A revolution is generally defined as either an upheaval of some sort, or a complete turn. Today, both of these definitions are significant to me.

One year ago it was a dreary, 60-degree-ish day seemingly like any other. Except, today was special. Today was the day I skipped out on lunch to go home and watch Nintendo’s E3 press conference, their revolution. It was filled with so many spectacular things I was gushing about it later that day. It was phenomenal, and the beginning of Nintendo’s domination. Without E3 it is very hard for me to imagine Nintendo gaining as strongly as they did. E3 is no more, unfortunately, but it was nice to contrast today with a year ago. Today it was sunny and hot. Damn hot. It’s like we skipped Spring and jumped into Summer straight from Winter. Pretty neat.

So things did not go as planned. I went to see Spider-Man 3 with my sister’s fiancé (can’t believe she’s getting married) on opening day last Friday, and what follows is my review:

Everyone knows I’m hyped for this movie. This movie has been hyped for me since February, and my anticipation grew as it neared closer to release.

I was able to see the movie on opening day and while I have to say it is by far not as good as Spider-Man 2, it still ranks as one of the top comic book movies. How am I able to conclude this?

A few days ago I was browsing Rottentomatoes.com as usual, disappointed by Spider-Man 3′s low score, and I read a list of things to do before viewing the film. Of the ten, I only remember one: abolish the hype. This movie is the most overhyped film I have ever seen. Although it is to be expected, as it’s two predecessors were easily the de facto standard when it came to comic book adaptations, and not counting inflation-adjusted budgets, Spider-Man 3 is the most expensive movie ever made. So naturally, Sony and Columbia would want to hype it up a bit.

To truly enjoy the film however, you have to throw away everything you learned and thought about from what you’ve read and seen. The film has plenty of high points, mostly action-related. Its low points are where its faults lie, and they fall right around the plot. Raimi chose not to develop the characters from the previous films as much as he had done before. Sometimes the characters just… fall out of character. New characters just… exist. While you really have to think about certain things the writers point out (such as Harry’s scar healing incredibly fast, which vanquishes one of my friend’s critiques), but it’s clear with three “villains” you are not going to get a film that spends the time to flesh most of anyone out.

That’s not to say there isn’t some development; Peter is the focus of this film, and that becomes clear very early on. I wish there were more than two Aunt May scenes, and truth be told, the movie should have ended with Eddie Brock getting gooped up and the whole shriek then camera zooms in thing, similar to what Batman Begins did with the Joker. However it’s understandable why they did this; it was only recently decided there would actually be a fourth Raimi/Maguire/Dunst Spider-man film, and it shows that Raimi wanted this film to be a nice ending to the line.

Venom was a nice addition to the film for fans, but it’s widely known Raimi prefers smaller, more cultish villains as opposed to fan-favorites. If Venom had not been in Spider-Man 3, it is certain it would have been a better film. The final fight’s style has never been pulled off well, and this film has an X-Men 3 feel to it. Instead of relying on the characters and fleshing out the villains and their motives, it tends to rely more on action and hit after hit after hit of short-term “OH SH^T!” moments.

Spider-Man 3 is also two hours and thirty minutes long. Not only should an extra half hour be dispersed throughout the film, but some scenes should be cut entirely, or at least reworked. Slight spoilers: The entire jazz scene could and should have been cut, as it apparently did not worsen Peter and Mary-Jane’s relationship, Peter’s ridiculous strutting should have never been written, let alone make it past post-production, and Spider-man just drops off Gwen and jumps off, even though concrete is still probably falling and the building is still getting trashed. I just can not stress enough what the addition of an extra thirty minutes combined with the removal of some scenes could do. It would have bumped this movie up a full letter grade. Also, it is also apparent they cut an assload of scenes out. Yay, now in three years we can buy Spider-Man 3.1 on DVD to view what the movie was supposed to be.

Numerous plot holes and character contradictions aside, Spider-Man 3 is more in the realm of The Fantastic Four and Superman Returns than either of its prequels. If you want to enjoy this film at all, abandon all your hype and just roll with the punches.

B-

Yes I hyped the hell out of this film and there was some slight disappointment, but I really want to see it again anyways. My mom likes Spider-Man for some reason, so that’s an opportunity. I did enjoy the film and it certainly tries to be good, but it lost the subtleness of Spider-Man 2, in my opinion. Yes, today was supposed to be “Andrex day” but I’ll have to do something else to celebrate it belatedly some other time.

Anyways, May 9th, 2006 was hyped months beforehand and I still felt the aftershocks months afterward. This day was a turning point in the school year because it was the last major event for me before the school year ended and I took the finals. As always I’m sad the school year’s ending, because seniors I know are graduating and I don’t know the schedule for next year, (sure to cause some more wonderful dreams), but I’m very, very excited for Summer. Even if I do get a job, last Summer was so perfect I can’t help but hope. The job thing may be shot down anyways because the price of gas is going up. Here’s to falling asleep at 5 AM and waking up at 3 PM! I’m also going on a Freshman fieldtrip with all my old Freshman teachers (who kicked ass and caused this year-wide slump I’m in by being so awesome I can’t forget them), just like last year. Maybe last year’s field trip was truly the last event before the end.

So it’s been one full year since the heralded May 9th, 2006. One full revolution, and I couldn’t be happier.
-Andrex