Denerstein: Spidey sense and sensibility

Threequel is long, but eventually it follows suit

Robert Denerstein, Rocky Mountain News

Friday, May 4, 2007

If there's a moral to be gleaned from Spider-Man 3 - aside from the fact that heavily promoted franchise movies tend to rake in megabucks - it's this: Movies don't necessarily need to hit grand slams to score. Spider-Man 3 may have its problems, but it delivers enough of the desired comic-book goods to keep the series humming.

This 2-hour, 19-minute Spider-Man - bigger, though not necessarily better - really begins to click somewhere during the second act, when Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) puts on a black suit made of a mysterious substance that conveniently drops into the movie from outer space, covering him like shrink wrap.

From that point on, watch out.

Spider-Man suddenly becomes a shameless publicity hound. Spidey, whose day job is being Peter Parker, aspiring photographer, turns into a self-impressed stud muffin who puts personal motives (vengeance for his uncle's murder) ahead of the public good. On top of that, all of Peter's insecurities begin to vanish; he emerges a smooth-talking party animal.

Serious psychological stuff? Not really. Fun? Sure. When Spider-Man begins flirting with his dark side, director Sam Raimi brings his movie to a boil, and Maguire does his best to show that he's got some of the same dancing stuff as John Travolta.

The mood darkens, but Raimi sketches his characters in bold, comic-book strokes that hardly seem designed to furrow anyone's brow. Besides, Spidey isn't so much battling between the good and evil in himself as the good and not-so-good. Or maybe it's that Maguire doesn't do evil especially well.

Before all this, though, Spider-Man 3 busies itself collecting effects-enriched plot points that introduce us to the various villains Spider-Man must face. Old friend Harry Osborn (James Franco) wants to avenge his father's death from the first installment. Escaped convict Flint Marko (Thomas Haden Church) turns into the Sandman, a giant creature composed of sand particles. He tries to smash his way to big-time profits so that his young daughter can have an operation. Finally, Venom (Topher Grace) enters the picture: He's a photographer turned raging villain after competing with Peter for a full-time newspaper job.

All of the early-picture preparation provides Raimi with the opportunity to roll out some strong set pieces, notably the daring rescue of a police captain's daughter (Bryce Dallas Howard).

Spider-Man wins nonstop accolades from a grateful city, but being a celebrity has its price. Spidey's flirtation with the limelight threatens his relationship with Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst), the love of his life. After flopping in her Broadway debut, Mary Jane finds herself singing in a bar. Peter and Mary Jane aren't even engaged, but Mary Jane already broods over the fact that Spidey can't seem to shed his self-regard and pay more attention to her.

Wise Aunt May (Rosemary Harris) dispenses the movie's marriage advice: If Peter wants to marry Mary Jane, he'll have to learn to put her welfare before his own.

For a time, the movie seems overly episodic. It's amusing, but its various parts feel pasted together by Raimi, who has an awful lot of script chores to attend to in the first hour.

Personally, I missed Alfred Molina, who played Doc Ock in Spider-Man 2. And I suppose you could say that Maguire overworks his boyish grin and that Dunst's earnestness sometimes wears thin. But the finale, which involves two villains and a taxi that's suspended from a New York skyscraper (never mind how it got there), brings Spider-Man 3 to a satisfying conclusion.

It's giving away nothing to tell you that the movie's epilogue involves a tender dance between Peter and Mary Jane, thus re-establishing the modest boy in Spider-Man, a hero who not only saves the day, but likes to slow dance with the woman he so desperately loves.

Spider-Man 3



Spidey takes on three villains



• Grade: B



• Rated: PG-13



• Running time: 139 minutes

Bronze isn't bad He might like the movie, but Robert Denerstein says it's not his favorite of the three Spider-Man vehicles. How he ranks them:

1 Spider-Man 2

2 Spider-Man

3 Spider Man 3

Third time's a charm?

Film franchises that try to stretch a double into a triple don't always score. Should we get excited by this summer's rash of threequels?

THE CASE FOR:

-Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: Made up for the annoying Temple of Doom.

• Rocky III: Gave us Mr. T!

• Star Wars: Return of the Jedi: Looks even better when compared with Revenge of the Sith.

THE CASE AGAINST:

• The Godfather: Part III: At least Sofia Coppola became a fine director.

• American Wedding Same jokes from American Pie told a third time.

• Back to the Future Part III Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it. In other words, wasn't this the same movie as the first, just set in the Old West?

• Rambo III: Yet another Cold War beat-down.

• Lethal Weapon 3 Joe Pesci's character driven into the ground.

• Beverly Hills Cop III: Eddie Murphy's career needed help in the mid-'90s. This wasn't it.