In addition, Sony estimated that SM3 grossed approximately $104 million worldwide yesterday, the highest single day gross in global box office history. The film delivered $45 million Friday in overseas ticket sales. This opening weekend, SM3 will definitely make more than SM1 ($114.8 mil) or SM2 ($88.1 mil) at U.S. theaters.Well, I did my part to help SM3 set the record. We caught a 4:45 p.m. showing yesterday. The theater was about three-quarters full.
It seems obvious that SM3 is intended to be the last of the series. All the loose ends of its predecessors' are tied up and there is really nowhere else to go for the romance between Peter Parker/Spiderman and Mary Jane.
And therein lies the movie's glaring flaw: too much being done in one flick. One of the antagonists is the Sandman. After his first encounter with the villain, Spiderman swings to a building top and asks, "Where are all these guys coming from?" Trust me, you'll ask the same question long before the movie is over. Sandman is only one of three - count 'em, three - villains with super powers in SM3.
The screenplay tries but fails to keep the movie coherent. Somehow, all three villians, Mary Jane and Spiderman have to meet in a gotterdammerung at the end of the movie. But tying up the three main threads of conflict, plus Spidey's troubled relationship with MJ, just overwhelms the abilities of both screenwriters and director (who was one of the writers). The ends do finally get tied up, but the final battle is so over the top as to become a parody of itself.
Even so, the movie does entertain and keeps one's attention. All the credit goes to Tobey Maguire, whose mutlivalent talent for portraying Dark Side Spiderman is very effective and tuned just right. What would a superhero do if unrestrained by honor or duty? SM3 provides an answer. But it is not only Spiderman who does over to the Dark Side (literally, since Spidey's Dark Side suit is solid black), so does Peter. Example: after Peter makes a nuisance of himself in a jazz bar, the very large bouncer tries to show him to the door. Bad idea.
Peter finally sheds the dark suit because of MJ. Fortunately the movie then moves quickly to finale because Maguire's portrayal of Dark Side Spidey/Peter is the only real draw. Oh, yeah, Harry Osborn (James Franco), friend of both MJ and Peter, figures prominently, too. We learned at the conclusion of SM2 that he would adopt his dead dad's Green Goblin identity. He does with a true vengeance. Filled with wrath, his fights with Spiderman are knock-down, drag-out epics. Yet when Harry/Goblin meets Dark Side Peter/Spiderman, it becomes a fight to the finish as Peter is unrestrained by prior bonds of friendship and loyalty. They are both out to kill.
Let us now consider the hapless May Jane Watson, apple of the eyes of both Peter Parker and Harry Osborn. Portrayed again by Kirsten Dunst, actress MJ appears at the beginning of the film in a Broadway musical, singing the opening number. But the critics savage her and she's fired after one performance, winding up later as a waitress-singer in the jazz bar Peter visits. Sorry, Kirsten, but MJ fares no better in her faux-threatrical career than you do in this installment. Kirsten, you shone so brightly in SM2 and almost as much in SM1, but here you just showed up on the set and recited lines. Remember, you're an actress, so why so little acting?
Let me admit, though, that SM3 follows the thoroughly superior SM2, a tough act to follow. With the bar so high, SM3 was almost bound to fail to top it. There are many moments in SM3 that show a glimpse of grandeur. The problem is that they are peripheral to the main line(s) of action. I don't wish I had waited to see SM3 on DVD, though, so the movie is good enough for me to recommend you pay your hard-earned cash to see it in the theater.
I give Spiderman 3 6.5 webs out of 10.