The Critics' Reviews of Spider-Man 3 Thread

[butabi44]

I dont think these reviews will improve much. The film was fun and unintentionally funny.......

But storywise it was a bit of a mess and lacked cohesion

The substance in the film was lost somewhere on the way...

the film was way too rushed.

 

[Vash1538]

Hey guys,

I might post this in the other thread as well, I'm not at these boards that much, and I don't know how many people read all the threads, just a warning.

There might be some mild spoilers in this, but I will try to keep them minimum.

The first 95% of the movie, AMAZING. EASILY the best of the trilogy. But when they got to the end, its like Rami though, oppps, this is it, better end everything. Now how the HECK do I do that. Its like he didn't have a plan at all.

I am very dissapointed in the ending, I have no problem with the other 2 hours and 15 minutes of the movie. They did everything I was worried about right. Peters behavior in the black suit was excellent, and I did get the dancing scene down the street. I loved the club scene, that was great. It started off strange, but if you kept in mind he was doing that to really get to Mary Jane, it works. And it got better, because at the end, it had changed to something really isn't right here, and when Peter started beating up all the bouncers.....it just worked. (In my opinion.)

I'm not going into the ending. The battle royal? It was ok. But I really agree with some others I have read, Sandman was a wasted character. People said Venom would feel like he was shoe-horned in, and actually its Sandman. Venom fits, oddly enough, just too little screen time. And man did he look awesome. If they had let Sandmans story arc end in the middle of the movie, like it looked like it did, and let Peter and Venom go at it one on one for the ending, it would have been great.

The ending is the only place I feel the movie was over-stuffed, and they forgot what they were doing. The reporter scene was actually cool, it built up what was really going on. But seriously, I felt like watching Sandman I was watching the Stay Puff Marshmellow Man from Ghostbusters.

End Notes: I wish they had found another way to tie up Harry's arc. If you thought Spider-Man had his mask off too much in 2, your not going to like this film. There is no over the top camp, ala Batman Forever, most of the comedy moments are timed right (I love Bruce Cambell in his scene.) And again, there is too little Spider-Man.

If Rami makes a fourth one, he should call it Peter Parker 3, not Spider-Man 4, because the only movie I felt like that was really about Spider-Man was the first one. (I watch both today right before I went to the movie.) 2 was a great MOVIE, but it wasn't as good as the first one as far as how they handled Spider-Man and how much he was shown. If I wanted to see Toby out of the costume for almost a whole movie, I'd go rent Seabiscuit.

Peter in the black suit though, perfect. They nailed it. I loved the scene when he confronted Brock at the Bugle, how he just shows up out of nowhere. The Harry/Peter confrontation in the middle of the film was great. I wish Jameson had a larger part, but man that first scene with him in it, with Betty reminding him about his blood pressure and which pills to take, the audience was rollling on the floor. (Jameson has the best line of the whole movie, he even upstaged Campbell. "Ms. Brant, thats not the position we hired you for." If you have seen the movie, you get it. )

Final thougts: I never thought it possible, but I probably won't go see it again. I can see where the critics are getting their bad reviews at, that ending just almost kills the film. There is no uplifting spirit the first two had. When you walk out of the theater, you walk out thinking, "It was ok, but it could have been so much more." instead of thinking, "Wow, that was something special, truly epic," like you did with Spider-Man 1 & 2.

I guess I will have to wait for The Dark Knight next summer to have that feeling when I walk out of a theater again.


Sorry if this was jumbled up, its 3:00 in the morning now. I do recommend you go see it, like I said, the first 95% of the film is the best of the three. But to be the supposed "last film" with this group, not a good ending.

Spider-Man- 9
Spider-Man 2- 8.9 (better movie, but too little Spider-Man)
Spider-Man 3- 8.5

EDIT: Oh yeah, for those of you (like me) who wanted to see Peter looking into the building and seeing his red & blues looking back at him, or the shot of him looking in the mirror and for a split second Venom looking back, those were edited out. Just to warn you.

