Someone forgot to tell them--three's a crowd...

When I heard that Venom was going to be in the third Spiderman film this summer, I totally geeked out. I watched all the trailers over and over again, and read whatever news I could about Spiderman 3 on the internet. This movie was going to be nothing short of legendary, and who would have doubted it? After all, Sam Raimi hit a homerun way out of the park with Spiderman 2, and it just seemed like he couldn't go wrong with the third installment. Alas, as I watched Spiderman 3 this weekend, it felt like one of those lofty baseballs that look like they're just about to clear the fences until the center fielder jumps up and grabs it for an out.

Taking up where the last film left off, Spiderman 3 introduces us to a much happier Peter Parker, adjusting well to his newly minted fame from his alter ego as local New York City hero Spiderman. His love life with Mary Jane couldn't be better, and he's finally back on track in college. As with any good movie, introducing a man high on life only sets him up for a painful fall, as Spiderman soon must deal with issues of hubris, jealousy, and revenge. The use of the alien symbiote straight from the pages of The Amazing Spiderman was perfect for this exploration of Spiderman's baser instincts. Unfortunately, this is all wasted in the film during a laughable section of the film as Peter Parker runs around town in full "emo" style. The fact that I was reminded of the embarrasment of all comic book movies, Batman and Robin, should convey a bit of how I felt with this overly campy sequence.

Luckily, in the action department, Spiderman 3 doesn't disappoint. Scenes with Harry Osborn duking it out with Spiderman over the streets of New York City are especially well done, and the special effects of the Spiderman franchise continue to set escalating benchmarks with each new film of the series. Spiderman seamlessly swings and jumps all over the place, and actually makes you think that such feats of acrobatics aren't so far fetched after all.

Despite the action, though, the movie is still flawed. Unfortunately, it seems that Raimi felt the need to force too many characters into this film for the sake of making an over-the-top summer blockbuster. Working through the themes of vengeance and justice would have worked well with the use of Harry and the Sandman alone. I'm not even giving fault to the introduction of the alien symbiote into the mix. As I stated, this was perfect for the themes explored in this movie. But throwing in Eddie Brock/Venom in at the end as a prominent villain in this movie was just one too many. We understand a bit about Sandman's plight, but are never given the time or space to feel any remorse (or really anything at all) for Eddie Brock. Harry Osborn's journey, which started in the first Spiderman film, comes to a hasty unsatisfying conclusion which was only cleared up by an akwardly placed observation from his butler (which also begs the question as to why he didn't reveal this important fact to Harry a long time ago). Perhaps the better way to construct this film would have been to leave out the transformation of Eddie Brock into Venom until the very end as a foreshadowing of things to come in a later film. Anyone who reads comic books knows the importance of Todd McFarlane's run on The Amazing Spiderman and his introduction of Venom to the comic pages. In fact, the modern revival of the comic book medium and the stratospheric rise of Marvel Comics as an industry during that time, is probably a major reason why there are so many comic book movies being made today. Knowing that, the way that Venom is forced into this movie seems insulting to casual and die-hard comic book fans alike.

Rumor has it that Avi Arad over at Marvel Studios adamantly wanted Venom in this film, perhaps fearing he could not keep the team of Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, and Sam Raimi intact for a fourth movie to devote to a full script about Venom. Spiderman 2 left us wanting so much more, only because it was such a good film itself. I now find myself wanting so much more, only because Spiderman 3 was kind of a disappointment and I still want to see what could have been. I guess they haven't turned the one-armed Professor Connors into the Lizard yet, though, so a fourth installment must be in the works. We can only hope.

*** (out of *****) -- And that's a bit generous only because the action was spectacular, and the central message of the film was nice