Marvel Comics’ sticky-palmed superhero is still a thrilling marvel at gliding and fighting his way through the Manhattan skyline in “Spider-Man 3.”
Following up on his imaginative 2002 debut and even more eye-popping and dramatically rich 2004 sequel “Spider-Man 2,” today’s third outing of the angst-ridden creepy-crawler brings back together again the same creative team for the longest (140 minutes) and most expensive ($250 million) arachnid extravaganza yet.
But is more better? Not exactly.
“Spider-Man 3” unnecessarily packs in three separate good guy-versus-bad guy rivalries and so many high-energy showdown set pieces that they eventually start to come off as indistinguishable and adverse to story flow. But for fans who can’t get enough action and are anxious to hang once more with Tobey Maguire’s Peter Parker aka You-Know-Who, his long-suffering love interest Mary Jane “M.J.” Watson (Kirsten Dunst) and various and sundry evildoers, a third encounter with director-co-writer Sam Raimi’s franchise is like putting on a worn pair of favorite shoes: It’s familiar and comfortable but doesn’t function and delight as well as it used to.
Raimi continues to get credit for taking CGI special effects to a new level and for infusing a higher degree of character complexity to the comic-book superhero genre. Unfortunately, there are only so many themes available in that limited world. So a third trip to Spidey’s well means more probing of revenge, responsibility and free choice.
Now starting to get a little cocky over his esteemed public profile, Spider-Man is faced with his own dark nature when a possessed ooze from outer space attaches to him in the form of a black “symbiote” suit to replace his usual red and blue one. His worst emotions are amplified when he dons it. It makes Pete/Spidey jealously hostile toward his longtime pal/rival Harry Osborn aka the “New” Green Goblin (James Franco) and reactivates his need for violent retribution over his Uncle Ben’s murder.
A new suspect emerges for that fixation in the form of felon Flint Marko (Thomas Haden Church). In one of the series’ coolest-looking alter ego transformations, Flint gets caught in a particle-pulverizing gizmo that turns him into the giant, ham-fisted, shape-shifting Sandman.
But as if the Sandman, the New Goblin, an identity crisis and his romantic tumult with M.J. didn’t provide enough conflict, the script adds the smarmy Eddie Brock (Topher Grace) into the mix. Brock is Peter’s chief competition for a photographer staff position at the Daily Bugle. But then the black goo attaches to Brock and turns him into the dastardly Venom, a souped-up Spidey doppelganger with really sharp fangs.
A minor female character (played by Bryce Dallas Howard) is added, and the soulful Aunt May (Rosemary Harris) and hilariously gruff newspaper editor J. Jonah Jameson (J.K. Simmons) return for a serviceable “3” that just doesn’t quite equal the sum total of “1” and “2.”
‘Spider-Man 3’
3/5 stars
Starring: Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco
Director: Sam Raimi
Rated R for sequences of intense action violence