 

[amazingdm]

Topher really would have been a great Spider-Man!
Tobey sucks

 

[primemover]

Topher really would have been a great Spider-Man!
Tobey sucks

While I wouldn't go as far as to say Tobey 'sucks', Topher would make a great Spider-Man.

 

[WTFimVENOM]

While I wouldn't go as far as to say Tobey 'sucks', Topher would make a great Spider-Man.

lol yeah. In my opinion Topher/venom was the only thing that made this movie a non-dissapointment. He really would have made a better parker since he is pretty much a better actor than Tobey, also a nicer guy too lol he would smack a camera out of a spidey fans hand t:

 

[FlawlessVictory]

Wow, yesterday the user rating on Rotten Tomatoes was at 86%, now it's down to 76%! These are SR type numbers, in fact SR has a higher critical rating, 77% to Spidey's 64%, and SR gets tons of hate on these boards. Curious to see how the reaction to this movie plays out on these boards over the next few months.

 

[Ita-KalEl]

Wow, yesterday the user rating on Rotten Tomatoes was at 86%, now it's down to 76%! These are SR type numbers, in fact SR has a higher critical rating, 77% to Spidey's 64%, and SR gets tons of hate on these boards. Curious to see how the reaction to this movie plays out on these boards over the next few months.

76%? SR type numbers?
SR rating was 77% with a cream of the crop of 73%, by now Spiderman 3 is 64% with a cream of the crop of 45%...it is considered by the critics a far worse movie than SR.

 

[FlawlessVictory]

76%? SR type numbers?
SR rating was 77% with a cream of the crop of 73%, by now Spiderman 3 is 64% with a cream of the crop of 45%...it is considered by the critics a far worse movie than SR.

Read my post again. I was referring specifically to the user rating on RT. Both SM3 and SR have a user rating of 76%. But yes, SR has a higher critical rating.

 

[Ultimate_Superman]

Wow, yesterday the user rating on Rotten Tomatoes was at 86%, now it's down to 76%! These are SR type numbers, in fact SR has a higher critical rating, 77% to Spidey's 64%, and SR gets tons of hate on these boards. Curious to see how the reaction to this movie plays out on these boards over the next few months.

SR doesn't get tons of hate. It gets tons of hate from Smallville fans that wanted to see Welling as Superman or Smallville the movie but SR is widely liked if you vist every other Superman fourm. Not just here Superman Homepage, Blue Tights, DC Comic forum, Newsarama. SR was liked by many but as many have said its main problem was it lacked action. Spidey 3 on the other hand has plenty of action but lacks a real good story like X3.

 

[Carp Man]

It's down to 63 % at Rotten Romatoes. 76 % users. As of 9 am CST.

 

[Apollo]

hell 300 and blade 1 got bad reviews and those movies kicked A**!!!

 

[Weapon M]

"Meanwhile, elsewhere, MJ suffers humiliating notices for her screeching debut in the Broadway production of Manhattan Memories and slumps off to wait tables at a jazz club only to be smacked in the face by the newly aggro Parker. Elsewhere, meanwhile, ambitious shutterbug Eddie Brock (Topher Grace) attempts to wrest a Daily Bugle staff gig away from Parker, Sandman is robbing banks, Osborn is getting his memory back, MJ is moping, Aunt May is intoning, Peter is wrestling with his demons, and Eddie gets infected with the goo. Meanwhile . . ."


This is a review from the Village Voice by Nathan Lee. It is so funny, cause it does sum up the movie pretty well. hehe

All in all though, I saw the movie last night, I already bought tickets for tonight with my friend, and I'm seeing it Saturday Morning in Imax and I'm not mad about it. So, that should say alot about this movie. This movie IS re-watchable. Now, if it was Xmen 3, I'd try and get my tickets back. Or Fantastic Four.. This, I definitely don't mind seeing three times in three days. I saw "300" like 4 times in the movies, cause all my friends wanted to see it. I felt like throwing up, the fourth time around but I tolerated it cause it was a fun movie. This movie has so much going on that I think there would be things you dont see the first or second time around. It's a fun movie to check out at least two times around. Just remember this is a Raimi version of Spiderman, not our individual versions. I had my criticisms of the movie, but all in all it was not bad. Not a GREAT movie though like part 2.

