Though a little late, I want to vent out in regards to the final chapter of the Spider-Man 3 trilogy. I sense this rant will most probably expand to cover many things, so stick around because I know what’s coming and I believe it will be a good read. Also, this editorial might contain spoilers, so you have been warned. So yes, here we go.

Last night I took Jenny to see Spider-Man 3 because she hadn’t seen it and because I wanted one last go-around at trying to figure out exactly why the movie didn’t entirely work for me. I saw it last Thursday with Butter at a midnight screening and then again on Friday with the Porto Diao crew, and the rollercoaster of opinion this movie has given me is very rare… I’ve been trying to understand it even since. When I walked out of the theater on Thursday I was in awe, mostly because I didn’t know what to think about what I had just seen. I wasn’t ecstatic, but I wasn’t going to ask for a refund. I reluctantly embraced the campyness of the movie and decided that I liked it, though I wasn’t sure if it was the best of the trilogy. I’d subject Sam Raimi’s third Spider-Man movie to a second chance at wowing me less than 24 hours later, this time in the scenario I absolutely love to be in when I go to the movies: with a crowd. We were at least 10 people, all of us in good spirits and riding on the energy that the premiere gave out… on this second viewing, I began to notice the movie’s flaws, which are plentiful and mostly related to its narrative structure. I left the theater that second time with a hurt in my gut because I laughed a lot, but with and at the movie, but still no definitive opinion to give out if asked.

Third time’s a charm, as they say, and I’m ready to give my verdict: it doesn’t suck. It really doesn’t. In fact, when everything clicks, it’s memorable. That’s where the inherent problem with the flick is, at least to me… the greatness, it’s not consistent. There is too much going on and the movie crumbles under its own weight and I believe that there root of all evils with Spider-Man 3 narrows down to one name… and that name is Venom. Please be advised that from this point on I will go into heavy spoiler territory of not just Spider-Man 3, but Spider-Man 2 as well. Close your eyes NOW.

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Spider-Man 2 deals with what defines a hero. Spider-Man 3, in contrast, deals with redemption. Underlying “Spider-Man-is-a-messiah” tones aside, both of these movies have similar-yet-different themes. Both movies have the same number of main storylines directly affecting Peter in mind, body and soul: his relationship with Mary Jane, his relationship with the villain he faces, and his own personal demon.

• Peter’s relationship with Mary Jane: In Spider-Man 2, Peter is struggling with what it means to be a hero, and in the process pushes Mary Jane away by not telling her the truth of his alter ego in order to protect her, at the cost of seeing her run away in the arms of another man. In the end love prevails, and Mary Jane finally discovers the truth of Peter… which leads us to Spider-Man 3, where they are a couple and she is being pushed away… again, this time by Peter’s fascination of his newfound fame. This all goes to a head when the symbiote (and Sandman) shows up in the story.
• Peter’s relationship to the villain: in Spider-Man 2, the wall crawler has to stop Dr. Otto Octavius (Doc Ock). Octavius is a scientist who wants to save his wife, and in order to do so he is forced to rob banks and be an all around crook. Of course, his special ability is having 4 indestructible tentacles coming out of his back. In Spider-Man 3, the “main” villain (I use the quotes since there is so much going on and taking center stage that there’s no real “one” villain), one Flint Marko, was led to a life of crime because he wants to save his daughter and the operations she needs to have a normal life are expensive. Both of these men are not evil… like Marko himself said early on in the movie, they have been victims of bad luck.
• Peter’s personal demon: In both Spider-Man sequels, Peter’s internal conflict finds an outlet to express itself externally. In SP 2, Peter’s sudden strip of his powers, totally involuntary, is a result of his internal conflict. SP 3 uses the simbyote (and ultimately the black suit) to channel Peter’s dark side and play up on the duality of a hero. It’s how Peter deals with these dilemmas that give the character depth and up the stakes of everything around it. Hell, it’s what makes Peter Parker Spider-Man.

