TotalTelly.co.uk

Devoted to Popular, Cult and Retro TV

Spider-Man 3 (2-Disc Edition) [2007]


RRP: £22.99
Our Price: £2.79 (subject to change)

Editorial
Amazon.co.uk

How does Spider-Man 3 follow on the heels of its predecessor, which was widely considered the best superhero movie ever? For starters, you pick up the loose threads from that movie, then add some key elements of the Spidey comic-book mythos (including fan-favorite villain Venom), the black costume, and the characters of Gwen Stacy and her police-captain father. In the beginning, things have never looked better for Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire): He's doing well in school; his alter ego, Spider-Man, is loved and respected around New York City. And his girlfriend, Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst), has just taken a starring role in a Broadway musical. But nothing good can last for Spidey. Mary Jane's career quickly goes downhill; she's bothered by Peter's attractive new classmate, Gwen Stacy (Bryce Dallas Howard); and the new Daily Bugle photographer, Eddie Brock (Topher Grace), is trying to steal his thunder. Enter a new villain, the Sandman (Thomas Haden Church), who can transform his body into various forms and shapes of sand and who may be connected to Peter's past in an unexpected way. There's also the son of an old villain, Harry Osborne (James Franco), who unmasked Spidey in the previous movie and still has revenge on his mind. And a new black costume seems to boost Spidey's powers, but transforms mild-mannered Peter into a mean and obnoxious boor (Maguire has some fun here).

If that sounds like a lot to pack into one 140-minute movie, it is. While director Sam Raimi keeps things flowing, assisted on the screenplay by his brother Ivan and Alvin Sargent, there's a little too much going on, and it's inevitable that one of the villains (there are three or four, depending on how you count) gets significantly short-changed. Still, the cast is excellent, the effects are fantastic, and the action is fast and furious. Even if Spider-Man 3 isn't the match of Spider-Man 2, it's a worthy addition to the megamillion-dollar franchise. --David Horiuchi


Editorial
Synopsis

The Marvel comics hero returns for more high-flying fun in this third instalment in the series. Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) is up to his usual Spidey tricks, attending university classes as an awkward geek, then quickly slipping into his red-and-blue suit to save New York City from various villains. And there are villains aplenty. Thomas Hayden Church blows in as the Sandman, an escaped convict whose molecular structure is destroyed in a particle accelerator. The freak accident gives him the ability to form and reform from piles of dust. While the Sandman sifts through the city streets robbing banks, Spidey must also contend with his onetime friend, Harry (James Franco), who has taken up where his father, the Green Goblin, left off. Harry chases Spider-Man down on his goblin glider, hurling pumpkin bombs. But Spider-Man's biggest battle is perhaps within himself, when he is taken over by meteorite ooze--a substance that gives him great power, but also turns him into a vengeful, selfish person. Throw into the mix Peter's new competition at the Daily Bugle--the ambitious, sneaky Eddie Brock (Topher Grace)--and Peter's relationship troubles with Mary Jane (Kirsten Dunst), and SPIDER-MAN 3 weaves a tangled web indeed.
Director Sam Raimi's playful style and his delightfully campy screenplay hold true to the spirit of the Stan Lee comics, and he does an excellent job of hitting all the right superhero notes. Raimi has created an action film that is a feast for the eyes, but comes with fully rounded characters and a moving moral lesson to boot. The special effects are astounding, but Raimi makes sure the film isn't all action and no talk--he makes Peter's struggle a human one, and one that we can all relate to, regardless of our web-spinning ability.

spidey's most action packed movie to date!
Review date: 2008-08-26 Rating: 10 out of 10

This is one of the best films I have seen in a long, long time. Sitting in my living room on christmas day 2007 watching it for the first time I was blown away. In the first half hour the action is already unfolding. Thomas Haden Church is an excellent new take on the sandman revealing that he's "not a bad person," he's "just had a bad life." Toby maguire is once again flawless, the same goes for James Franco and Kirsten Dunst too. J.K Simmons is once again hillarios as the sadistic editor of the daily bugle. Topher Grace is a brialliant Eddie brock. Harry dies in the end and the whole thing is really quite depressing. All in all a very good third installment.

Similar Products

Reviews


It's a bird, it's a plane, it's an aranchoid freak of nature whose also host to an evil alien symbiote parasite?
Review date: 2008-08-14 Rating: 6 out of 10

Spiderman 3 is.. a mess of ideas. Blessed with a surfeit of imagination, and an overdose of effects, it's certainly not a worthy successor to it's predecessors. In this, Spiderman goes dark and moody, flicking peanuts around a Metropolis Bar, and righting the Leaning Tower Of... wait, wrong movie. In Spider Man 3, Spidey gets in touch with his evil side, and fights with himself in a garbage disposal... wait, wrong movie. A church.

At least it hasn't got Richard Pryor in it. However Spider Man 3 does have the frankly impossible "Venom", and the highly improbable "Sandman" (thankfully played as more than a razor thin cipher of evil) as two bad guys who team up through a mutual hatred of Spiderman. Can you guess the ending? On the basis of the fact that there are going to be three more sequels, I think it's easy to suggest that Spiderman doesn't take a dirt nap and meet his maker in this episode. The question isn't Does Good Triumph?, but how and who dies on the way.

