DVD Review

SPIDER-MAN 3: Two Disc Special Edition
© Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

Grade: B+
Rated: PG-13
Cast: Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Thomas Hayden Church, and Topher Grace
Writer: Sam and Ivan Raimi
Director: Sam Raimi
Distributor: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Original Year of Release: 2007
Extras: Two Commentary tracks, a Dozen Featurettes, bloopers, worldwide TV ads, photo gallery.
Buy it now!

SPIDER-MAN 3: Two Disc Special Edition

By: Tim Janson
Date: Sunday, October 28, 2007

One of the biggest films of 2007, Spider-Man 3, hits DVD this Tuesday so it’s time to take a second look at the film, and the wide range of extras on the two disc special edition. Have you noticed how the directors of superhero films cannot resist the temptation to make each sequel bigger than the previous film? With each new installment they add more characters, more fights, more effects, more chases, more, more, more of everything. We saw it with Superman, Batman, X-Men, heck even with Blade. In Spider-Man 3 we have three villains to contend with and a second love interest for Peter Parker. The reviews for Spider-Man 3 were a bit lukewarm for the theatrical release from fans and critics. This is a better film than the somewhat morose Spider-Man 2. In part this owes to my own predilection towards Venom and the Sandman as opposed to Doctor Octopus who I never liked as a villain.

From a comic fans perspective, Spider-Man 3 feels more like a comic than the first two films. It has that episodic quality as it moves from fight scene to personal scene and back again for the entire film. The opening fight featuring Peter battling Harry Osborne was the best action sequence in any of the three films. What made the fight unique is that they were both in street clothes and it truly was Peter vs. Harry, not Spider-Man Vs. the Green Goblin. This scene brought home Spider-Man’s incredible agility in a breathtaking way as he found himself on the defense and on the run from Harry’s hi-tech arsenal of weapons. This WAS Spider-Man!

In Peter’s personal life, things are going poorly as usual…Harry blames him for killing his father, Mary Jane is fired after just one performance in her first Broadway production, and a rival photographer named Eddie Brock is stealing Pete’s thunder at the Daily Bugle. Making matters even worse is the rise of a new villain, The Sandman. Flint Marko is a small-time criminal with a tragic twist…he’s stealing to come up with the money to pay for his daughter’s medical treatments. A police chase leads Marko to his eventual run-in with a particle accelerator and the molecular rearrangement of his body into a pile of living sand, which he can mold into various weapons, float on the wind, and grow to gigantic proportions. That’s not Parker’s only problem, however. A meteorite crashes on Earth containing a gooey black substance…the symbiote that will attach itself to Spider-Man, creating the black costume Spider-Man, boosting his powers but also altering Pete’s mind, making him more callous and aggressive.

The Sandman was one of the best things in Spider-Man 3. The choice of Thomas Hayden Church to play the role was an inspired bit of casting. He IS the Sandman, and manages to create a sympathetic role not just because the script says he should be, but also because he plays the character with emotion. The only thing that didn’t work for me was the clumsy attempt to insinuate him into Spider-Man’s origin. This came off as an unneeded complication.

While I like the Venom character his inclusion seemed rush into the picture and yet another plot device that overburdened the film. The character doesn’t even appear until close to the end of the film and it would have been best had his appearance been held off until another sequel. This is where writer/director Sam Raimi was most guilty in trying to add more…And while Thomas Hayden Church was a great choice for his role, Topher Grace as Eddie Brock/Venom…not so much. I just couldn’t buy “Eric Forman” as a malevolent villain.

The DVD set is loaded with over six hours of extras including two commentary tracks, one with cast members Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Thomas Hayden Church, and Topher Grace along with Raimi; and one with producer Avi Arad, Editor Bob Murawski, and visual effects supervisor Scott Stokdyk. There are a dozen short featurettes on the making of the Sandman, Venom and the new Green Goblin; the collapsing floor sequence, on location in Cleveland and New York, the “Science of Sound”, “Inside the editing room” and more. There’s also bloopers and TV spots from all over the world. It’s kind of cool to see the Russian and German Spider-Man 3 commercials.

While Raimi certainly is guilty of trying to do too much, he still delivered a very good entry in the series. The report is that Sony plans at least three more sequels although whether those will feature the same cast members and Raimi is yet to be decided. Spider-Man 3 did introduce Dr. Curt Connor who eventually becomes The Lizard. Outside of possibly Batman, no other hero has as wide a diversity of villains as Spider-Man. My personal vote would be for Electro and Mysterio…but no one asked me! The film gets a B, the extras get an A-.

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Comments/Responses

shogunpimp • Oct 28, 2007, 12:46pm •

Actually, the character of Dr. Conners was introduced in the original Spider-man film and also appeared in the second one as well. Just FYI.

gauleyboy420 • Oct 28, 2007, 01:22pm •

While it's no secret I loved this movie, There is no way it's better in any way than the first, and especially not better than the second. Which I would not describe as morose. It was a tragic hero story. As is the Spiderman comic. I'm already in line for this DVD but I disagree with this review somewhat.

maverickrenegade • Oct 28, 2007, 02:30pm •

gauleyboy ... props for feeling the same way about the series as me.

SM was a FANTASTIC opener to a FANTASTIC series, and it only got better when SM2 hit theaters. in my opinion, the review is about 3/4 of the way correct for me. what i disagree with is the whole casting issue of eddie brock. i thot grace was perfect because they didnt cast for venom, they cast brock first before even looking at venom.

all in all, great review, and i will be in line for the DVD

skyn3t • Oct 28, 2007, 03:15pm •

I think Grace was a horrible choice for Venom as well. Personally, he should've been originally casted as Parker. Notice how when the two were in the Bugle together Grace out-Petered McGuire?

A better choice for Brock would've been Liev Schrieber from the Scream movies. He can play the obsessed nut type (look at Scream, the Manchurian Candidate), he's bigger than Grace physically, and just LOOKS like Eddie (dye his hair and put some highlights in and viola!).

And they should've INTRODUCED Venom, but have him be a thorn in Parker's side for the next set of movies, where finally in the last sequel, they make amends (spinoff opportunity).

But oh well, Hollywood is filled with nuts who think their vision is best and scoff (and belittle) at things that worked in comics. Venom is a major villain, and a successful one... and they could've used Venom as a major cash cow.

gauleyboy420 • Oct 29, 2007, 11:08am •

I agree Grace wasn't my ideal choice for Brock. But he did a great job. HOWEVER, IMHO Maguire is Peter Parker. Couldn't be anybody else, and I'm afraid they won't be able to cast as geeky when Spidey 4 comes out.

Filch • Oct 30, 2007, 07:02pm •

1. All three of these movies sucked but nothing sucked more than this one. To much CG (and not good CG either) Sand man is a boring villan, The story has WAY to much going on. Gwen Stacy's Charicter was a waste as was Venom... Hell Venom is A hole trilogy on his own. The casting of topher was one of the things I thought was ok about this mess. It`s time to recast this franchise with a new director. To all of you who liked this crap fest all I can say to you is...There is no Frak`n way that peter Parker should have a singing and danceing number...one of the worst movies this year. Thanks for nothing Rami

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