I'm not putting spoiler tags because this whole post will be nothing but spoilers.
First I will say the good stuff:
As a trilogy closer, it tied up the 4 major story arcs set-up in the first.
- Peter and Mary Jane started as just friends, then realized they loved each other, then aimed for marriage.
- Harry and Peter finally resolved all their issues. Though it resulted in Harry's death, it was a good way to close the arc.
- Peter finally got closure over Uncle Ben's murder,
- Spider-man went from obscure, unknown hero to city wide acceptance.
Topher Grace
He did an amazing job as the always dejected, power hungry Eddie Brock, Jr. His portrayal at Venom seemed off at first, but then I quickly understood why. Venom became powerful, crazy, and conniving, just like Brock was. Brock's flaws were amplified by the suit.
Thomas Hayden Church
Grace was only out-acted by Church's great performance as Flint Marko. I'm not sure how he could cry being made of sand, but he gave a really powerful speech at the end that really delighted me with his range. I'd love to see him get more roles.
Character Chemistry
Though some poor performances by Dunst and Bryce, I have to say all the characters had excellent on-screen chemistry. Franco and Dunst, Dunst and Maguire, Maguire and Franco, Franco and Church, Church and Maguire, Maguire and Grace, Grace and Church, all of them were amazing on screen and made the slow and poor parts, quite bearable.
JK Simmons and Bruce Cambell
These two had amazing performances and really made the supporting cast great and well rounded. Stan Lee even did a great job.
Sadly, despite the good parts there were some parts I felt that just were helping the movie.
The Symbiote
Honestly, for being the whole part of the movie, the really downplayed it's importance and took all focus off of it in the first half. Why a meteor? This pissed me off right away because it meant that Parker found it by chance instead of doing his life saving thing as when Jameson brought it back on the rocket. Dr. Connors' role with the symbiote seemed quite poor and done from the wrong perspective. Spider-Man, with the black suit, should have brought him the symbiote. Why would Peter have it?
Venom Talked Normal
The lack of tongue didn't bother me, but the fact his mouth was almost the size of a normal humans face, yet he could speak quite articulately pissed me off. I loved Grace's performance as Venom, but that along really took it down.
Emo Parker
Honestly, as soon as he put his hair in front of his eye, I wanted to beat him. I didn't get the point at all for that other than a shot at pop culture. The street scenes were totally unnecessary with the dancing. Have the women follow him and Parker turn on them. I liked the fact that he bought the suit, because Raimi himself always wears suits, so I saw that as a throwback. The bar scene was actually pretty cool, until he started dancing like he had a mental deficiency.
Lack of Sandman
Church managed to make the Sandman a character I could care for. He had purpose, he had reason, and I actually liked how they made him Ben's shooter. However, as someone had said, he was absent from the entire middle part of the movie. Finally, Spider-Man let him go despite the fact he killed people, or at least, tried to kill plenty.
Predictions and Guess:
Thankfully, this movie closed the trilogy really well. It forces the fourth movie to start whole new story lines, else it will be backtracking. While he probably did die, part of me believes Venom/Brock survived. He was trapped in the circle of bars, we see a bright light assumingly incinerating the symbiote (we also saw a quick flash of Brock's ribs) but remember the symbiote came to earth on super hot glowing rock through space. Extreme temperatures wouldn't be a problem. Plus, we watched William Defoe get impaled and he was in every ****ing movie. With stuff like this, unless you see him die explicitly, there is still a chance for his return. With that said, they need to do a Venom movie to really repent for his lackluster role in the climax. Have the origins of the symbiote with a cameo by Spider-man done minimally. Tell the story of Venom.
Like Siskel and Ebert, I hate numerical systems. What's the difference between a 5/10 and a 7/10 and how do you deduct? So I will say this is worth seeing if you saw the first two and enjoyed them. Good movie, but no where near as good.
