Anyone notice all the ridiculous coincidences in SM3?

[The Shape]

It was just too much. I realize that the origin of Spider-man is essentially a coincidence, but Spider-man 3 took the number of coincidences too far. Here are the ones that I noticed:

- The meteor with the symbiote happens to fall right next to Peter and MJ.
- Flint Marko just happens to fall into the atomization bowl and become Sandman.
- The man that becomes Sandman just happens to be Uncle Ben's actual killer.
- Out of all the people in New York City, the one woman that needed to be saved in the crane disaster was Gwen Stacy, who is Peter's lab partner.
- Eddie Brock just happens to be in the same church as Peter when he is ripping off the symbiote.
- Bernard, the butler, decides to reveal the truth about Norman's death to Harry at the perfect time, which allows Harry to go to the construction site to aid Peter.
- Sandman just happens to run into Venom in the streets of New York, and Venom knows Flint Marko's life story (I know there was background here that was deleted from the theatrical release but it still came out like a random coincidence).


Did anyone else notice all of these? There may have been more I can't think of now, but people I have spoken to about this film (mostly non-Spiderman enthusiasts) mentioned some of these coincidences, like the meteor,Brock in the church, and Bernard, as being weak parts of the story. They all make the story far less believeable, although I know this is generally a fantasy,

What do you guys think of this?
[If this has already been discussed in a thread or something, please close.]

 

[GuyverOne]

Doesn't bother me. I believe this has been discussed before but I can't remember which thread.

 

[Kargo Warrior]

And what about in SP2...

Dock Ock is in the same bank with Ant May and Peter

Dock Ock grabs Ant May of all people in front of the bank

Mary Jane gets engaged with JJJ's son who happens to be Peter's boss

Dock Ock knew where Peter was meating M.J before he kiddnaped her

and that's just of top of my head....it's a comic book movie,this is not Agatha Christie,dont take it too seriosly

 

[Kargo Warrior]

- Flint Marko just happens to fall into the atomization bowl and become Sandman.

in the comics he escaped from the police and went to a nuclear testing facility and fell asleep and when he woke up the radiation made his DNA sand like...so it's very similar with the movie

 

[The Shape]

Im not taking anything too seriously, I just began to notice all of these coincidences. It's kind of interesting, because when you think about it, the Spider-man mythology is absolutely full of coincidence, starting with the origin, and it plays out in the movies. However, the story of someone like Batman isn't based off coincidences. I never really thought about it much before.

 

[Blader5489]

Im not taking anything too seriously, I just began to notice all of these coincidences. It's kind of interesting, because when you think about it, the Spider-man mythology is absolutely full of coincidence, starting with the origin, and it plays out in the movies. However, the story of someone like Batman isn't based off coincidences. I never really thought about it much before.

Batman is also based off several coincidences, like the killer of Bruce Wayne's parents becoming the Joker (I'm not too familiar with the Batman mythos, so I'm just going off what I remember from the 1989 movie) or there being a huge series of caves beneath Wayne Manor, large enough to become the Batcave.

The only coincidences that really bothered me (because they can't really be explanied or justified) is the symbiote crashing right near Peter's bike and Gwen Stacy being the only potential victim of the crane disaster.

 

[lordofthenerds]

Yeah, I noticed them and started to get annoyed too. I realize there are some coincidences in the first 2 movies also, but the huge number of them in this one got ridiculous. To add onto your list...

- Gwen happens to be dating Eddie Brock, Peter's rival photographer.
- Gwen happens to be at the French restaurant where Peter tries to propose to MJ.
- Peter accidently bumps into a bell in a church tearing off the suit.
- Gwen's father Captain Stacy is the one who informs the Parkers that Sandman was Uncle Ben's actual killer.

 

[TheVileOne]

Yes the movies had these . . . but what movies don't?

Comic book stories are littered with these coincidences as well. And sometimes in life. It happens.

 

[Knightsaber Priss]

As far as Eddie Brock being in the same church when Peter tears off the symbiote costume it's consistent with the 80's comic origin, except for the fact Eddie went to pray for forgiveness for his planned suicide and also that it was at least several days or weeks later.

 

[TheVileOne]

So did people complain about that coincidence when it happened in the comics?

 

[Spider-Fan]

First off, his whole origin IS BASED OFF MAJOR COINCIDENCE!!! The other movies had them, but this is the one that gets ripped for it. I don't see the difference. The stories had to tie together, and when they must tie together, coincidences will happen. That is any movie.

 

[Mr. Socko]

There's always many coincidences but I thought this one had just a little too many. The symbiote crashing right next to Peter is the one that annoyed me the most and what's more is that it was never even explained where it came from or nothing, but whatever.

 

[DACrowe]

This is true.. I'd point out that the butler one was a plot device though and not a coincidence. He never thought it was his place to tell Harry the truth and Harry wanted to perserve his father's memory. But after Harry had apparently followed his pop's footseps and ended up missing a face and his ex-girlfriend/friend is hanging for dear life on the news, Bernard thought he needed to overstep his bounds.

Not saying it was a good scene and should have been done by Harry's choice without Bernard's ex machina answer to all things, I'd just like to point it out.

There were too many conincidences, but you have to be overly focused on them to be really be bugged about that in this movie (and fanboys are just such audience members).

I mean it is not that the comics are innocent of this. In fact half the supporting cast in the comics has turned into a villain or been related to a villain or involved with a villain one way or another. And every hero/villain's origin seems based on a coincidence.

It just doesn't hold together nearly as well in celluloid as it does on comic book paper.

