Spider-Man 3 (5 Stars)

Earlier this year Empire Magazine held a poll. Its readers had to vote for the worst film ever. "Spider-Man 3" made it into the list. 49th position, if I remember rightly. Anyone who watches this film for the first time must have shook his head. How many films have been made in the history of cinema? Nobody knows for sure, but in 2008 alone more than 5000 films were made (the top three countries being India 1091, Nigeria 872 and America 485). "Spider-Man 3" has everything: action, romance, drama, suspense, top rate acting... so why do film fans consider it to be so bad?

Obviously the typical film fan hasn't seen many films. If he had a chance to sit down and watch 800 Nigerian films he might vote differently. The films in the list are all "popular films" that are well known. The sort that are shown on evening television. So there wasn't one Nigerian film in the list. But that still doesn't explain why people think so badly of it.

My only guess is that people were voting based on their expectations. The first two films had been so good that they expected the third film to top it. And it didn't. So they were disappointed and said it was bad. I agree that "Spider-Man 3" was the weakest film of the trilogy, but taken by itself it's still one of the best films ever made. I'm saying that as a naive fan, of course, but I dare any film "expert" to find faults in the cinematography, directing, production, or any other facet of the film.

I'm not saying it couldn't have been improved. Personally I think it should have been about 30 minutes longer. Eddie Brock's alter ego -- was the name Venom used in the film? -- was introduced too late in the film. Instead of moving straight from becoming Venom to teaming up with Sandman, he should have had a battle with Spider-Man by himself first. A battle in which Spider-Man was defeated, but managed to escape. That would have made the final battle against the united Venom and Sandman all the more terrifying. So an extra 30 minutes between the church scene and the meeting with Sandman would have been ideal. I'm a Spider-Man fan who knows who Venom is, but I can't help feeling that people who had never read the comics were confused by the new black-suited character with the big teeth. The extra 30 minutes would have explained it to them.

Nevertheless, this was a worthy end to the trilogy. Sam Raimi wanted to continue with "Spider-Man 4", but was fired over creative differences. That's sad. He was the perfect director for the character. Now there will be a new Spider-Man, a new director, and a new storyline that shows Peter Parker as a super-hero still going to school. Let's hope the next film succeeds.