The main criticisms about the film were that it was too convoluted due to there being three villains and apparently this was Marvel's fault rather than Raimi. The original plot of the film had it being a straight confrontation between Spiderman and the New Goblin (Harry Osborn) following the events at the end of Spiderman 2 with Sandman also being introduced as Gobbo's henchman. However, Marvel insisted that two new characters, Venom and Gwen Stacey (an alternative love interest for Peter) should be introduced leading to Raimi having to do a very hasty rewrite just before shooting started with critics saying that the gaps in the story were pretty obvious unlike the two prequels. However, as we've discovered on this blog, a lot of Marvel films that were savaged around this time have actually held up reasonably okay in the intervening decade so let's see if this is another example...
The story picks up two years on from the events of Spiderman 2. Peter Parker has managed to put his tribulations from the previous film behind him and is now happily leading a dual existence of science student and newspaper photographer by day and web-slinging superhero by night while MJ has recently landed a lead role in a Broadway musical. The film opens with Peter attending the opening night and, on his way backstage to meet MJ, he runs into Harry Osborn who we find out is still estranged from him.
After the show, Peter and MJ are sat chilling out on a web in the park watching shooting stars. Unbeknown to them, one crashes to the ground and releases a load of black alien goo which attaches itself to Peter's moped as he drives off. This, as we'll see, will later transforme into Venom.
Once he's dropped MJ off, Peter goes round to his Aunt May's new place and tells her that he's planning to propose to MJ. Delighted, Aunt May gives him her old engagement ring to save him having to fork out for a new one. However, on the way home, Peter is attacked by Harry who has started using his father's old Green Goblin equipment to become the New Goblin. The pair have a high speed aerial chase which ends when Harry bashes his head on a steel pipe and ends up unconscious in the alley below.
Peter takes Harry to the hospital where MJ meets them. Although Osborn Jr is okay, the bump on his head has caused selective amnesia meaning he no longer has any memories of Peter being Spiderman or Spiderman apparently killing his father. To be honest, I find this a bit of a daft plot twist (wasn't Harry finding out about Peter and Spidey being the same person one of the key revelations in Spiderman 2? Why suddenly just undo it?) but hey, let's roll with it for now...
We're also introduced to the third villain in the film, Sandman - a petty thief called Flint Marko who's been pulling off robberies to fund medical treatment for his terminally ill daughter. On the run from the cops after breaking out of jail, Marko strays on to a government testing site and falls into a particle accelerator full of sand. His body is merged with the sand allowing him to essentially dissolve into dust whenever anyone tries to attack him.
In the run-up to Peter proposing, cracks are starting to appear in the relationship between him and MJ. After poor reviews, MJ is let go from her musical and when she goes to inform Peter, he's distracted when he receives a Spidey alert before she can tell him. The alert stems from an out of control crane that's crashed into a building where Peter's classmate Gwen Stacey (also the daughter of the Chief of Police) is doing a photoshoot in her part-time job as a model with Spidey saving her just as she's about to fall out of the window. We're also introduced to Gwen's boyfriend Eddie Brock who's just started as a photographer at the Daily Bugle and takes the opportunity to get some pictures of Spiderman. Brock is ruthlessly keen on taking Parker's job and is prepared to stop at nothing to get it as we see when both of them are called into a meeting with J Jonah Jamieson.
Spidey ends up attending a ceremony to thank him for his services at which Gwen, who's presenting, lays a smacker on him much to MJ's disgust. We see that Spidey's increasing fame has gone to Peter's head a bit with him becoming increasingly arrogant about his standing. Again, I accept this is a plot point but given that the whole portrayal of Peter in Spiderman 2 was as the ultimate underdog overcoming countless obstacles and hardships just to stay afloat, it makes his character a lot less sympathetic and kind of ruins a lot of the vibe that was built up in that film. However, the ceremony's interrupted when Sandman shows up to attack a bank security van. Spidey goes to the rescue but basically gets his arse handed to him on a plate.
