Spider-Man 3 (2007)

Preceded by: Spider-Man 2 (2004)

	Directed by: Sam Raimi	COUNTRY USA GENRE Superhero/Adventure NORWEGIAN TITLE Spider-Man 3 RUNNING TIME 139 minutes
	Produced by: Avi Arad Grant Curtis Laura Ziskin
	Written by (based on the Stan Lee character): Sam Raimi Ivan Raimi Alvin Sargent

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Spider-Man/Peter Parker	Tobey Maguire	½
Mary Jane Watson	Kirsten Dunst	½
Harry Osborn	James Franco
Sandman/Flint Marko	Thomas Haden Church	½
Venom/Edward Brock	Topher Grace	½
Gwen Stacy	Bryce Dallas Howard
May Parker	Rosemary Harris
J. Jonah Jameson	J. K. Simmons	½
Captain Stacy	James Cromwell
Dr. Curt Connors	Dylan Baker
Robbie Robertson	Bill Nunn
Maitre d'	Bruce Campbell
Betty Brant	Elizabeth Banks
Hoffman	Ted Raimi
Norman Osborn	Willem Dafoe
Ben Parker	Cliff Robertson

Review

It's sad to see a once so innovative filmmaker as Sam Raimi sink to not only recycling old formulas, but even repeating the recycling. It's not that Spider-Man 3 in isolation is that much worse than its predecessors, it's just that it is completely unnecessary. Apart from a slightly amusing Topher Grace (early on), this film has nothing new to offer. And for the second film running, the themes are nicked from the Superman films of the 1980s. Unfortunately for Spidey, Tobey Maguire's good/evil acting is ridiculous compared to that of Christopher Reeve in Superman III.

As the storylines become less effective, the weaknesses of this Spider-Man franchise become more and more apparent: The Tobey Maguire/Kirsten Dunst romance is sugary, anti-erotic, dated pulp literature, Spider-Man's adversaries are silly, pathetic and uninteresting, and the special effects leave a lot to be desired. I submit the crane incident as proof of the latter. When the two almost irrelevant bit characters played by J. K. Simmons and Bruce Campbell become the undoubted highlights, you know for sure that the film is in trouble. Please bury this series as soon as possible.