I saw Spider Man 3 it’s opening weekend, with high hopes because I really enjoyed the first two of the Spider Man series, but I enjoyed the second one even more.  However, there was just something “wrong” with the movie, and I’m not quite sure that I can really 100% put my finger on it, but I know I walked out of the theater with the other 3 people I went to the movies with feeling disappointed and let down by what I thought would be a great movie. 

We went to a Cinemark theater, which is notorious for it’s stadium seating, just so we wouldn’t get a bad seat, especially since my boyfriend is an avid comics fan and was looking forward to the release of this movie for months.  By the way, he was disappointed in the movie too, just so you can get an accurate perspective and don’t think I’m just being overly critical.

First of all, I think that Kirsten Dunst and Toby McGuire were great in the first two films, but in this one, it almost seemed as if their performances were lackluster.  Especially Toby’s, who seemed to be almost a caricature of his former character.  There are some scenes in the movie where McGuire character Peter Parker is acting out of character, and the desired effect is comedy, but the actual effect is a cringe effect.  Don’t get me wrong, some of the scenes did make me laugh, but some were just cheesy and over the top.

My biggest complaint about Spider Man 3, and the reason I’m giving it a bad review is that this one tried to tie too many story lines in with three villains and three separate story lines, never mind the Peter Parker and Mary Jane story. The results was half-assed attempts at each story line. 

I would have liked to have seen more of the villain Venom, played by That Seventies Show’s Topher Grace with an adept acting hand I must say.  I liked Thomas Haden Church as the Sandman, but I liked Topher Grace’s Venom better, because he was more of an interesting twist to the story, with his embarrassed photographer’s revenge complex against Peter Parker, it added a nice plot twist and much needed grit to the story which at times tended to be overly sappy and over-acted. 

Overall, I’ve gotta say, Spider Man 3 was a disappointment, and supposedly they’re already in talks to make more.  I hope they learned their lesson with this one and don’t try to ruin this franchise for good!