Friday, May 04, 2007

Spider-Man 3

A very quick review, impressions of the movie and tomorrow I should do something a little more coherent.

First off the movie feels a little on the long side and has occasional moments that made me cringe as too stupid or too weepy. There is a scene where Peter under the influence of the alien costume hits Mary Jane that made me feel a tad uncomfortable.

Also way too much is happening in one movie. I think they could have cut out thirty minutes and deleted one of the villains and still made a great movie.

Overall though an nice wrap up to a wonderful trilogy and certainly will be one of the best (when taken as a whole)

Also PS - if you little ones are too frelling little to watch a two hour movie at home don't bring them to the movie theatre.


Grade B

6 comments:

  1. There were little ones in the theater I was at that let out at 1am.

    I thought the first 2/3's of the film was the best it's ever been. But that last 1/3 was waaay to hokey and cheesy. Cool final fight scene but lacked the emotional punch it needed.

    I honestly thought Harry was the best of all the villains.

    Though it needed to end by the time it did, that ending should have been better.

    And they should have done with with Bruce Campbell playing the same character he was halfway through.

    Cheers.

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  2. I absolutely loved it!!! Even the ending, all three or four of them. I really liked it when Peter forgave the Sandman (whose SFX were awesome.) I thought MJ and Harry did their best acting in this one.

    I was cringing for a different reason - "Man, don't do that - How could you - that is so bad!" (I'm paraphrasing myself here). The scene on the Central Park bridge - ouch! Hey, I guess that's one good thing about past heartaches, it helps you identify with Peter better...

    I also really liked it when Peter was using his brains like in the Ditko days to defeat Venom - that was so cool.

    I just watched 2.1 recently and as much as I loved that one, I thought this one was even better. Although, I really thought it would end at the funeral with MJ saying goodbye to Peter, like he did in number one.

    I can't help it if I'm a bit "Hokie" myself.

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  3. Well, Spidey 3 is breaking all kinds of box office records. Thanks to your review it will not be seeing any of my green. Spidey hits MJ?!?! This totally pisses me off! I didn't like it when Peter open-handed slapped MJ and I sure don't want to see him smack her on the big screen, even under the influence of an evil symbiote. That's not the Spidey that I know and love. What's next? Pym struck his wife one time way back in the 60's and now he's the poster boy for wifebeating. Will Petey now join him? In a society where violence towards women is on the rise I find it inexcusable for them to have Spidey, an icon to young males all over the globe, srike a woman. We should be showing them that it's never okay to hit a female, not that it's fine as long as you're not in control, be it via a black costume or rage. Screw this movie. I am never going to see it. Where have all the true superheroes gone???

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  4. To be fair, Peter was laying on the smack down to many individuals when he lashed out not realizing it was her.

    Then he realized what he had done.

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  5. Jeff - I completely respect your decision to not see the film based on a scene you don't approve of. I was similarly grieved when I read the last issue of The Spirit that came out the week of the VT massacre. The scenes where the Cossack is executing his underlings was particularly brutal to me (and from what I've been told - it's tame compared to some things out there). Of course it was only depicting the reality of gun violence, but that week especially I was particularly sensitive to the reality of pain and death that hateful individuals inflict with guns. It really shook me up that I had purchased this "entertainment" and in another week might not have even noticed it at all.

    Shawn is totally right in that Peter did not know MJ was there. But it was that act that made him realize the consequences of his recent actions and directly leads him getting rid of the symbiote. In no way did this movie depict Peter striking MJ as "okay". Neither was it "okay" when he hurt her emotionally by dancing seductively with Gwen in front of her, with the sole purpose of crushing her heart after she crushed his and using Gwen in the process. Physical abuse, emotional abuse, verbal abuse against women or children or anybody is bad.

    There are so many positive themes to this film. Something that many people worldwide embrace is the righteousness to get revenge. "If someone did that to my loved one, I would kill/hurt/maim them." Well, Peter is faced with that anger against Marko, he even thinks he has killed him and is shocked when Aunt May is horrified that Spidey would do such a thing. Cho felt he was righteous to kill his fellow students for real or perceived wrongs to him. The themes of out of control hatred and revenge and bitterness and jealousy are just as destructive as violence against women. But the film also shows the virtues of forgiveness, reconciliation, remorse and repentance. There are some excellent write-ups on the film that can be found at these links: http://www.pluggedinonline.com/movies/movies/a0003209.cfm

    http://www.onenewsnow.com/2007/05/perspectives_spiderman_3_and_t.php

    (I won't try to trick you into clicking where you might not want to go, but they are Christian sites and their analysis is rooted in the Bible.)

    I did read a disturbing comment on Newsarama where the individual said the audience laughed when MJ was struck. That's what growing up in a moral vacuum will do, where truth is taught to be relative. In our society, we condemn censorship and rightfully so. But we try to protect children and beyond that we have to censor ourselves. If I don't want to be exposed to particular language or images or themes, then I need to stay away. Likewise, if the hitting MJ scene will enrage you - why pay for it? Some will see it and be enraged and never want to see such things, other will see it as a turning point in the storyline that's very disturbing and others will see it and laugh and think it's cool.

    I thought the scene during the Clone saga where Peter hit MJ was much worse and out of character, even if he was just told he was the clone. (Maybe he thought he was hitting his editors) Likewise, the way Bond treats the woman at the beginning of Goldfinger, throwing her down with his hand on her face (even if semi-playfully) is much worse and degrading to women. There is no real consequence(to him)to his treating women as objects for his enjoyment or use. And that type of scene would be more likely to influence people that it's "okay".

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  6. Thanks for the insight Matthew! What gets me is that there are so many other ways they could have shown that the evil costume was affecting Peter's personality. They did not need to resort to him hitting MJ. As adults we know the point they were going for, but kids just take in what they see at face value. I know many men who would equate alcohol or anger to the symbiote. If it's okay for Peter to hit MJ while under the effects of an evil costume, then why isn't it okay for a man who is drunk or really pissed off to hit a woman?? In my book it's never okay for a dude to strike a lady. They had to know that millions of little kids were gonna see this movie. So if Johnny flails around the house playing superhero and smacks little Sally in the face with a roundhouse kick are his parents supposed to let him get away with it? The only thing worse they could have done to show that Pete was going evil would be to have him push Aunt May down a flight of stairs. Damn. I really loved Spider-mans 1&2. Such a shame that they have driven me away from Spidey 3. My heartfelt thanks to all of you for the spoilers. I would have had to walk out of the cinema after shelling out $10 had I not come here before deciding to hit the movies. I hope that in the future superheroes return to the iconic, noble status that they once held.

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