Having finally watched Spider-Man 3 last night, I've got to admit it's not nearly as bad as some make it out to be. There was a lot of good ideas floating around in the movie, the stories of Peter, MJ, and Harry logically carried over from the previous films, and it had the unifying theme showing the importance of seeking forgiveness instead of seeking revenge.
Note however I said good ideas as opposed to good story. That's because, if you wanted to describe the movie, it would be "several good scenes in a mad, desperate search of a plot." If you actually listen to the commentary on the DVD, Sam Raimi is very close to admitting this. Turns out that they barely had a working script and that certain scenes were filmed even before a script had even been finalized, which meant a lot of last minute changes; for example, did any of you know that the film was originally going to have the Vulture as the second villain played by Ben Kingsley? or that Gwen Stacy was supposed to be the one Spidey had to rescue in the climactic showdown with the villains? No where is the desperation to try and fit everything all together no matter how convoluted more clear than in the last 25 minutes of the film, which, unsurprisingly, is when most of the worst moments of the film occur:
*Venom somehow finding Sandman and knowing all about his sick daughter (despite the fact that Spidey never even knew anything about this) and Sandman just out of the blue deciding to team-up with him.
*Then after helping to kidnap MJ, assulting police officers, standing by while Venom killed a bunch of them, and threating to destroy the city by becoming a giant sand monster, he then tells Spidey "I didn't want any of this. I only did it for my daughter" and begs for forgiveness? And Spidey lets him get away? Well forgiveness also involves owning up to what you did wrong and accepting the consequences bud.
*Or how about the explanation of how Flint actually killed Uncle Ben? He was accidentally bumped into by his partner and the gun "just went off?" Oh yeah, I'd buy that defense in court. It proved just what a really unnecessary idea it was to make Sandman the real killer of Uncle Ben.
*The TV news footage of the battle. It was appropriate the first time we got the news anchor and the female reporter, unnecessary the second time, and by the third time, it was "JUST SHUT UP ALREADY!"
*And then, of course, is Harry's butler. Seriously, that's the best Raimi could come up with for making Harry see the error of his ways? Call me crazy, but I suspect there's a deleted scene in which right after the butler tells Harry how his father really died, Harry nods, says "And you decided to tell me this NOW!" cold ***** him in the face, and starts strangling him like Homer choking Bart.
Other ridiculous moments:
*Peter and MJ are so busy making out they can't hear a meteor land no more than ten yards away.
*Flint Marko falling into the open particle disintegrator. You would think scientist how could afford to build such a device would at least cover it up.
*Dr. Connors saying he's not a biologist and yet happens to explain all about an unknown biological organism in great detail.
*Mary Jane's singing or lack thereof. "It's wonderful?" Oh no it's not.
*Emo Pete's dancing with Gwen at the jazz club to humiliate MJ.
But there were moments I did like:
*Peter and Harry's aerial battle above and around Manhattan. Best fight sequence in the entire film and certainly topped any of the Green Goblin fights from the first film.
*The Sandman's "birth," which has accurately been described as akin to the creation of the Golem. A SFX sequence that was mesmerizing, weird, and poignant.
*Peter's disastrous date with MJ at the French Restaurant. Perfectly captured just how utterly clueless how much he took MJ for granted. Plus, it was another Bruce Campbell appearance.
*Okay, everybody will think I'm nuts, but I actually liked the montage where Peter embraces his rather dorky dark side. His talking on the phone and barely listening to Doc Connors while making Chocolate Cake girl his obedient maid, shamelessly putting the moves on Betty, strutting his stuff and getting "whatever" looks from every woman he tries to impress--hilarious. Well, maybe I really didn't need to see that hip-thrust boogie he did when he left the clothing store, but even so...
*Bryce Dallas Howard as Gwen Stacy. Too bad she didn't get much to do other than be a plot device.
*And I also liked how they emphasized the concept of Eddie Brock essentially being a flip-side of Peter Parker, and Topher Grace captured it pretty well, I thought.
All-in-all, I think Raimi and company should have re-thought much of the film before filming and turn 3 into two films rather than try to cram everything in all at once.