The Third Installment

I looked forward to Spider-Man 3 really badly. I was skeptical on the first and second films, and was proven wrong both times. So I thought the third one must be just as good or even better. Unfortunately, I was proven wrong again.

Spidey 3 is not a bad film. It looks as good as the first two; but I did not feel the same resonance as I did with the first two. There was even moments that I thought, "I hate this Peter Parker." I could not identify what exactly the film lacks compared to the other two. Execution, perhaps?

Probably the main reason is too many things going on in one film. I suspect the writers added Venom because a lot of fans wrote that they wanted to see Venom in the third film all over teh Intarweb. I wonder if the film would be better had the villain been only Sandman. That way, more time is available to explore "the battle within"--promised by the film's tag line--Peter and Harry (and, to certain extent, MJ).

(Warning: possible spoilers after this.)

Moments I dislike in the film:

• The way Harry changed his mind by his butler. I was expecting the change to be some thing like "my father went that way, I won't; I am a different man from him." What I got was a (somewhat) immature change of mind just because an older person says so.
• WTH did Harry jumped in front of Peter in the climax fight? How could he change that far in the span of (probably) a few minutes?
• The resolution between Marko and Peter. Ugh, just by "I forgive you" everything is alright? What about the things Marko did so far? The Spidey I know would have said "I understand your situation and everything, but I still gotta put you behind bars."

I do like the tension built up between Peter and MJ. I think their problem happens everywhere. After all, is it not more difficult to tell our negative stories (e.g. being fired from a play) to the closest person than to (more-or-less) strangers?

Good film, but could have been incredible.