***this review discusses parts of the plot and may act as a spoiler! If you haven’t yet viewed the film and don’t want spoilers, then perhaps you should return to this review after viewing it. Sincerely, Rammfan518***
Everyone I have talked to has hated this movie. From hearing that it was “retarded” to being told not to spend my money on tickets to see the film, it seems that Spidey can find no friends after the release of this movie. Luckily, I saw the film at a midnight show before anyone could make a comment about it. I watched the movie and have since told people I enjoyed it, which I totally did, and no one can understand why. Well, sit back, and I will tell you. . .
Many people thought the story was retarded, but I thought it was outstanding. The first two movies had simple storylines like “bad guy terrorizes city.” This film broke away from that simple plot by adding things from the first two films, as well as having a lot more emotional scenes. We got Peter wanting to marry Mary Jane, Harry still wanting revenge, the dude who killed Uncle Ben becoming a villain, and that black stuff providing for the ‘man versus self’ concept. This movie definitely had a lot more drama, which I really liked. Some comic book movies are all action, action, action. However, with this film, I sometimes forgot I was watching a comic book action movie and thought I was watching a drama. The action scenes were a lot more intense due to this emotional backage. I can honestly say I was sadder than hell when Mary Jane dumped him, and that I was cringing when Peter was bragging about how everyone loves Spiderman. How could he let things get to his head so? Also, I dug the flashbacks about Unlce Ben and Flint Marko, and Peter’s struggle with himself was good as well, leaving me to gasp when he hit Mary Jane. Peter became a huge asshole, and it was good to see just how far the black suit had taken him. This perfect interweaving of plots had me on the edge of my seat throughout.
I was not disappointed at all by what people are calling ‘emo spidey.’ I actually liked it, seeing it as a huge comic relief joke in such a depressing (at that point) story. I didn’t take it seriously at all. I don’t know why anyone would, with him walking around goofily, trying to pick up ladies with ‘the gun’ moves. I loved the ‘emo spidey’ because it was, in a way, making fun of emo kids, which I really enjoyed. And when Peter did the emo hair flip. . .oh man, I was rolling on the floor.
The action scenes in this movie are pretty tight. It sort of sucked seeing them from the second row because we showed up late. (*ahem* stupid people who’ve never been to a midnight show thought we could show up like 15 mins before and get a good seat.) But I am sure the visual effects scenes were amazing from afar. Nothing had me more excited in the film than seeing Harry coming to rescue Spiderman in the final climactic fight. When they were standing side by side, ready to face Venom and Sandman, my roommate and I looked at each other and went “yes!” with our fists high in the air like nine year olds who had just seen Han Solo come and save Luke at the Battle of Yavin for the first time. Their fight with Sandman and Venom was amazing, but even if it wasn’t, I still liked how Harry came to fight alongside his friend. (One dude I talked to said their teaming up was ‘homo erotic’. . .I don’t know where he got that idea. :S )
I do not think this review has totally explained why I liked it, but maybe it is hard for me to say why, because when it comes to liking it, I just did. I couldn’t find anything wrong with it. Sure, there were some corny lines here and there, but the story was crazy and intense. Everyone was trying to kill him, we found out about Uncle Ben’s death, Mary Jane was about to cry in every scene and some space goo consumed people and made them evil. That’s freakin’ awesome. This is actually the only Spiderman movie that has really stood out for me. The other ones were simple popcorn movies, but this was an engaging soap opera with bomb-ass action scenes. Perhaps it could have been better storytelling, or maybe my 4 hours of sleep/midnight show fatigue that made me see this as some comic book masterpiece. Whatever it was, I left the theatre smiling and going “Dude, I really liked it.”