 

[FlawlessVictory]

It's down to 63 % at Rotten Romatoes. 76 % users. As of 9 am CST.

Down to 62% as of 11 am EST

 

[Cmill216]

Rotten Tomatoes has a countdown of the 100 best reviewed comic book based films.

And number one is.........Spider-Man 2.

 

[Carp Man]

Down to 62% as of 11 am EST

Well I still have an hour and 45 minutes till I see it. This movie is about as critic proff as a movie can be. It will make tons of money, more then likley beat the 1st 2 movies, but it may not be remembered as the best. This review basicly sums up what I have been hearing.

Review
Spiderman 3 Review
Patrick Reilly

I should be pretty clear. If you have 3 potentially great stories to tell you should tell them in 3 separate parts. It allows them to breath and gives them time to do the concept justice. What you shouldn’t do is try to shoehorn the 3 of them into one movie because on the evidence of Spiderman 3 you’ll end up with a slapdash mess of underdeveloped characters, story arcs that jump wildly without any real meat to them and a general air of a director and cast that simply decided to throw as much muck at the screen as possible in a vain hope that enough will stick to render the end result passable..

Surely the film isn’t that bad you may ask. Unfortunately it is, and nothing hurts quite like the truth.

Right from the get go Spiderman 3 is in trouble. The decision to have 3 villains in the form of Venom, Sandman and the Green Goblin Mark 2 means Sam Raimi has to work fast to squeeze them into the 2 hour plus running time and on a whole he never looks close to pulling it off.

Flint Marko/Sandman (Thomas Haden Church) comes off the worst in the juggling act as his character in the context of the movie is nothing more then a prop for a few actions scenes. Visually he’s very impressive the best part of Spiderman 3’s SFX (The awful matte background scenes with James Franco’s Green Goblin being the worst) but beyond this he’s completely underdeveloped. Sandman would have been a fascinating adversary if he’d been given a full movie all to himself (like Doc Ock in Spiderman 2) but here he’s as flimsy as the sand he’s made of, and the way the character is tied to the events of the first movie reeks of lazy screenwriting.

Elsewhere in the villain line-up Venom swoops in almost as an afterthought, Toper Grace’s Eddie Brock is given at best a few lines and zero depth, like everything else in this film he’s just thrown at Spiderman and the audience is asked to care but ultimately most people will probably shrug their shoulders in a mixture of indifference and annoyance that a character filled with such rich possibilities is wasted as nothing more then a 3rd act cameo.

James Franco’s Green Goblin fares the best out of the three, he’s given the most screen time and with an already developed back story from the first 2 movies the most depth. He does tend to veer towards whiny teenager in large sections, but at least he’s somebody whose motivations are understandable something with can’t be said of the cardboard cut out Sandman and Venom.

Meanwhile Kirsten Dunst’s Mary Jane continues the sad sack routine of the first two Spiderman movies with the added bonus this time of two singing interludes that make her sound like the easy listening version of Marlene Dietrich. You really do hope Raimi gives the girl some good news at any point because a character moping around for three whole films isn’t very fair.

At least Tobey Maguire’s Peter Parker alter ego gets a brief interlude of happiness in this film as in one of the sections where he is infected by Venom he turns into a dancing lunatic filled with flirty energy and mischief, indeed Maguire is the best thing about this movie his ability to extract sympathy from the audience in almost every scene is highly laudable. It seems a pity that this will be his last run out in the Spidey suit because he will be much missed.

But beyond Maguire (and the entertaining comedic sections with the Daily Bugle editor and Bruce Campbell’s obligatory cameo, this time as a French restaurateur) Spiderman 3 is film devoid of any real positives, and by the time the final underwhelming action sequence swings into view you’ll be to depressed with what you’ve seen before to muster much caring.

