Spiderman 3

I get awful tired of films with a 3 in the title. Sometimes a 2 is good, but that’s seldom the case with a 3. And you know if it’s gone to a 3, then a 4 can’t be far away. I’m dreading Pirates of the Caribbean 4. Number 3 was already looking a bit tired.

That said, this wasn’t all that bad. Plot and character seem to matter more in these Spiderman movies than they do in most SFX extravaganzas. (I must note, though, that the opening credits used more CGI than any ten movies combined, ten years ago, could have afforded.) At the same time, they have a nice sense of humor about the improbability of all these shenanigans. After battling Sandman the first time, Spidey sits on a wall and empties a ton of sand out of his boots, and says “Where do these things come from?” Yeah, life is tough for a superhero who lives in a shitty apartment and is trying to get through college, and is always beset by girlfriend troubles, which he handles ineptly. That was the source of his original popularity, of course, his appeal to the pathetic nerds (like me, though I was never a big comics fan) who read his adventures.

There is a brief cameo by Stan Lee, who created all this. He tells Peter Parker what a great guy Spiderman is.