Cast: B
Plot: A+
Special Effects/Stunts: B+
Similarity to Comic: C
Director: Sam Raimi
Comic Company: Marvel
Stars: Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco
Rating: PG-13
See the IMDB page
See the Rotten Tomatoes page
This is my favorite of the Spider-Man movies so far. They finally have a good balance of CGI and real props and the plot rivals that of the first. The overall theme of revenge is consistent throughout the movie with more than one character and is done very well, a good way to end Tobey Maguire's reign as Spider-Man.
The Good: The cast is good again in this movie, although most of the characters returned they added Bryce Dallas Howard as Gwen Stacy, Thomas Haden Church as the Sandman, and Topher Grace as Eddie Brock/Venom, all of which did excellent jobs. J.K. Simmons and Rosemary Harris continue to be the rocks of this series with their third straight amazing performances in their respective roles as J.J. and Aunt May. I was impressed with Kirsten Dunst, she reverted back to the way she was in the first movie, she wasn't sickly and dead looking. Tobey Maguire seems to have grown while filming these these movies, he played his part well. Even the actor who played Harry Osborn's butler did well and Peters Romanian landlord too. James Franco redeemed himself with a strong performance as his character seemingly goes in and out of sanity.
The CGI was better than it was in the second movie, and used in the right places. I was especially impressed with the CGI for the sandman, it couldn't have been an easy thing to do because he's so grainy but they pulled it off well. The plot was much better than in the second movie, there was no stupid power loss and everything that happened was explained well.
The Bad: The scene where emo Peter is walking through the street snapping his fingers needed to go, and same with his pelvic thrusting dance moves later in that scene, and same with the entire next scene in the jazz club. This movie probably would have been an 'A' if it weren't for that seven minutes. Mary Jane was still mad at Peter for most of the movie, more appropriately this time seeing as Spider-Man kissed another girl and spent the first half of the movie talking about himself, but still it was annoying because she was mad at him for almost the entire second movie, get over it he's freaking Spider-Man and has more important things to do than listen to you complain about your life. She's always a damsel in distress too, either she needs to learn to take care of herself, or the villains need to find a new victim, this theme is getting a little old. It's the third of three movies that she's had to be saved in the climax.
Venom could have been done better. Brock's character seemed too funny to all of a sudden turn into a bloodthirsty killing machine. On top of that, Venom isn't even in most of the movie.
The Interesting: I didn't understand how when the symbiote got on Peter it because just a black suit but when it got on Brock it transformed him completely. Also, during the climax, there's a giant sand monster and an evil black creature attacking a hostage on a skyscraper and the city of New York doesn't even call in a chopper or fighter jet or anything? I don't know, superhero movies aren't supposed to be the most realistic things out there but that seemed like a no-brainer.
They also got the origin story slightly wrong for Venom and for the black suit. Those are kind of big details to get right if you make a Spider-Man movie, but what they did worked for the amateur Spider-Man fan and the rest of the plot.
Conclusion: I'll say it again; it's my favorite of the Spider-Man movies. I love the plot, theme, cast, and the improved special effects. The only real deal-breaker is the two scenes in the middle where Tobey Maguire is emo.
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