Spider-Man 3, as reviewed by Darkmoon (Spoilers Inside)

[Darkmoon]

I'll take the reigns of a review and do this the right proper way...

We start Spider-Man 3 with a recap (through the credits) of the first two flicks... although, honestly, if you haven't seen the first two, the credits might leave you with more questions than answer. Be that as it may, there isn't a lot of information presented in the third flick you can't glean from the story and the characters themselves.

Peter Parker is lookin to move forward with his life. Spider-Man is popular. Everyone in the city loves him.... well, except for Mary Jane, who is having a little jealousy, sharing him with the world. She also feels like he's not connected to her as much as she'd like.

Compounding that are other problems. A new girl, Gwen Stacy, makes herself apparent in Peter's life. Harry Osborn keeps screwing things up in Peter's life. Eddie Brock, the new photographer at the Daily Bugle, keeps trying to steal a job out from under Peter... Everyone wants a part of Peter, and, as the movie builds, everyone wants a part of Spider-Man.

Oh, and let's not forget that there's this pesky symbiote making things interesting for Peter...

It's a lot of plotlines running at once, but as the movie goes, you see them all tie together... and yes, everything ties together eventually. In all honest, I went into the movie with trepidation. How were they going to be able to balance three villains simultaneously and not have the movie feel too cluttered or hectic? They do it marvelously, although, sadly, I can't say too much without ruining the movie's twists and turns.

Writing wise, I was pleased with the flick. The dialogue is solid, with few bad lines or stupid moments. It's a more lighthearted affair throughout than the previous flick. That was an issue I had with Spider-Man 2... it was much more of a downer in the Peter parts. Here there's a good bit of humor, and the movie doesn't take itself too seriously. You can tell the people making it had fun.

That said, not everything is great. While all the side characters were well performed (props to Bruce Campbell for his great cameo), the two leads were often flat, especially when they were expected to act with strong, sad emotion. The only time I bought them when their acting was tested was near the end, when an important character dies. They both performed that sequence well... makes me wish they could have been that good throughout.

Hoever, the direction helps to balance out any bad acting. To say that Sam Raimi has gotten comfortable with directing Spider-Man to the point that he is willing to just fly right off the handle of self-control is an under statement. The moves and stunts he plots out for Spider-Man are stunning. There were more than a few sequences that had me on the edge of my seat, which, as a jaded movie watcher, doesn't happen very often.

On the whole, I think it was a much better flick than the second one, which I wasn't as big a fan of. Even if you end up prefering the previous two flicks over this one, you won't be able to quibble much with this solid production.

8.2 out of 10

[Zedd]

He is no longer just Spiderman...oh no...he is now known as ....THE EMO SPIDER! Next thing i would wonder if he was gonna cut himself next...Rember..Down the lane! Not across the street!

[RJ]

Eh, watched it last night: not enough character development;  too many characters; MJ was a jealous attention whore; I always thought Brock was beefier than that; Emo-Fringe-Peter only needed eyeliner and the crowd would have died laughing; Sandman can cry?; how the hell did Harry survive a bomb to the face?; not enough Venom; too much humour in comparison to the last two.

I liked Sandman, but that's about all I liked.

[rabid_fox]

If only they could work some Ian McKellan in there. Anyway, I enjoyed it heartily. Sure, it was all over the place and sure, it veered off the comics (which, by the way, I always consider a good thing, cause it give you something new to watch) and sure, the fact that Venom induced soul-searching maudlin psuedo-Hamletness rather than enjoyment of being super-awesome was were all a bit mind bending, but at the end of the day, it entertained fantastically.

The fight scenes were superbly put together again, and that's what you really want out of a super-hero movie.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

I think ctrl-alt-del summed it up neatly:

Like so.

*grin*

[Caswin]

Hm, do de do, going steady with Mary Jane, my awesome girlfriend whom I love - think I'll just swing on over, peel half my mask off, in doing so revealing the bottom half of my face to a huge crowd of people, and give an open-mouthed kiss to my lab partner for no particularly good reason.

