Spider-Man 3 **1/2

By Dan Hudak

      Goodbye story. Hello, action.

      “Spider-Man 3” has more mid-air fights, web-slinging aerials and Spidey villains than the first two movies combined, and the action sequences are spectacularly well done. The trouble is the story, or lack thereof. Whereas the first two films were burdened with too much whiny melodrama, this time there’s no plot at all, which leaves the movie disjointed and without a smooth, flowing narrative.

      One problem is the unfathomable amount of characters. Of course, Peter/Spider-Man (Tobey Maguire) and his beloved Mary-Jane (Kirsten Dunst, whose teeth look awful) are back, as is Peter’s loving Aunt May (Rosemary Harris). There’s also Peter’s former friend Harry (James Franco), who wrongly believes Peter killed his father, the Green Goblin, and wants revenge.

      If writer/director Sam Raimi and co-writers Ivan Raimi (brother) and Alvin Sargent had concentrated on this central storyline, and added one new villain, this would be a better film. But aside from Harry’s “New Goblin,” Spider-Man must fight escaped convict Flint Marko (Thomas Haden Church), who becomes the “Sandman” after falling into a particle testing facility full of sand. Peter also gets infected with a mysterious substance that heightens Spider-Man’s powers yet clouds his judgment, and he must deal with a rival new photographer at work, Eddie Brock (Topher Grace), who will eventually become the film’s third villain, “Venom.” And there’s also the police captain’s (James Cromwell) daughter, Gwen Stacy (Bryce Dallas Howard), whose presence is completely irrelevant aside from annoying Mary-Jane because she has a crush on Peter.

      As a rule sequels have to be bigger and better, and at 140 minutes this is by far the longest and most action-packed installment of the trilogy. But at what price? Raimi has crammed so much into the movie that it feels more like a “Spider-Man” grab bag than the supposedly closing chapter of the ultra-lucrative franchise.

      If you’re of the “I don’t care, I’m just there for the action” vein, that’s fine. But bear in mind that one reason action scenes work is because the story is suspenseful and we care about the characters’ well-being. Because we aren’t involved with the characters in “Spider-Man 3” the action scenes (though awesome to look at) lose part of their impact because they’re not happening for a purpose.

      It is for this reason that the fight between New Goblin and Spider-Man is the best in the film. Yes, other sequences are more visually dazzling, but this is the only action scene in which we know why the combatants are fighting and genuinely care about the outcome. It may have taken two movies to get to this point, but to see the friendship torn apart over a misunderstanding is both heartbreaking drama and wonderfully entertaining action.

      Don’t make the mistake of thinking this is where the saga ends. There will certainly be a “Spider-Man 4” (with or without the main cast) and it will undoubtedly have even more elaborate action sequences and visual effects. Hopefully by then the filmmakers will figure out how to strike a balance between story and spectacle, something they have not mastered for any installment of the trilogy to date. 

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