I saw it this afternoon, and I've gotta say, the action was cool, but it suffered in the same aspects Spider-Man 2 did: Too. Much. Drama. And not new drama either, but the rehashed drama thats been throughout the trilogy.

Still, it was a satisfactory film if you're a diehard Spidey fan. I enjoyed it. I'm enjoying the game so far, so after I'm done playing with it a little more, maybe those of us who have seen it can spoiler tag our opinions on the movie .

I'm seeing it on IMAX on Monday. Looking forward to it.. IMAX tickets were sold out thru the weekend.

I live just outside of NYC so it's not much further than any other reasonable theater for me. The price is a bit higher, but I think it's worth it personally.. I would rather go to IMAX than any other theater out there.

Was alright.. enhanced by the IMAX experience as expected. The screen delivers, at least. I liked it overall.. better than part two at least. Flawed but entertaining.

Yea I know. It wasn't until we played Crackdown co-op that I found out Panzer was really a chick.My thoughts exactly.

I enjoyed the end scene the most. Harry and Peter teaming up to take down Sandman and Venom. That kicked ass. I just wish they had shown fewer scenes of Emo Parker and more random scenes of Black Suit Spidey fighting crime, and going a bit too far. Those pics that got him the staff job looked interesting. Would've been nice to see them in motion. Oh well. Spider-Man 3.1 I guess.

If you don't like Superfriend team-ups, then I better find a new H3 beta partner. Dammit Kenshin, when I say throw grenades at the grav lift to give me a super boost over the enemy position, I expect you to do it with a Super-team attitude!

(This wasn't in response to Archaos specifically even though the post says so. I just "quoted" him to get the spoiler tags)



Let's just say I have a lot of comic reading time invested in Spider-Man. I subscribed to it for about six years, and even as a kid, the human conflicts, morality and emotional depth was what dragged me in. I'm gay like that.

So, for me, going into the third film after having heard mostly disappointed views on it, I feared that the drama would be a casuality of a studio insisted Venom inclusion and too many villains in the same film, resulting in a fighting orgy the size of X-Men 3.

I was very, very relieved.

Every core emotional thread is carefully followed up in this film, and it really does take its time to include some heartfelt moments like Ursula and aunt May. But also, in doing so it becomes a very selfish plot where - let's call it "the stuff I like" - takes center stage and everything else is "spidey stuff on top". Where 1 and 2 carefully weaved its super hero bits in with the drama, this film barely needed the super hero bits at all in their current form.

I blame Venom. See, I love Venom in the comics, but I never wanted him in the films. He represents stuff far too fantastical to mix well with the earthliness of these movies. Even though the effects are great, he is detached from the "feelings" in this film. He just doesn't click.

There are many reasons why Venom ruins Spider-man 3, but the most obvious way is how he steals screen time enough to make Sandman's plot feel largely irrelevant (apart from teaching Spidey the lesson of gray zones - the fact that it's not all about good/evil) but not enough to make HIMSELF relevant. He also disturbs the balance of the "threats", especially towards the finale, making it the absolutely least satisfying part of the movie where you end up not caring about anybody's resolution.

Except Peter's. As the truth behind Ben's death and the circumstances surrounding the robbery are revealed, Peter learns the power of forgiveness. Moments later, he himself is forgiven. These things work, despite Venom being shoehorned into the story - but man they could've been so much more powerful without him.

If you want a villain plotline that feels absolutely coherent and motivated then you'll be disappointed. This is Batman Begins, but instead of putting all of the stupid badguy plot in the third act, this tries to evenly sprinkle it across the whole film. Even though this helps in keeping the pace up, it rarely complements the drama particularly well. That said, the first 1½ act is pretty tight even in terms of giving the action emotional weight.

So, bottom line is.. this is a third film for those that care about Peter. The "evil Peter" stuff has an 80s musical feel to it (not just the dancing, the entire attitude towards badboyism) and that might not appeal to everyone, but the core story is there, fully intact, and it makes perfect sense as a next step in the maturing super hero's life.