Judging from early reviews, others may not quite agree with me, but "Spider-Man 3" is the best Spidey yet! Wow! This outing is jam-packed full of everything: personal challenges and trials, villains galore, and romance. Spidey gets caught in a web of romance!
Tobey Maguire delivers and is better-than-ever in the dual persona of Peter Parker/Spider-Man. Maguire was on with David Letterman and Jon Stewart the same night; he described the grueling task he had of flitting from city to city around the world for premieres.
Kirsten Dunst, with her natural blond hair tinted red -- is great as love interest Mary Jane Watson. In this episode, she contends with thwarted personal ambitions and the green demon. No, not
that demon... I'm referring to the specter of JEALOUSY. She gets very upset with an insensitive Spidey.
With her hair bleached up to blonde, Bryce Dallas Howard plays another female heart throb. I hardly recognized her since her last outing in the unfortunate "Lady in the Water."
James Franco once again plays friend-turned-enemy, Harry Osborne. Franco nicely portrays Harry as the wannabe friend who still feels compelled to avenge his father’s death. New villains of note are Flint Marko/Sandman played by Thomas Hayden Church (from "Sideways") and Eddie Brock/Venom played by Topher Grace.
The action is swift as Spidey swings and flies through the canyons of Manhattan. In addition to the bad guys mentioned earlier he also has to contend with an alien substance from outer space that surfaces his own dark side. (This movie just tweaked my love for licorice... and sand castles. You'll understand when you see the movie.)
Computer work just gets more and more amazing. I'd love to see this film in IMAX, but regrettably, I know I would be subjected to
"mal de mer" (motion sickness) in just a few minutes. I'm jealous of all you lucky people who don't have this problem on cars, trains, and busses, roller coasters, sometimes even on the carousel at Jantzen Beach here in Oregon.
There’s much more and the film runs runs two hours and twenty minutes. It's a little longer than necessary perhaps -- but at the end, you’ll still want more. Will there be another? Can #4 be a match for this excellent #3? I’m ready. Bring it on.
If I say much more about Spider-Man 3, I’ll start giving away the story. Instead, go and experience the excitement for yourself. Rated an "A" on Ellen's Entertainment Report Card. By the way, this film is doing quite well in other parts of the world where it has already opened.
Good news! Looks like "Spider-Man 3" was shot entirely in the U.S. of A. Hooray! Frankly, I'm so tired of other (Canadian) cities filling in for the actual NYC. That's just not right.
We were just coming back from Scotland last year on the Memorial Day weekend of 2006. We stayed at the Hilton Club of New York. The next block north at West 54th street and Sixth Avenue looked like a disaster area. We noticed that there was a film crew was shooting a scene right there. The doorman said it was "Spider-Man 3." They spent the whole three-day weekend with various shots at that location. They even blew up a Sabrett's hot dog stand. I felt a lot of compassion for the extras on that film. The temperature was in the mid-80s and they all were wearing WINTER COATS!
My husband was transfixed and caught some interesting digital shots. (SEE PHOTOS DOWNTHREAD.) I assume the Spider-Man who was in this scene was a stunt double. Still, it's always interesting to see movie crews out and about in the Big Apple. By Tuesday, they had cleared all the "debris" and wrapped the location. We saw the scene very briefly in the final film. Fascinating!
Also Known As: 3 (USA) (trailer title)
Spider-Man 3: The IMAX Experience (USA) (IMAX version)
MPAA: Rated PG-13 for sequences of intense action violence.
Runtime: 140 min
Country: USA
Language: English
Color: Color