Review: Spiderman 3

"Spiderman 3" is the Super Villain packed installment of the Spiderman series. This movie reminded me of Chinese food; looks great, tastes great, sadly never makes you full and does bad things to the end result.

Director Sam Raimi did a great job of preserving the comic book feel of the movie. Many of the fight scenes, the looks on the bystander's faces, and bad guy close ups screamed comic book to me. There is a scene where Sandman is going through a transformation that struck me as perfectly comic-ish. Raimi did a good job of keeping the lighting bright but not making it feel sterile.

The special effects were exceptional. Honestly, there isn't much more to say on the subject.

There are a series of scenes in the movie where Peter Parker lets his hair down and becomes a different man. He looked like Willard (From "Willard") or Le Chiffre ("Casino Royale") and has the personality of a used car salesman. Even with the dreadful beatnik look dawned by our hero friend, the transitional scenes are funny. They probably would upset true fans of Spiderman, but I found them a charming addition.

There is no wonder that Kirsten Dunst seems cold to the idea being Mary Jane Watson in another Spiderman movie. Her part could be done by taking the raw footage from movies one and two, and changing the green screen background. There is a terrible scene where she is being jostled in a car, where she is going one way and the car is going another. She is flopping herself about wildly. Still, Dunst's acting (aside from her attempt at stunt work) is pretty solid. Her sadness, love, frustration and anger are not unclear. An actor is only as good as her script and Dunst's is a lead weight around her ankle.