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The Death of Spiderman
Warning: Contains spoilers
The dust has settled – records have been shattered. Following a monumental $148,000,000 opening weekend, Spiderman 3 has spun itself into the web of history. Alas, throngs of audiences countrywide left their favorite movie houses scratching their heads wondering “What is Ben Parker’s name was that?” When a movie studio has the power to create a blockbuster, who is responsible for turning out a good product?
Spiderman 3 is deeply flawed - abandoning the wit, charm, and human interest that elevated its predecessors. Spiderman 3 also raises many deep questions, most importantly “how did this film get made?”
The previous two Spiderman films were filled with forgivable plot-holes. Gaps within the story were excused, forgotten, and ignored because the film’s characters were strong enough to carry the plot past its weaknesses. Unfortunately, Spiderman 3 abandons all of the characterization and personal development that its predecessors so meticulously established while introducing underdeveloped and baseless new characters.
Beginning with an unmotivated and poorly synchronized opening title sequence, Spiderman 3 did not feel as if it picked up at the conclusion of the second fare. The film begins with Spiderman beloved by the public and the media with no real answers as to “why” or “how.” Mary Jane is now a struggling actress whose ambitions have skewed towards musical theater. Her successes of the second film (the lead in a regarded, long running play, billboards plastered throughout the city) have seemingly fallen by the wayside. The Daily Bugle, a newspaper with enough power to organize a city-wide smear campaign against a clear-cut hero, has fallen dearly behind its Spidey-touting competitors including the New York Times, Time Magazine (Where was the outside media in the previous films?). Although these early plot points felt forced, the audience was glad to move on with the story…