So, the sequels share all of these contrasting parallels. Add to that the Norman/Harry Osborn storyline that hits its climax in part 2, leaving viewers with a sense that shit will hit the fan in part 3. Hell, even the setup to let viewers know the state of affairs in the beginning of the movies is similar, and both draw from the first one: the main difference between part 2 and part 3 is that SP 2 makes it abundantly clear that Peter is living a miserable life… in contrast, SP 3 makes it abundantly clear that Peter is living a wonderful life. Perhaps the duality between the sequels was intentional, and if so then it was a master stroke. Everything is fine up to this point… but then it’s as if the movie feels compelled to rush to a resolution of the entire trilogy and by proxy juices up the camp factor of a superhero movie as much as the aggression that the black suit brings out in Peter. The origins of the symbiote are never explored beyond the fact that it came from space and I think that’s great… awesome, even. I think that the problems begin when Venom comes into play.

From the moment that Peter somehow figures out that the symbiote does not like sound waves all the way up to the point where it’s destroyed along with its new host, the movie just spirals out of control story-wise. I admit that the last-act action piece is cool, and Venom looks just like a movie Venom should look like, it’s a matter of emotional weight; to me, the subway train fight between Doc Ock and Spidey was ten times better than the final fight in SP 3, even though it eventually turns into a 2-on-2 extravaganza thanks to Harry’s butler’s complete cop-out Deus Ex Machina to turn him into a good guy. In fact, Harry flips sides so much in SP 3 that you could stick a fork in him, ‘cuz he’s done. And he dies because he’s done.

I read that Sam Raimi holds the character of Venom in a very low regard. Of course, this is because Venom is fueled by his hatred for Peter Parker, as most of the other villains in the Spider-Man mythos have very real motivations that take them to make bad choices. Of course, Venom is one of the most popular villains because his potential to blow the roof off the action meter of the flick sends fans into a boner-inducing high. So, I believe, as a result of Sony Pictures wanting to give fans what they wanted, Raimi was forced to put the character into the storyline, breaking its grace and consistency. Because of Venom, Peter’s internal conflict is resolved abruptly in the 2^nd act, as is Harry’s realization of his mistakes by using what’s arguably the most reviled literary device ever, and the Sandman, a character elevated from his third-tier status in the comic books to a genuine, tri-dimensional one in the movies, was shoved aside and used as nothing more than a big monster for the hero(es) to fight.

Another issue that I have trouble with is the representation of Peter’s dark side… a.k.a “Emo Parker.” Since the Spider-Man movies have the Sam Raimi stamp all over them and especially in this third installment, the decision to make Peter emo walks the fine line between ridiculous and absurd that somehow works… within the confines of a movie directed by Sam Raimi. You can tell that Tobey Maguire is not taking himself very seriously when he’s in Emo Parker mode, and it helps to the black suited performance… when the camp hits its high point, though… it’s cringe-inducing for me. Of course, I’m talking about the Jazz bar dance number; this sequence feels like a different movie (“The Mask,” specifically) just like the sequences where Dr. Connors is analyzing the symbiote with Peter (as if they came from another Spider-Man movie).

At first I believed that there could’ve been a Spidey movie out of every villain featured in Spider-Man 3. Now, I believe that the resolution of the black suit/Venom should’ve been warranted its own movie… alas, we have what is now known as Spider-Man 3.

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With that, I close the book on the Spider-Man series of movies. My favorite four-colored hero of all time ends its movie run (for now), still the king. In retrospect, Spidey solidifies what was put forth by the X-Men trilogy as what I’ve come to call the “Marvel Movie Curse:” solid first installment, superior second installment, and a huge-but-disappointing third installment. The same that is often said with the Star Wars movies (the original trilogy, mind you) can be said with Marvel flicks, and that makes me want the new Hulk and Fantastic Four movies to come out as soon as possible. In the end, if you still haven’t seen Spider-Man 3, please do with a lighthearted mood and with a group of your friends so you can enjoy yourself, because EVERYONE cries at least once in the movie’s running time, surely a result of the heavy fat that surrounds this particular steak. ‘Nuff said.

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