Along Came a Spider Part 1

So on Friday a few of us took a long lunch and headed to the local Imax to catch Spiderman 3. It was my first time watching a full movie in Imax and it will most likely be my last. The action sequences, because of the HUUUUGE screen, were a little hard to follow so that was a little annoying. Also we were sitting to the side of the theater so that might have had something to do with it. Wasn't terrible, but I think I will be seeing Pirates on a normal sized theater screen.

**SPOILERS...oh yes there are a few**

Going into the movie I had seen the trailers and knew that it ran the risk of too many villains/characters. I had anticipated this and the movie meet my expectations in every way.

The Sandman: His whole purpose in the film is to be the object of Peter's revenge because you see Flint Marko (aka Sandman) really killed Uncle Ben..accidentally..sorta. Yes Uncle Ben's death has become the Wayne parent's murder of the Spiderman movies, where it must be mentioned and brooded over in every damn movie. He's dead. Move on.

Unlike Norman Osborn or Doc Ock, villains you get to spend some time with, get to know, Flint has a big scene up front where he says to his wife and sick daughter, "I'm not a bad person, I've just had bad luck". And this is about as developed as this character ever gets.

Harry Osborn: As he tells Peter "You knew this was coming.." and indeed we did. Harry and Pete finally throw down over this whole "you killed my father" business. Setting aside the dorky costume papa Goblin wore and zooming around on a hoverboard from Treasure Planet, Harry gets an ass whoppin by his former best friend leaving him with amnesia. He doesn't remember Pete being Spidey, how to flip an omelet...nothing.

This could have been cool, I thought maybe that was it for new Goblin in this film at least. But a handful of scenes later his memory is fully back..... ok so what was the point of him forgetting? Harry gets lamer and more bizarre when in an attempt to do his father's wishes, to attack Peter by attacking his heart...he......makes Mary Jane break up with Peter. OMG Harry you are maniacal. I was waiting for him to then paint "Peter Sucks" on the side of a building. Yeah Harry I don't think that's what daddy had in mind.... more on him later.

The symbiote: I really wished Sam and company handled the symbiote differently. It doesn't really attach itself to Peter but one of his costumes. Essentially the symbiote becomes this giant stain on a costume that Peter can put on and take off. O-K. If I'm remembering the comic correctly the symbiote was always with him and when it was Spidey time it would cover him in the suit and he was ready to go.

In this film Peter keeps the stained costume in a trunk, which the symbiote seems ok with, pulling it out for those times when he......wants to be bad? I really don't know. If the symbiote increased his powers we never saw that, so I honestly don't know why he felt tempted to put it on...lock it up...ok ok one more time...no no lock it up. Had the symbiote always been on him, we would see him slowly losing himself to the dark side. By the end when he decides to rip off the symbiote, we would believe that it was really that bonded to him. The way the film handles it I wasn't really buying it....

Eddie Brock/Venom: I loved the Eddie character and if Sam wasn't trying to squeeze a 5 hour movie into 2 and half hours it would have been great to see more of him. He's the anti-Peter, more brash and cocky and more scenes between the two would have been cool. Now when Eddie becomes Venom the first thing he does before even going up against Parker is enlist the help of Sandman. Wow what a puss...your not even gonna try killing Spiderman by yourself....well ok. Venom enters the land of lame...

The battle between Spidey and Venom is pretty great though with the symbiote pulling back off Eddie's face so he can deliver some punchy taunts. Unfortunately the greatness comes to an end when Venom and Eddie get defeated and destroyed which in a phrase: pissed me off.

So we have Sandman, Harry, symbiote and Eddie/Venom. Also Gwen Stacy is introduced in this film and has absolutely nothing to do but look amazing in every scene. Everyone is fighting for screen time. Oh yeah Peter/Spidey and Mary Jane are in the movie too. Aunt May has a couple scenes. JJ Jameson gets a little screen time as does Gwen's dad Captain Stacy. A character smorgasbord....

Next time: Hurried scenes, cheese and salty tears....