Dir: Sam Raimi

Starring: Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, Topher Grace

Your friendly neighbourhood Spiderman, a vigilante, a hero, and somebody we all need to beat the bad guys. The web-slinger has showed us that with great power comes great responsibility, and that in order to save the people of New York, he needed to resist his love for Mary Jane Watson. He also advocated that sometimes, in order to do the right thing, we have to give up the things we want the most. Now he’s back in Sam Raimi’s second sequel, conveying to us that every hero has a choice to resist the darkness, or be consumed by it.

Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson are still seeing each other, and Peter has plans to propose to her. However, his status as New York’s most loved individual overshadows Mary Jane, whose career as an actress is plummeting. To add to the troubles, photographer Edward Brock is out for Peter’s job and to top things off, Harry Osborn is out to avenge his father as the New Goblin. Just when things couldn’t get any worse, an alien slime from outer space which has the characteristics of heightening aggression and increasing violence binds itself to Peter and will, in time, take over Brock, turning him into Venom. As the film progresses, we see Peter fighting with his emotions, trying to resist the darkness inside him to make the right choices, struggling to be free of his anger. However, it’s going to be hard with the Sandman around, especially since he was the one responsible for the death of Peter’s Uncle Ben. Now with his new black suit, Spiderman’s revenge-meter is soaring…

Ultimately better than the first Spiderman but not as good as the second, the film is a rough blend of action and drama, laced with lessons of choices, love, friendship and family values.

Topher Grace is well cast as cheesy reporter Brock, though looks rather ridiculous as Venom, especially since his boyish looks make him too pretty for such an ugly character. Thomas Haden Church is brilliant as the Sandman, a character to whom a lot of sympathy can be given. Unfortunately, though, Raimi seems to try and pack too much into this one film and succeeds only by a whisker. Those viewers taking children will be first to pick out that fault clearly when the kids begin to fidget and ask to go to the toilet. However, make no mistake that the screen presence of Spiderman, Venom, the New Goblin and Sandman will make for spectacularly satisfying moments of amazement, especially the twenty-minute showdown between all four characters.

Men will be satisfied with the appearance of the beautiful Bryce Dallas Howard (yes, that is Ron Howard’s daughter!) and Kirsten Dunst, and a double-treat in the form of Tobey Maguire and James Franco will not disappoint the women either.

So there’s something for everyone and, despite what you may think about the film dragging in certain places and the slightly repetitive combat, Spiderman 3 is wonderful entertainment and it would be very surprising if there is a superhero film to rival it until the release of DC Comics’ ‘Watchmen’.

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