Things really fall apart the following night when Peter takes MJ to a restaurant (Bruce Campbell cameo alert as he plays the maitre d'i here!) with the aim of proposing only for her to blow her top when Gwen shows up unexpectedly, accusing Peter of letting his double life take him over. She storms out of the restaurant leaving Peter wondering what just went wrong.
The next day, Peter and Aunt May receive a call from the police who inform them that Marko was the accomplice in the robbery at the wrestling arena from Spiderman 1 and that it was him, rather than his accomplice who shot Uncle Ben. Consumed by rage, he sits glued to his radio waiting for Marko to make a move. As he falls asleep in his Spiderman costume, the alien goo creeps on to the bed and bonds with it, turning it black. When Peter hears the call that Marko is causing trouble at the bank, he springs into action and finds that his new look suit is actually more powerful than the old one was.
Spiderman arrives at the bank just after Marko's left to be greeted by Brock who wants to take more pictures and ends up getting his camera smashed for his trouble. Upon tracing Sandman into the sewers, the pair have a vicious battle which ends with Spidey turning a high powered water jet on Sandman causing him to be washed away. Peter feels good for having avenged Uncle Ben but on returning to his flat, he ends up having a stand-up argument with his landlord as it appears the suit is bringing out a dark side to his personality. Oh and a new emo hairstyle as well.
Driven away by Peter, MJ ends up spending an evening cooking burritos with Harry but when the pair kiss afterwards, she feels guilty and leaves. As she does, Harry's father the Green Goblin appears to him and his memory is restored. Keen to once again wreak vengeance on Peter, he visits MJ and forces her to break up with Parker, saying he'll kill him if she doesn't.
Afterwards, Peter and Harry meet at a cafe where Harry claims to be "the other man" in MJ's life. Furious, the pair end up having a fight back at Harry's penthouse (with Peter in "Dark Spidey" mode) which ends when Peter deflects a pumpkin bomb back at Harry disfiguring his face.
With Peter's emo side taking over his life, he realises that Brock has sent some pictures in to the Bugle purporting to show Spiderman robbing the bank that Sandman looted which are actually Photoshopped versions of ones Peter took. Furious, he confronts Brock about it and, despite his pleading, drops the original shots off with Jamieson who fires Brock on the spot and prints a retraction.
We then see a series of rather silly sequences of emo Peter grooving down the sidewalk looking like the guy from My Chemical Romance doing some sort of "Billie Jean" era Michael Jackson impersonation. The whole thing comes to a head when Peter starts dating Gwen after she dumps Brock in the wake of him bring fired and taking her to the jazz club where MJ now works as a singing waitress and makes a point of dancing with her in a completely OTT fashion as MJ's singing onstage. Gwen realises the whole thing has been a set-up and storms out on Peter with MJ then sticking the bouncers on him after he hassles her at the bar. A commotion ensues and Peter inadvertently hits MJ before fleeing into the night in shame.
Rather belatedly, Peter realises that the suit is corrupting him. Working out that it's affected by loud noise, he heads up to a belltower and manages to shake it loose from his skin with the goo dripping down through the floor. Unbeknown to him though, Eddie Brock is in the church below praying for Peter's demise and the goop lands on him, transforming him into Venom.
Determined to wreak vengeance on Peter, Venom seeks out Sandman (who has now reformed after being washed out into the river) and the pair decide to team together, kidnapping MJ and holding her hostage on a construction site. Peter tries to get Harry to come along with him reasoning that he can't fight two supervillains on his own but Goblin Jr wants nothing to do with him. However, after Peter's gone, Harry's butler informs him of what actually happened the night his father died and he heads to the construction site to help Peter, saving him from being hammered into dust by Sandman.
Cue the end of film battle with Spiderman and Goblin eventually overcoming their foes. Harry manages to blow up Sandman with pumpkin bombs but is then impaled on his own glider after stepping in the way when Venom attempts to throw it at Spiderman. Although Venom has the upper hand for most of the fight, Spidey realises that sound is his weakness and manages to separate the suit from Eddie by imprisoning him in a circle of metal poles and repeatedly banging them to create vibrations. With the suit held in place he throws a pumpkin bomb in to destroy it only for Brock, who can't face the thought of being a normal human again, to fling himself into the suit and for both of them to be destroyed.
