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Spiderman 3 **Possible Spoiler alerts**

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0bsessions:
It was decent, but I won't go see it a second time (And I'm an appalling fuckin' comic nerd who went apeshit with delight over the second movie).

I'm the opposite on one posters' opinion: ninety percent of the stuff in this movie I disliked can be directly related to Kirsten Dunst's upped screen time. She was abysmal and she seemed to suck the life out of every single scene she appeared in, short of the climax. It was almost as if George Lucas stepped in and said "Don't worry, Sam, I'll handle the romance stuff. I've got experience with it!" The only tolerable scenes she did were the ones where she was reduced to her role from the prior two: trapped by the villain and screaming. Mary Jane's always been represented as a strong but ditzy girl. In these movies, she's portrayed as weak and mousish, more akin to Gwen Stacy in the comics. Meanwhile, Gwen in the movie was so much like Mary Jane in the comics, it was disturbing. I honestly wonder why they didn't just save some money on hair dye (Dunst being a natural blonde and Howard being a natural redhead) and cast Dunst as Gwen way back in the first one and kill her off now to bring in Howard as MJ (I actually enjoyed seeing her act and would rather see her around in the future than Dunst).

For what was one of the darkest periods in Spider-Man's existence, there was WAY too much camp. I should be laughing at Spidey quips and one-liners, not the absurdity and stupidity of Parker doing a fucking dance number. The symbiote enhances your own characteristics, it doesn't give you jazz piano mastery! The action scenes and the dark moments were all great, but about 75% of the character driven plot was just awful.

Maguire, while I'm not huge on him (I'd rather see Elijah Wood as Parker), did a great job with the darker scenes as Spider-Man.

Topher Grace surprised the Hell out of me. I always enjoyed him on That 70's Show, but I didn't see him as being cut out for the role of Brock. They took liberties, obviously, but they nailed the core of the character: a slimey prick who fucks up and then blames Spider-Man for it when he's outed on it. He sold the role for me and I was quite pleased with it.

Church was fantastic, too. I could've done without the end to his plot (Though that's hardly his fault, just sappy writing), but the Sandman in general was great.

Harry FINALLY came into his own. I, unlike many, really liked Harry throughout the trilogy. You could see him being slowly transitioned into his eventual role and it all culminated really well here.

Overall, not a bad movie, but quite disappointing when held up to the standard set by the last one.

Jimmy the Squid:
I really enjoyed it actually. That being said I am told I have a pretty low standard for most things Marvel, I actually found some redeemable features in Hulk and that X-Men: Evolution series. But still, I didn't go in there expecting a masterpiece of cinematics I just expected some explosions, a lot of screaming and awesome stunts. I believe those expectations where met.

While I'm not a huge fan of Tobey Maguire I actually quite like him as Peter Parker/Spiderman. I took it that he did most of the growing in-between films. In this one he started out being cocky and kind of a jerk so maybe he's been going backwards. I really enjoyed the cheesy moments although the jazz piano was a little much. The only real criticism I have is that the emo hair should have been accidental rather than him deliberately pulling the fringe down, it made it seem like too much of a concious choice to be an arse on his part.

Kirsten Dunst I can't really be objective on as I'm a little googley-eyed when it comes to her but I think she held up ok in this one at the very least. She is maybe a little stronger as the damsel in distress though. Mary-Jane was a little too whiny for me in this one but really, that was the character that was really well acted so my problem was more with the writers.

Bryce Dallas Howard has the same effect on me. I'm not all that familiar with the Gwen Stacy character in the comics but as far as I can see she did really well with what she was given so I have no complaints.

James Franco was once again awesome and has actually shown palpable character growth but again I think that is partly the writing. He was really sweet and quite malevolent so I was again impressed. I would have liked a little bit more of the new Goblin suit and glider though. On a separate note, was he just a New Green Goblin (even though he wasn't green) or was he meant to be called Hobgoblin? I always get confused with those two characters.

Thomas Hayden Church was really very good as Sandman and again there's not much I can say except wondering if Sandman could actually travel around in a sand cloud in the comics? It's always fun when a villain is vaguely redeemable at the end.

Topher Grace was amazing! I really can't say enough about how good his performance was as Eddie Brock Jr. He was slimey and a total prick and also quite pathetic I just wish he'd had more screen-time as Venom (and that Venom was actually named in the film) I stand by my claim that to really do justice to a storyline this complex (in terms of the sheer number of things to get through) they should have said fuck it and gone for three full hours instead of keeping it under two and a half.

I really liked this film and am seeing it again this week and maybe once more after that. It'll be great! I am still a little disappointed with the lack of the Lizard even though Dr Conners has been in two films and mentioned in one. Also, how can Brock be described as the new guy when the alluded to him in the first one?

This is going to be such a good year for movies, Rise of the Surfer (which I really hope will be good), Order of the Phoenix, Transformers and Pirates are all going to be attended by me. Fun times!

WelshPete:

 8-)

0bsessions:
Nah, Gwen was nothing like that in the comics. If you look into it, they pretty much entirely swapped the characters of Gwen and Mary Jane, short of Mary Jane's acting and Gwen's aptitude for science.

In the comics, Gwen was always the quiet, modest and proper girl. She was VERY smart (A science major of some sort, Chemistry, I think), but not particularly commanding or powerful of a woman. She was more often the damsel in distress than not.

Meanwhile, Mary Jane was always the party girl and demanded to be the center of attention through her actions. She tried her hand at acting AND modelling and was a very strong and independant woman who was actually very afraid of committment for the longest time, never holding down a steady boyfriend really until she and Peter got married. She was originally introduced to be pretty much the direct opposite of Gwen.

When you take into account that Kirsten Dunst is a natural blonde and Bryce Dallas Howard is a redhead, it makes me wonder why Raimi didn't just cast them the other way around. If I had my way, I'd have thrown Dunst in as Gwen in the first movie and killed her off true to the comics to make way for the more interesting Howard/MJ to come in.

Gwen was never a particularly interesting character. When she was around, she was nothing beyond being "Spider-Man's girlfriend" and in death she's nothing but "That girlfriend of Spider-Man's who died." I'm not sure if it's Dunst's acting or poor scripting/directing that made the movie MJ utterly boring. I may not care for Dunst, but I'd bet on the latter, considering she managed to pull off a strong and aggressive female lead when she was just a kid, but was unable to do it here.

thepugs:
For all the people who didn't enjoy it because it didn't stay true to comics...STFU.

Honestly, the majority of comic book movies use well-known characters and basic relationships, and are TRYING TO MAKE MONEY, NOT A GOOD COMIC-BASED FILM.

If you've seen the first two, or the X-men movies, or the Incredible Hulk, or Fantastic Four, or the Punisher, or...you really should have figured it out by now.

It's like going into a building that advertises crotch-punching, and coming out for a third/fourth/umpteenth time going, "MAN, I DIDN'T REALLY THINK THEY'D DO IT!"

Just enjoy the movie for what it is, and read the comics for the actual stories.

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