It may be a critic proof movie, and it will likely break many box office records during its run but that won’t stop this reviewer from saying as one film lover to another, if you enjoyed the first two Spiderman movies avoid this like the plague, you'll be glad you saved yourself from the crushing disappointment many will feel opening weekend.

http://worldofkj.com/articleIndex.php?tid=30265

 

[Karea07]

I liked it, upset the critics didn't like it as much as the other two... and it would really blow if this movie ends up being rotten.

 

[Carp Man]

I liked it, upset the critics didn't like it as much as the other two... and it would really blow if this movie ends up being rotten.

Dame. SR got 77 %. Spider-Man 3 62 %. I'm shocked.

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/superman_returns/

 

[Lightning Strykez!]

I just want to mention that the RT figures can still change dramatically by Monday. Remember, the vast majority of critics are seeing this film today and tommorrow, so the tally is far from finished. The number could go higher or it could plummet.

We'll have to see, but for now, let's not proclaim doom and gloom based solely on the RT meter--it's not finalized yet.

 

[Karea07]

me too, considering most people thought superman returns was boring as hell, and hated that damn kid. haha

 

[Karea07]

I just want to mention that the RT figures can still change dramatically by Monday. Remember, the vast majority of critics are seeing this film today and tommorrow, so the tally is far from finished. The number could go higher or it could plummet.

We'll have to see, but for now, let's not proclaim doom and gloom based solely on the RT meter--it's not finalized yet.

good point, hopefully it goes up

 

[Carp Man]

I just want to mention that the RT figures can still change dramatically by Monday. Remember, the vast majority of critics are seeing this film today and tommorrow, so the tally is far from finished. The number could go higher or it could plummet.

We'll have to see, but for now, let's not proclaim doom and gloom based solely on the RT meter--it's not finalized yet.

It's not going to matter. This movie will make tons of money. There's no doom and gloom box office wise. It's got 3 weeks all to itself, till POTC 3 opens. Even then it will more than likley be 2nd. I don't see it dropping from # 1 till May 25th.

 

[Cmill216]

It's got 3 weeks all to itself, till POTC 3 opens. Even then it will more than likley be 2nd. I don't see it dropping from # 1 till May 25th.

Uh....Shrek the Third.

 

[FlawlessVictory]

It's not going to matter. This movie will make tons of money. There's no doom and gloom box office wise. It's got 3 weeks all to itself, till POTC 3 opens.

True, this movie will make a killing, no matter what the reviews are. SR may end up with the higher score on RT but SM3 will make SR's entire BO domestic run in a matter of days. Still though, some people may say they don't give an F what critics think, but I'm sure those same people would still rather have their favorite character or movie franchise get generally good reviews as opposed to mixed or poor ones.

 

[Carp Man]

True, this movie will make a killing, no matter what the reviews are. SR may end up with the higher score on RT but SM3 will make SR's entire BO domestic run in a matter of days. Still though, some people may say they don't give an F what critics think, but I'm sure those same people would still rather have their favorite character or movie franchise get generally good reviews as opposed to mixed or poor ones.

That's the point. Smash hit is not in doubt. Boat loads of money is not in doubt. How it is remembered, that's the thing, and right now, that is in doubt.

 

[Ultimate_Superman]

Dame. SR got 77 %. Spider-Man 3 62 %. I'm shocked.

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/superman_returns/

What is there to be shocked about????

Superman Returns was a great movie and IMO would have done much better at the box office had it not gone up against POTC2: DMC. I mean the movie had a great storyline just little action. Now Spider-Man 3 on the other hand has great action but no story line what so ever almost. Spider-Man 3 will be a box office hit because of Spider-Man 1 and Spider-Man 2 but really this movie looks like X-Men 3 great action but bad story telling. Superman Returns on the other hand was great story telling but little action which mainly was the movies fall. Had it had more action that movie would have ranked in the 80's.