 

[chaseter]

I can live with coincedences...but I can't live without sufficient explanations. I agree with Socko in saying that the symbiote had no development what so ever. Nobody, not even Dr. Connors, didn't wonder where it was from and if more could possibly be out there? I really don't even know how Peter or MJ didn't feel the heat from the meteor, hear it wizz right above them, or even hear it crash...that thing was bigger than a basketball. With the symbiote's effects being the central theme of this movie, it had no explanation except that it was a symbiote and brought out negative tendencies in its host.

The only real coincedence that killed me was the butler...and once again it would have been better had they explained it more. And sorry, MJ knew Peter was Spider-Man...if Harry threatening to kill him if she didn't break up with him made her do it, she didn't want to be with him anyways because she would have known Peter could put up a fight.

 

[TheVileOne]

Connors did note that the symbiote shared similarities to samples from meteorites in the 70's.

 

[TheCaptain22555]

I noticed them but it didn't bother me. Stories tend to be like this.

 

[Knives122]

The dark suit SM music sounded like Batman & Robin music.

 

[chaseter]

The other big one that bothered me was the Bugle having to print a retraction. Jameson mentions getting a picture of Julia Roberts in a thong in SM1, tries to create a headline on a slow news day about food poisoning in SM2, and not to mention him slandering Spider-Man every chance he gets like Spidey and Doc Ock robbing a bank, and Green Goblin and Spider-Man attack Bugle Chief, etc...,etc... In other words, printing lies and not trying to be a very prestigious paper, even when Peter and Robbie say Spider-Man is a hero. Yet in SM3, when Brock photoshops a picture, Jameson says they have to print a retraction and even says 'Sorry Spider-Man." WTF!? Knowing Jameson, he would have ran with it.

 

[TheVileOne]

The other big one that bothered me was the Bugle having to print a retraction. Jameson mentions getting a picture of Julia Roberts in a thong in SM1, tries to create a headline on a slow news day about food poisoning in SM2, and not to mention him slandering Spider-Man every chance he gets like Spidey and Doc Ock robbing a bank, and Green Goblin and Spider-Man attack Bugle Chief, etc...,etc... In other words, printing lies and not trying to be a very prestigious paper, even when Peter and Robbie say Spider-Man is a hero. Yet in SM3, when Brock photoshops a picture, Jameson says they have to print a retraction and even says 'Sorry Spider-Man." WTF!? Knowing Jameson, he would have ran with it.

Knowing Jameson, getting ticked off about that seems pretty well in character.

None of those examples really have anything to do with printing photos that were proven to be doctored and fake.

 

[The Kid]

So did people complain about that coincidence when it happened in the comics?

wtf does this movie have to do with the comics

 

[Krozee]

- Peter accidently bumps into a bell in a church tearing off the suit.

Are you kidding me? You guys are really scraping the bottom of the barrel to try and think up things to destroy this movie. This thread is ridiculous.

 

[Leenie]

The one coincidence that stuck out like a sore thumb was Sandman being Uncle Ben's killer. It didn't bother me, because it fit into the concept of revenge very well, but it did stand out.

But, in any case, Spider-Man is full of coincidences, even in the comics.

 

[imdaly]

I thought one of the most "oh COME ON!" coincidences in the movie was the giant truck full of sand that was conveniently parked on the street of NYC for some reason when Sandman was needing a place to hide from the cops he was running from.

 

[Dragon]

I thought one of the most "oh COME ON!" coincidences in the movie was the giant truck full of sand that was conveniently parked on the street of NYC for some reason when Sandman was needing a place to hide from the cops he was running from.

Have you ever been to New York? Because those trucks are extremely common.

 

[Dragon]

It was just too much. I realize that the origin of Spider-man is essentially a coincidence, but Spider-man 3 took the number of coincidences too far. Here are the ones that I noticed:

- The meteor with the symbiote happens to fall right next to Peter andMJ.

Are you forgetting that the occupant of that meteor is a sentient life form? It's very plausible that the symbiote controlled its trajectory and intended to land near living beings, which it needed to conjoin with.

- Flint Marko just happens to fall into the atomization bowl and become Sandman.

Yeah, like Peter just happening to be bitten by a Spider. Osborn just happening to need to test his performance enhancers and Ock just happeneing to have an accident leading to his mind conecting to his super powerful tentacles.

- The man that becomes Sandman just happens to be Uncle Ben's actual killer.

If you want to dig that deep consider this- Why out of ALL THE CARS in the vicinity the burglar(s) choose Ben's.

- Out of all the people in New York City, the one woman that needed to be saved in the crane disaster was Gwen Stacy, who is Peter's lab partner.

Oh, you mean like THE ONE GIRL who nearly falls to her death at the Unity festival happened to be the girl Peter loves?

- Eddie Brock just happens to be in the same church as Peter when he is ripping off the symbiote.

Yeah, like Ock choosing the one Bank Peter and May were at- And- out of a crowd of dozens, happens to pick May to use as a hostage.

- Bernard, the butler, decides to reveal the truth about Norman's death to Harry at the perfect time, which allows Harry to go to the construction site to aid Peter.

What do you mean "At the perfect time". Bernard overheard Peter's plea for help. He konws Harry helping him is the right thing to do, so he tells Harry something that wil convince him to do it.

- Sandman just happens to run into Venom in the streets of New York, and Venom knows Flint Marko's life story (I know there was background here that was deleted from the theatrical release but it still came out like a random coincidence).

See, this is just you looking for something to gripe about, and not even thinking the situation through. VENOM was looking for Sandman. He knew about Sandman from the symbiote's shared memories with Peter, and could easily look up info on Marko's family life.

What do you guys think of this?

All of these movies rely on coincidence and contrivance to tell their stories. Even in the comics this was the case. But Stan Lee explained it early- he said these things are FATED to happen in Peter's life.