Unfortunately Peter and MJ are too late to save Harry but at least he dies with him and Peter having reconciled their differences. Peter also makes his peace with Sandman who apologises for killing Uncle Ben and explains that it was an accident as his accomplice made him panic and fire the gun and he's felt guilty about it ever since. Peter forgives him and he flies off on the wind to visit his daughter. The film ends with Peter paying MJ a visit at the jazz club and the pair finally reconciling and getting back together. Aww.
Like quite a few films from this era (Blade Trinity, Elektra), watching Spiderman 3 again a decade on from its original release, my overwhelming feeling is that it isn't anywhere near as bad as it felt at the time and I think a big part of that was how good its two predecessors were. The things wrong with it - three villains definitely equates to overkill and the storylines suffer as a result - Sandman hardly figures in the second half of the film while Venom is pretty much confined to the last 20-30 minutes and you can pretty much tell he was added into the plot as an afterthought. Also the emo Peter Parker scenes (especially at the jazz club) veer over into being downright silly at times and really detracts from the sympathy you feel for the character, especially bad given that this was Spiderman 2's main selling point.
And yet...and yet it's actually not that bad, certainly nowhere near as awful as some would tell you. Beneath all the convolution and silliness, there's a decent story here and the cast all give a good account of themselves. The action sequences are generally sound and there's some genuinely touching moments here between Peter, MJ and Harry. Overall, flawed though it is, Spiderman 3 does provide a sound enough conclusion to the noughties Spiderman trilogy.
Sam Raimi did actually start work on a Spiderman 4 which would have featured Spidey taking on the Vulture (who would eventually emerge as the main villain in the MCU's "Spiderman: Homecoming" many years later) and Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst both returning but after several rejected drafts he lost interest and walked out on the project leading it to be shelved. The result was that the series was rebooted under new director Marc Webb and...yeah, let's just say the new version left a bit to be desired. But more on that angst when we come to review it later this year...
FINAL RATING: 🕸🕸🕸🕸🕸🕸 (6/10)
CURRENT MARVEL FILM TABLE
1. Spiderman 2 (2004) (9/10)
2. Spiderman (2002) (9/10)
3. X-Men 2 (2002) (8/10)
4. Men In Black (1997) (8/10)
5. X-Men (2000) (8/10)
6. Blade 2 (2001) (7/10)
7. Blade (1998) (7/10)
8. The Incredible Hulk Returns (1988) (6/10)
9. Spiderman 3 (2007) (6/10)
10. The Punisher (2004) (6/10)
11. Conan The Barbarian (1982) (6/10)
12. Elektra (2005) (6/10)
13. Conan The Destroyer (1984) (6/10)
14. The Trial Of The Incredible Hulk (1989) (6/10)
15. X-Men: Last Stand (2006) (6/10)
16. Blade Trinity (2004) (6/10)
17. Men In Black 2 (2000) (6/10)
18. The Incredible Hulk (1977) (5/10)
19. The Fantastic Four (2005) (5/10)
20. Doctor Mordrid (1992) (5/10)
21. The Punisher (1989) (5/10)
22. Doctor Strange (1978) (5/10)
23. Nick Fury: Agent Of SHIELD (1998) (4/10)
24. The Fantastic Four (1994) (4/10)
25. Hulk (2003) (4/10)
26. Red Sonja (1985) (4/10)
27. Captain America 2: Death Too Soon (1979) (4/10)
28. Spiderman (1977) (4/10)
29. Ghost Rider (2007) (3/10)
30. Bride of the Incredible Hulk (1978) (3/10)
31. The Death Of The Incredible Hulk (1990) (3/10)
32. Man-Thing (2005) (3/10)
33. Return of the Incredible Hulk (1978) (3/10)
34. Spiderman: The Dragon's Challenge (1979) (3/10)
35. Howard The Duck (1986) (2/10)
36. Captain America (1990) (2/10)
37. Captain America (1979) (2/10)
38. Generation X (1996) (2/10)
39. Spiderman Strikes Back (1978) (2/10)
40. Daredevil (2003) (2/10)
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