Kirsten Dunst meanwhile, seems to spend most of the film as a McGuffin with no personality of her own, leaping from calamity to calamity, improbable moment to impossible danger, and seems to be called on to do no more than sulk and scream. Not content with three bad guys (four if you include Evil Spidey), and Kirsten Dunst, they also shoehorn in a second, pointless love interest, reshoot some of the first movie.. in fact, about the only thing they do do right is provide Bruce Campbell with a delicious cameo that is a highlight of both the movie and his career. How Vin Diesel gets to make movies instead of Bruce I'll never know. This guy chews scenery like a starved dog and overshadows the rest of the picture for the bland stodge it unfortunately is.

Action movies have fallen a long way from their peak. In the eighties, blockbusters were endlessly quotable pieces of dodgy hokum that were formed from the singular vision of some demented genius. There is more memorable talent in one character in any Schwarzenegger movie than in the whole of this crowded, overlong jigsaw of a movie. Spiderman 3, by trying to please all masters, in the end wins none. It's a forgettable piece of popcorn that aims high and fails to hit it's targets.

But it's certainly better than anything you'll see this summer with Steve Martin or Keanu Reeves in it. It's better to aim high and fail than forever stare at the stars with the mediocre.



Spider-Man weak!
Review date: 2008-08-08 Rating: 6 out of 10

tbh i fink evryone knows...this is defintly the weakest of the spider-man films so far!...trying to go down the route they took was a very bad idea!
they tried to put waaay too much into this film and it completely backfired entirly!...but this is from a comic book and spidey fan!

on the other hand, this is still a very gd action film wiv sum of the best spidy action sequences!...its really fun to watch and makes u laugh and gasp!...sooo dnt get me rong its not that bad!

but i guess it should of been waay better.

A great 3rd movie but not as good as the 1 & 2.
Review date: 2008-08-07 Rating: 8 out of 10

I have heard and read so many bad things about this film so I thought it was gonna be terrible, but when I watched it on Sky movies premiere I thought it was good. But not as good as it should've been. It is a very good watch though. The acting is good, the special effects well arn't terrible but when you first see Sandman it just looks like a video game. I think they didn't have enough of venom as I thought Topher Grace was brilliant as Venom and not enough of venom. I do agree that there was a bit too many bad guys and not enough time to tell the story fully of every bad guy. But overall this is a great film not as good as 1 & 2, but still what we have is very good. Ignore the dumbass negative reviews if you like the Spiderman films give this ago.

disjointed and slow
Review date: 2008-08-03 Rating: 6 out of 10

Sam Raimi reinvented the superhero movie with his brilliant Spiderman film and its equally impressive sequel. Can he repeat the magic a third time? Sad to say, Spiderman 3 is a somewhat confused end to the trilogy. Too heavily reliant on CGI, it feels disjointed, moving from action set piece to discussions about the nature of the superhero to Peter's arguments with his girlfriend with little to apparently link them. The inevitable bad guys appear and disappear again for no particular reason, and the result is a bit of a mess.

The lot of the modern superhero is not an easy one. Not only does he have to save the world three times a day, but he has to battle with his psychological motivations, girlfriend trouble and his own personal demons. This time round Spiderman has three villains to contend with, some alien goo which brings out his dark side, and on top of this his relationship's in trouble. Tobey Maguire's geekiness has always grated but he is so pathetic as Peter you just want to shake him. And the sequence where 'bad boy' Peter enjoys his new self- yes, I know it's supposed to be a joke, but I'm afraid it's just risible. Kirsten Dunst does a good job as MJ but she doesn't have the greatest presence, and none of the villains are powerful enough to fill the screen.

That is not to say there aren't good ideas. Raimi's films always look fantastic, and Spidey 3 is no exception. There is at least one interesting idea- how does the superhero keep his ego in check when faced with his adoring fans- but it is quickly forgotten in the rush to the next computer animated set piece. Once again, the girlfriend's main role is as bait for the villain to lure Spider-man to save her- feminism lives! The tame ending left me wishing for the good old days when superheroes turned up, beat up the bad guys and went home without so much as a moment's doubt in their heads.

Still, millions of people love it, and I'm sure this is not the last we've heard of old Spidey. Next time, I hope someone has the guts to give us an old-fashioned superhero flick and leave the psychology at home.


Product Details/Specifications


Actor(s):
James Franco
Thomas Haden Church
Kirsten Dunst
Tobey Maguire
Topher Grace

Creators:
Tobey Maguire (Primary Contributor)
Kirsten Dunst (Primary Contributor)
Sam Raimi (Writer)
Ivan Raimi (Writer)

Director(s):

Recording label: Sony Pictures Home Ent. UK
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures Home Ent. UK
EAN: 5035822495432
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 2
Format: Anamorphic, PAL,
Release date: 2007-10-15
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Audience rating: To Be Announced
Region code: 2
Running time: 133 minutes
Theatrical release date: 2007-05-01
Language: English (Original Language)

Add to Cart

© 2006 Darren Hester, DesignsByDarren.com, Some Rights Reserved.
Valid XHTML 1.0 Transitional