Isn't Peter supposed to be, um, smart?

how the hell did Harry survive a bomb to the face?

That, too.

Other than that, liked it.

[RJ]

Don't forget just why they decided to place that open-hole testing facility in the middle of nowhere behind a single barbed wire fence.

[Kenji]

Well, Harry flopped away while the bomb was coming. So he just got Phantom of the Opera'd.

Hey, there were a few nicks here in there in the script, but I liked it. Of course, since movies generally only go up to trilogies before going into hibernation for forever (sans Land Before time...), they probably were actually going for one less stunning than the other two. Just for that "get the audience to beg for a better, shinier sequel" thing.

I just wish Venom did the tongue thing. Or at least the talking in 3rd person.

[Zedd]

Well, Harry flopped away while the bomb was coming. So he just got Phantom of the Opera'd.

Hey, there were a few nicks here in there in the script, but I liked it. Of course, since movies generally only go up to trilogies before going into hibernation for forever (sans Land Before time...), they probably were actually going for one less stunning than the other two. Just for that "get the audience to beg for a better, shinier sequel" thing.

I just wish Venom did the tongue thing. Or at least the talking in 3rd person.

We arent eddy brock...We are VENOM!!

[Alondro]

We aren't Venom!   We are Legion! 

Uhm... wasn't the symbiote supposed to come in on a spaceship with Jameson's son? 

It just kinda coincidently dropped onto the web there.  Hmm... it could have been a conspiracy!  *looks at secret photos... and discovers a hazy figure that looks like Stan Lee tipping over a jar labeled "Major Plot Device" from a tree top!*   

[Supercheese]

Man, lose the emo look. Sheesh.

Hey wait. Aren't you going to do something more than just save Gwen Stacy? Where are you going?

I totally agree with this. I said something to this effect during the movie. I mean, really.


There's a couple odd things I was left with as I left the theater:

What about that little symbiote specimen left with his Physics teacher? That's still there - didn't get destroyed with the rest of it...

Also, now that a certain someone has passed away, who will inherit the mansion, money, etc? I guess they should have some relatives somewhere... but it would certainly be interesting if his fortune was willed to someone plot convenient.

Lastly, if Sandman just wanted money, he doesn't need to rob banks. Just turn himself for research at Harvard or Stanford. They'd happily pay him millions to run tests on him and whatnot. But that wouldn't make for a very good movie, now would it?

[Toric]

I once read an article online about a phenomenon known as "plot stupidity," in which characters make grossly unintelligent or out-of-character decisions for the sake of developing the plot. This movie had a lot of 'em. [Multiple pseudo-spoiler alert!]

The Spider-Kiss, as previously explained.
Mary Jane: "Nope, no reason at all to tell my boyfriend I got canned. Forget the fact that he'll be talking about my Broadway show non-stop every time I see him. Everything will be fine if I just get bitter and jealous of his popularity while expecting him to pick up on what's wrong. No problem here, no reason to tell him."
Harry really didn't need much convincing at all to inflict bodily harm upon MJ and lie to both her and Peter.
When something drips on your jacket and starts moving around, after you discard the jacket you MOVE!!!
The entire club dance scene. I know the dude thought he was being cheated on, but seriously, what the heck?
Brock blaming Parker for his downfall. Responsibility is at a premium these days.

With that out of the way, good things. Venom looked awesome, Sandman's motives seemed to make more sense than I've heard, and of course the fights were awesome.

[Zedd]

I really dont mind they wanted make the bang of a buck on the webhead but sheesh...I dont care if he saved her...Gwen Stacy should been left fall to her demize...Like the comic book my red fanny

[RJ]

Huh... my brother has been playing the Wii game (which has some serious issues), and I had completely forgotten that the scientist in the movie was the same guy who became that Lizard-man. The game has it though.

[Darkmoon]

I'm locking this thread because it was not an actual review. You may make a new thread when you actually take the time to write a proper review. I felt cheated because this thread was made by the "Official DMFA Movie Reviewer." t had that mark as being an actual review, and it wasn't. It was just... lame.

