Growing up, comic books were a luxury I didn't really have the money to collect. I'd always borrow my friend’s issues or hope my brother would pick some up, but they were always few and far between. As I grew older and had more money, my focus was on video games and not the adventures of the amazing fictional worlds of Marvel and DC. That quickly changed with the first two “Spider-Man” movies and the "Ultimate Spiderman" comic series, and I was dragged wallet first back into the comic book world. With the third movie came the arrival of my favorite “Spider-Man” villain, Venom, and I attended opening night with a fare share of blind excitement. But the movie failed to live up to my dreams, and instead became a scar on comic book movie history. So what went wrong?
The first “Spider-Man” came out in 2002 with a strong cast of Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker, Willem Dafoe as Norman Osborn and Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane Watson. It was the perfect origin story. A high school senior, Peter Parker gets bitten by a radioactive, biologically enhanced spider and gains amazing powers. At first he is tempted to use his powers for personal gain until, guided by the words of his Uncle Ben, played by Cliff Robertson, he becomes the hero his world needs. The cast is rounded out by James Franco as Peter’s best friend Harry, Rosemary Harris as Aunt May, and J.K. Simmons as the great J. Jonah Jameson. Throughout the story Peter learns about love, family and what being a hero means.
This origin movie is built on a classic comic book formula. An intelligent, but fairly normal young Peter gets amazing powers from a seemingly random event. He begins to abuse them, but the death of a family member drives him to become a super hero. Everything starts to go his way as he develops his abilities as Spider-Man and a mastery of science as Peter. Then Norman Osborn, an evil businessman and corrupt scientist causes himself to become the Green Goblin. Now Peter must face his first super villain, who is a mirror image of himself. He defeats Osborn and learns that he must sacrifice as Peter Parker to truly become “Spider-Man.”
“Spider-Man 2” continues this classic formula by introducing Alfred Molina as Dr. Otto Octavius. Dr. Octavius is a great scientist who plans on using new technology to control the equivalent power of the sun to create an infinite power source. The experiment goes wrong leaving four mechanical A.I. arms grafted to his body and his wife dead. Unlike Peter, this newfound power corrupts him, and he begins to rob and murder in hopes of finishing his experiment. Meanwhile, Peter Parker has found his place as Spider-Man, and is hunting for a way to balance it with his normal life. By the end of the movie Peter has to face Dr. Octavius, a.k.a. “Doc Ock,” and help the scientist redeem himself as a person. He also confesses his love and reveals his powers to Mary Jane, and begins the process of balancing both sides of his life.
If “Spider-Man 3” had kept with this formula, now would be the time Peter stops facing the villains that mirror himself and faces something he can't explain. He should grow into the truest form of the super hero he has become by seeing how easy it would be to become a villain. Peter should be tempted with more power and dark choices, but instead what you get is a mashed up retelling of his original story through the eyes of Sandman, played by Thomas Haden Church, and a Spider-Man tempted by the modern emo life style, not evil.
Topher Grace joins the cast as Eddie Brock, who later becomes Venom. This has to be the biggest failure of this movie. The alien symbiote falls randomly from the sky clings to Peter and causes him to be a jerk to his girl friend Mary Jane. He also starts to use Gwen Stacy, played by Bryce Dallas Howard, as a tool to get Mary Jane jealous. His enemies include Harry Osborn, who has become the New Goblin. In the end all these events happen for no reason. Peter’s life was going well and where he needed to grow was as “Spider-Man,” but after getting the black suite the only thing that changes is his life as Peter. After he realizes his "mistakes" he throws the suit away and it attaches itself to Eddie making him Venom. He declares vengeance on Peter because Peter pointed out that Eddie had broken the law at work.
In the end it all comes down to a final battle that gathers the same concepts from the previous two movies. Venom was evil all along and dies because of his greed. The Green Goblin, who was once a villain, follows in Doc Ock’s footsteps and redeems himself, helping Peter before he dies. The only new concept is Sandman, who was supposedly a villain with a heart of gold, reveals to his mistakes to Peter and then just randomly leaves. Nothing that is done here is new, and nothing helps Peter or Spider-Man grow. I went to this movie with a Venom action figure in my pocket and ready to love it just like I loved the first two. What I got was a barely understandable story and a dancing Peter Parker with a dark suit and greasy hair.
In the end this trilogy leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. The first two movies were so close to perfection that the failures of the third become that much worse. I've tried to find redeeming factors in this movie, but in the end it fails on every level. For anyone out there who hasn't seen any of these movies, this is fair warning: stop after the second one and end it all on a happy note. With a reboot “Spider-Man” movie coming out in 2012, I just hope they learned from their mistakes, and from the successes of other comic book movies like “Iron Man” and “Batman.”
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