Venom should have been a human experiment, a human error. As done in the previous two films, the villains are created by acts of human error, trying to play god, if you will. Even the third film plays off this act, but we're suppose to accept Venom is an alien from space and agree he fits into this movie-universe.
Who gives a damn about pleasing the jackass fanboys, Venom could have been handled much better, as could have Eddie, and which brings me to another point, the film jumps too fast from point A to point B. Something which makes me appreciate The Phantom Menace even more. And what gives Star Wars another point.
Eddie's character, as with most of the film, seems to only be there to move the plot from Point A to B. Not enough time is given to Eddie, a character which deserved much more screen time than he deserved. It's quite clear that Raimi HATES Venom, which proved me right again, that Raimi never should have been the writer to put Eddie in the film, he doesn't understand nor like the character well enough to do him justice. Venom even has barely any screen time, in which I believe he deserved a bit more.
Topher Grace was a great choice for Eddie, but his character was ruined because Raimi just didn't know how to handle so many characters, nor did he even care to give Eddie any, it's obviously Eddie was an afterthought. Another point for Star Wars, even The Phantom Menace managed more characters than SM3 had, and came out on top with it's development.
Spider-Man is a Sci-Fi film, but it's NOT Sci-Fi enough to approve Venom being an ALIEN, it felt out of place the entire film, if Venom was an experiment, and Eddie was involved, it would have fit into the movie universe, and allowed Eddie more screen time and development, like he deserved, and like I said for the past three years. Right Again for me.
Eddie does have logical reasons for everything he does, but he could have had more screen time, we're given a desperate, alternate version to Peter, who just made some bad decisions, and wanted revenge. Sense a pattern?
What SM succeeds with is one thing; it's dialogue and wild moments, from the dark Peter montage, to the final tag team battle, it feels like we're right inside a comic book, a very issue of Amazing itself. And this is where Spider-Man 3 shines.
This is also where Spider-Man 3 gets its first point against Star Wars. Better dialogue and acting always shines through. I also have to say, I LOVE Peter and the cookie bit, GREAT STUFF. Some people may have issues with some of the corny moments of dark Peter, but that's the point, even when mean and dry, Peter is still a dork, and felt completely in place.
The theater would bust out laughing at all of these moments, not at the movie, per se, but at the character and how absurd he was acting, it felt real and NOT out of place.
And this is where my review comes full circle; SPIDER-MAN 3 is THE comic book movie. From the villains allying against Spidey for revenge, to the outrageous battles and colorful characters, SPIDER-MAN 3 is the definite Comic Book film, it feels like it's pulled right from Marvel Comics, and that's why it's my favorite Spidey film, it just feels the most like it's comic book counter part, so many moments feel like they're right from the pages.
From Venom's creation, to Venom's shadow swinging across the city, both moments of which were pulled directly from the pages, to Harry losing his memory, to the final battle royal, it all worked and clicked.
Despite its flaws, Spidey 3 is my favorite Spidey film, but The Phantom Menace wins this round. There you morons go.
I love being right.