Future failure to do this will result in similar repercussions.

[Darkmoon]

Topic reopened for further discussion.

[RJ]

Huzzah, now back to complaining.

[Damaris]

I personally really liked the movie.  I thought it was extremely well done.  Yeah, it doesn't follow the comic book perfectly, but for the love of shiny things, it's a movie, not a comic.  Sometimes things don't translate.

I would have loved the "We will eat your brains," thought.  I feel that was a bit of an oversight, but whatever.  It's not like they made Venom into a sweet teddy bear fluff or anything.

[Zedd]

Teddy bear made of massave tar and teeth

[Caswin]

Brock blaming Parker for his downfall. Responsibility is at a premium these days.

Well, you can hardly say it's unrealistically stupid...

[Gryphon]

Huh. First time I had a topic stolen from me. Wonder where mine went. Generally speaking? I thought some people rather not have the movie experience ruined. If people want a full review instead of a spoiler listing I would like to know before the next movie review.

[Damaris]

Huh. First time I had a topic stolen from me. Wonder where mine went. Generally speaking? I thought some people rather not have the movie experience ruined. If people want a full review instead of a spoiler listing I would like to know before the next movie review.

Giving a review of the movie with a basic, spoiler free outline is not ruining the movie. Very little of what was said in the above review was outside of the footage in the trailers.

As it stands, if you're going to call it a "review" it has to actually contain some type of paragraph, preferably several.  With opinions, and a bit of analyzation. A list of items is not a review. It's lazy.  Not to mention the fact that I waited until after I saw the movie to read your bullet points, and I still didn't know what you were getting at 75% of the time.

I know Darkmoon wants a real review next time, and as far as he (and his ego) are concerned, he's the only one that matters. If you want to continue your bulleted list, fine, but don't insult the people who actually take the time to make well thought out analyzations, comparisions, and reviews by using that "official reviewer" button.  That should be reserved for someone who... makes an effort.

And to answer your question- it's in the Mine.

[Darkmoon]

Along with all the other useless posts.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

.. and some of Darkmoons ones.... *hides*

[Netami]

I'm not exactly sure if anyone has a problem with 2 The Gryphon being our official movie reviewer. You can hold a vote, if you'd like, but I am pretty sure someone made him that button and you've butted heads with him regarding this topic before... With the exception of the whopping five non-furs that frequent this forum, I doubt any member would be object to him making said posts.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

He's not tagging himself as the "official DMFA Forum movie reviewer" - if he was, we might get some say.

He's tagging himself as the "Official DMFA movie reviewer", and there's only one person who can tag someone as Official DMFA anything, and that's Amber.

Now, that might be not quite what he meant, and it might not be what he wanted the image to say, but it's what it -is- saying. On those grounds, Amber has full rights to complain. Hell, she has full rights to stand him up against a wall and sarcastic him in his figgins*, and I'll happily hold her coat while she does so.

Assuming she wants me to, of course.



* See Terry Pratchett. Or (c), even.

[ITOS]

On the whole "Official DMFA movie reviewer"-tag thing, there was no vote or ceremony involved in Gryphon getting that tag.

In one thread on the old forum some people said something about electing Gryphon as official movie reviewer since he was often the one making topics about new movies. I got that picture in my head and didn't really think it would be used.

Unfortunately, I'm not one of the ones who saved the old forum so I'm not sure.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

You're welcome to look it up - http://nice.llearch.net/

There's a reason I provide that service :-)

[Alondro]

*Charles becomes the official movie reviewer*  It stinks!  It stinks!  It stinks!

*psychiatrist*  Yes, Mr. de Charleroy, everything stinks. 

[Darkmoon]

I Amber wanted to make him said official reviewer, she is more than welcome o. That would giv him the title of "Official DMFA Movie Reviewer".

If he wanted to title of "Official CMF Movie Reviewer" there would have to be two votes, and he would have to win both. He'd first have to win a vote among the admins to see if they, being the ones in control of CMF, want him as the reviewer, then he'd have to win a vote among "the peoples."