Spider-Man 3 (2007)

Preceded by: Spider-Man 2 (2004)

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Spider-Man/Peter Parker	Tobey Maguire	½
Mary Jane Watson	Kirsten Dunst	½
Harry Osborn	James Franco
Sandman/Flint Marko	Thomas Haden Church	½
Venom/Edward Brock	Topher Grace	½
Gwen Stacy	Bryce Dallas Howard
May Parker	Rosemary Harris
J. Jonah Jameson	J. K. Simmons	½
Captain Stacy	James Cromwell
Dr. Curt Connors	Dylan Baker
Robbie Robertson	Bill Nunn
Maitre d'	Bruce Campbell
Betty Brant	Elizabeth Banks
Hoffman	Ted Raimi
Norman Osborn	Willem Dafoe
Ben Parker	Cliff Robertson

Review

It is sad to see a once so innovative filmmaker as Sam Raimi sink down to not only recycling old formulas, but even repeating the recycling. It's not that Spider-Man 3 isolated is that much worse than the first two films, it's just that it is completely unnecessary. Apart from a slightly amusing Topher Grace (early on), this film has nothing new to offer. And for the second film running, the thematics are nicked from Richard Lester's Superman films from the 80s. Unfortunately for Spidey, Tobey Maguire's good/bad acting is ridiculous compared to that of Christopher Reeve in Superman III.

And as the storylines get more ineffective, the weaknesses of this Spider-Man franchise become more and more apparent: The Tobey Maguire/Kirsten Dunst romance is sugary, anti-erotic, and dated pulp literature, Spider-Man's adversaries are stupid, pathetic and uninteresting, and the special effects leave a lot to be desired. I submit the crane incident as proof for the latter. When the two almost irrelevant bit characters played by J. K. Simmons and Bruce Campbell become the film's undoubted highlights, you know for sure that the film is in trouble. Please bury this series as soon as possible.