Spider-Man 3 (5 Stars)

Finally! After barely seeing Stan Lee in the first two films he has a lengthy cameo in this film. Relatively lengthy. He appears for 13 seconds, compared with 1.5 seconds in the two previous films. He even has a speaking role, imparting his wisdom as he speaks to Peter Parker at Times square.

"You know, I guess one person really can make a difference... 'Nuff said!"

Everyone knows that "Nuff said" is one of Stan Lee's trademark phrases, second only to "Excelsior". At least, everyone ought to know. I fear that many younger Marvel fans have never read his comics. They're missing out.

As a result of the film featuring three villains, "Spider-Man 3" suffers from more telescoping than the previous films. The following events all take place in the film in short succession.

1. Flint Marko becomes the Sandman (Spider-Man #4, September 1963).
2. Harry Osborn becomes the new Green Goblin (Spider-Man #136, September 1974).
3. Peter Parker first wears the black suit (Spider-Man #252, May 1984).
4. Eddie Brock becomes Venom (Spider-Man #300, May 1988).

That's not meant as a criticism. Telescoping is necessary when making films based on comic book stories.

I usually praise the director Sam Raimi so much that my readers must think he's paying me to write about him. No, I'm not being bribed. Maybe there's one criticism I can make of his films, especially the third. He lets Spider-Man take off his mask too often. That's not realistic. It almost never happened in the comics. The mask was worn to conceal his secret identity, so taking it off would have put him at risk.

Venom is supposed to be the film's main villain, as we can see from the fact that he's the one shown on the film's posters, but I think that Sandman is more important. He's given a tragic poignancy that's missing in the comics. Once more Sam Raimi has taken one of Stan Lee's characters and breathed new life into him, without taking away anything that he had in the comics.

We even start to like J. Jonah Jameson. Even though he's obsessed with turning the populace against Spider-Man, he's not really a bad person. He's only doing what he thinks is right, which is what any upstanding citizen should do.

After appearing as a wrestling ring announcer in the first film and an obnoxious theatre usher in the second film, he's now an overly friendly waiter with a false French accent. Are they three different characters or the deadly Mysterio waiting to strike? Let me know what you think.

I'm aware that many film fans call "Spider-Man 3" a bad film. They're wrong. It's not quite up to the level of the first two films, but it's still good enough to receive a five star rating from me. It could have been improved by making it longer. It has too many plots and sub-plots crammed into a two-hour film. I would have added at least half an hour to it. What's missing is a big battle between Venom and Spider-Man before Venom teams up with Sandman.

I've watched the three Sam Raimi Spider-Man films repeatedly over the years, but this is the first time since 2010 that I've watched them back to back. That's the best way to enjoy them. By watching them in quick succession I can better appreciate the character development from film to film.

Success Rate:  + 1.5

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