Yeah, well some of us were already criticizing SM1 and SM2. It's amazing to me how people act like those movies were perfect and SM3's suckitude came out of nowhere. There was quite a bit of foreshadowing, particularly in the cheese department.
SM1 was a decent movie.
SM2 however, was near-perfect and is my favorite comic-book movie of all-time. (TDK is a close-second)
All of the characters had their own arcs. Peter of course, struggled with leading a double-life, and considered giving it up so he could be with MJ.
(TDK kinda stole that from SM2. Batman wanted to give it up so he could be with Rachel)
Harry, still grieving over his father and thirsty for revenge, began obsessing over Spider-Man.
MJ's career was taking off, and she had to make a choice. Go with a successful guy and have a good future together, or stick with Peter, who at the moment, is a mess. (Again, TDK kinda stole that from SM2, though Batman wasn't much of a mess.)
Aunt May had financial problems, and lost her home, and Doc Ock dealt with the loss of his wife, his dreams and his sanity.
There wasn't a boring moment throughout the film. And the theme of giving up your dreams to do what's right blended well with the characters of Peter and Octavious. (Peter gave up his dream of being with MJ so he could continue protecting people as Spider-Man. Doc Ock gave up on his dream of fusion by destroying his machine.)
SM3 though.. what the hell, Raimi? I know the studio forced Venom on him, but he wanted Sandman, one of the worst characters in the movie. And the whole
"That guy didn't kill Uncle Ben! --uhhh, Sandman did!" made me facepalm.
Sandman was meant to be just a misunderstood guy, yet he tried to kill several people in the movie. And his origin? He "accidentally" stumbles onto a radiation plant RIGHT when they were ready to conduct an experiment. lol. Then we have Peter dancing on tables and strutting to disco music. Yeah, real dark, Raimi.
But the worst offender? We spend two films watching Harry slowly slip into madness and hatred against Peter Parker/Spider-Man. These films have been building up to a big confrontation between Spidey and GG2. And instead of getting a new Green Goblin, we get an EXTREME ninja snowboarder who gets knocked out in the first ten minutes and completely forgets everything that happened in the first two films. Are you freaking kidding me?
Oh, and don't get me started on the awful special effects.
Venom wasn't the reason SM3 sucked. It was Sandman, GG2 and the terrible cheese-filled script.