Saturday, May 5, 2007

THE SPIDER SENSE IS TINGLING

SPIDER-MAN 3 (Sam Raimi, 2007)

Spiderman 3 is without a DOUBT, an ENORMOUS DISAPPOINTMENT. Considering its predecessor Spiderman 2 has been often touted as the best superhero movie ever made (although personally I'd choose Batman Begins all the way!), maybe it's the considerable high standards that i've come to expect from this series, and from Raimi and co., that detracts the overall experience of the film. But as it stands, and being the most expensive movie ever made, it definitely should have been better, or at least provide a satisfactory conclusion to the trilogy.

Judging by the trailers, I first thought that this entry would be a much 'darker' and 'violent' version (treading the path of Batman Begins). A black Spiderman, and the promise of Venom as one the villains, are enough to put fanboys in ecstacy.

Instead, Spiderman 3 is more or less similar in tone as the prequels. Only differing in terms of quality; it's messy, bloated and lacklustre in almost every regard. Raimi dished out too much of everything. Too many villains. Too many characters. Too many subplots. In this case, 'more' turns out to be 'less'. It is painfully obvious that no attention was paid towards the 'script', or much of the things that made the prequels great in the first place. Spiderman 2 explores Peter Parker's inner turmoil with sufficient depth and focus whereas Spidey 3 only skims the surface in terms of character developments. And Doc Ock is a more compelling villain than Sandman, Goblin, and Venom combined.

The sappy 'soap opera-ish' story didnt help either. Boring and ultimately unnecessary. The dialogues are dry and cringe-inducing; sorely lacking compared to its predecessor. Sandman is underused, and its 'tidy' tie-up to Peter's history felt 'tacked-on'. Like a lame reason just to introduce the character, and show off the CGI effects. And not forgetting the plainly corny "father-child" subplot, trying too hard to squeeze out the audience's sympathy on the character. The best villain in it would probably be Venom. But again, he appeared too late, and too short a time to make an impression. However, it was Harry Osborne that stands out above the rest. His inner demons and ongoing feud with Peter are compelling enough to garner attention, even when the script sinks into 'Opera' world (particularly towards the end).

Don't get me wrong, there ARE some good, if not great, parts in the movie. But alas, they are scattered all over, with the horrible parts sticking out like a sore thumb. The only thing this film excelled at, is in the action sequences department. At best, they are as exhilirating and imaginative as its predecessor. The special effects are just jaw-dropping. I think the movie would fare better if they would just shut it on the 'melodrama' part, and just get on with the action. Aaahh but let's not forget the Bruce Campbell cameo. Priceless! I'd even be so bold as to claim him as the best thing in the movie!

That said, Spiderman 3 turned out to be just a passable action movie, but a failure as an entry in the series, thus ending the trilogy on a sour note. It's no wonder that the movie's promotions are off the charts. Seems to me that the guys in Sony weren't all that 'convinced' on this entry in the first place. In the meantime, let's not hope this would mark the start of a 'Summer Movie Curse'.

Verdict: 2.5/5

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

woi 2.5/5 je?
kasi up arr sket...
effect dia cun oo

Noor Ashraaf said...

the scripts are not as "menyengat" as previous two..

ups and downs with unnecessary lame acts and plots.. parker being "gothic" ?? audience watching final battle between superheroes? tak takut mati ke?

venom wants to kill spidey because of a photograph? humiliated?

sandman wants to kill spidey because he gets in his way? and at the ending just by talk settles things out..why not talk at first?

wtf? dances in the bar to revenge his girl ?


this movie is so gay!!

yups! so gay!

1.0 / 5

maberik said...

haha botak chin...efek dia mmg best.tapi lain2 hancusss...

acap...ala kan skarang ni 'pasca-Brokeback Mountain'. semua filem nak ada 'gay' undercurrents(haha). terutamanya 300(raja gay blockbuster movie).

maberik said...

kalau ada banyak lagi scene Bruce Campbell...mungkin aku boley kasi up lagi a sket.haha

ghoyye said...

'spiderman 3' from the spiderman franchise is almost equivalent to 'batman & robin' from the batman series. too many characters and the melodramatic elements were just way too over-the-top.

LOVE bruce campbell scene!

maberik said...

Bruce Campbell gonna do 'Evil Dead 4' and 'Bubba Nosferatu'(sequel to Bubba Ho-Tep).

gila cool

Kahuna said...

i've never been a fan of any superhero movies. so ALL of those spiderman, superman, batman, x-men and whatnot will score 1/10 on my scale.

haha

Ajami Hashim said...

Salaam bro!

fyi Tayangan Unggul Sdn. Bhd. sedang menganjurkan pertandingan mereka-cipta poster filem Anak Halal arahan Osman Ali. Sila klik link berikut utk keterangan lanjut:

http://bloganakhalal.blogspot.com/

sila sebarkan maklumat ini!

p/s: i dah balik ke rumah asal.. ajamihashim.blogspot.com dah tutup kedai! tukau lah link i balik to bicaraskrip.. huhu!

Anonymous said...

hmmm... stuju... stuju... aku pun rasa filem nih sangat 'sesak' sampai aku naik pening... banyak sangat 'sampah'... owh!.. kau tak buat review SUMO-lah ke? bagi aku sumolah is a good movie aku tengok 3 kali hahaha... kecuali promosi celcom&ogawa yang a bit berlebihan.
nih gua show off foto gua ngan afdlin malam tadi.. (waktu promo sumolah di kuching)
http://img511.imageshack.us/img511/7073/img0028go2.jpg

1 lagi hal... dalam tontonfilem kau kata pasal BLACK SHEEP... MANA KAU DAPAT... SITE MANA? KUALITI DVD KE? jeles tul la aku kalo kau dah tengok... bagitau la... aku pun nak~~~

maberik said...

SUMO-LAH belum tengok lagi. musim2 exam ni la banyak cite nak tengok. I Dont Want To Sleep Alone, trilogi James Lee, 28 Weeks Later, n Sumo-lah. huhu

Black Sheep download kat torrent. tapi versi 'workprint'(incomplete. muzik latar takde).

wo cool dpt begambar ngan afdlin~

Pilot Editoring (PE) said...

batman begins gak paling syok

fadz said...

enjoy jugak tgk citer sop selam ni..hahah