Spidey Returns

by Kerry Richards

One of the most eagerly anticipated summer movies came out this past Friday: Spiderman 3. However, the anticipation might not have been worth it as this movie was, in short, disappointing. There was too much plot, which is usually unheard of for an action movie. Each tiny part of plot made up about a half hour before a whole new plot was introduced. It seems as if the writers could simply not decide what they wanted this to be, an action movie, a romance, or a somber tale of revenge.
The movie's first plot was that of Mary Jane's, Spiderman's girlfriend's, failed attempt at being on Broadway and her dealing with her jealousy over Spiderman's popularity. Quickly her jealousy shifted from being about careers to being about love. This plot introduced Gwen Stacy, played by Bryce Dallas Howard. Howard managed to pull off quite a remarkable performance despite the little screen time she was allowed and the fact that no one ever bothered to develop her character beyond stock status.
Inner demons were the next conflict of the movie. Peter Parker, after being affected by some sort of never explained black slime, becomes cocky and overly sure of himself. This plot was merely used to make Tobey Maguire as annoying as possible. I fail to understand why the writers decided to turn us against our hero. However, this did lead to the next plot of Parker becoming jealous of Mary Jane and his friend Harry Osborn's new relationship. James Franco, as Osborn, pulled of the best performance of the movie making a somewhat annoying character into one that everyone rooted for.
Finally, the action kicked in with Venom, Topher Grace's Eddie Brock now being infested with the black goo, and Sandman, Thomas Haden Church, kidnapping Mary Jane. However, this action sequence wasn't even that interesting and by this time I had given up caring about what happened to any of them.
Overall, this plot was too much. It was convoluted and overdone. If the writers had simply chosen one plot and ran with it, this movie could have worked. If they had provided a back story for the new characters or kept them on screen long enough for the audience to see them as more than stock, this movie would have worked so much better. Luckily, the actors were charismatic enough to make the very weak plot somewhat bearable.