05-06-2007, 09:21 PM
I agree with Baylan. I thought this movie was, not only, the worst of the series but a complete trainwreck even taken by itself.
***Possible spoilers***
First the positives:
- The visual effects are MUCH improved in this movie. many of the faults of the first two have been ironed out and the action scenes are relatively enjoyable, although there are a lot of instances on incontinuity in the fight scenes. IE Spiderman has his mask on as we cut to goblin and when we come back to spiderman he no longer has the mask. there are many instances in the fight scenes where you get the feeling there was a large part of the fight you just missed out on. (see I lied even when talking about the positives i can't avoid all the faults of this movie...)
- Topher Grace. I promise, this time it's all good. A lot of people were upset when Grace was annouced as Venom but he is the only "True" character in this movie, and he plays Eddie Brock well.
Ok, now that i've talked about Topher Grace i've got through the one part of this movie that remains without the taint of SHAM. Back to your normally scheduled programming:
- Sandman. Jesus, where should i begin? This character really has no place in this movie. The inclusion of this character actually does so much to detract from the rest of the movie that I blame most of the problems of the movie as a whole directly on his shoulders. It's not that they don't attempt to build up the character and create a place for him, it's just that the role he is created to play would have been much more appropriate for Harry Osborne and you wouldn't have wasted 1/3rd of the movie failing to develop an entirely new character.
The character's sole purpose in this film is as an antagonist for peter's new-found aggression. Not only do they introduce this character and waste so much time trying to develop him, but much of that time is spent on ret-conning Peter's most defining moment. And it doens't work... AT ALL. You can tell this is a failled attempt when you watch the "conflict resolution" at the end of the movie. "What? You killed my uncle? you commited multiple felonies, along with unbelieveable property damage and personal injuries. Ok, I forgive you." *Exit sandman to float away into the sunset* Seriously. What happened to "with great power comes great responsibility"? It's obvious that the film makers created a pandoras box with Sandman that they couldn't close so after they were done with him they wanted to get him the hell off screen so the audience didn't think too much about it. It actually would have been better if they didn't even try to resolve this character. If he had just turned tail and ran away when he saw the tables turning on the battle it would have been much more acceptable.
Getting back to Harry Osborne. Lose the ret-con of Ben's death, Lose Sandman, and just take all that time to create more conflict and turmoil between Peter and Harry. Harry is a much more developed character, their conflict is much more believable and integral to the story, and he offers a much more realistic comparison for spiderman of what can happen if you take the path of revenge and anger. Then you throw in the catalyst of the symbiote and eventually venom and you have the movie this should have been. You really don't have to change the overall arch of the story either. The suit and venom in the end is just a metaphor for the anger and revenge that both peter and harry have to overcome. just stop wasting time on Sandman and stick with the characters that people actually care about.
- In the end that's the result of this movie. So much stuff that the audience just doesn't care about. Sandman has a whole sob story that he rolls out to spidey, but it doesn't matter because NOBODY CARES. They had the right idea of what kind of story arch they should make, they just bungled nearly every possible aspect of it along the way.
***Possible spoilers***
First the positives:
- The visual effects are MUCH improved in this movie. many of the faults of the first two have been ironed out and the action scenes are relatively enjoyable, although there are a lot of instances on incontinuity in the fight scenes. IE Spiderman has his mask on as we cut to goblin and when we come back to spiderman he no longer has the mask. there are many instances in the fight scenes where you get the feeling there was a large part of the fight you just missed out on. (see I lied even when talking about the positives i can't avoid all the faults of this movie...)
- Topher Grace. I promise, this time it's all good. A lot of people were upset when Grace was annouced as Venom but he is the only "True" character in this movie, and he plays Eddie Brock well.
Ok, now that i've talked about Topher Grace i've got through the one part of this movie that remains without the taint of SHAM. Back to your normally scheduled programming:
- Sandman. Jesus, where should i begin? This character really has no place in this movie. The inclusion of this character actually does so much to detract from the rest of the movie that I blame most of the problems of the movie as a whole directly on his shoulders. It's not that they don't attempt to build up the character and create a place for him, it's just that the role he is created to play would have been much more appropriate for Harry Osborne and you wouldn't have wasted 1/3rd of the movie failing to develop an entirely new character.
The character's sole purpose in this film is as an antagonist for peter's new-found aggression. Not only do they introduce this character and waste so much time trying to develop him, but much of that time is spent on ret-conning Peter's most defining moment. And it doens't work... AT ALL. You can tell this is a failled attempt when you watch the "conflict resolution" at the end of the movie. "What? You killed my uncle? you commited multiple felonies, along with unbelieveable property damage and personal injuries. Ok, I forgive you." *Exit sandman to float away into the sunset* Seriously. What happened to "with great power comes great responsibility"? It's obvious that the film makers created a pandoras box with Sandman that they couldn't close so after they were done with him they wanted to get him the hell off screen so the audience didn't think too much about it. It actually would have been better if they didn't even try to resolve this character. If he had just turned tail and ran away when he saw the tables turning on the battle it would have been much more acceptable.
Getting back to Harry Osborne. Lose the ret-con of Ben's death, Lose Sandman, and just take all that time to create more conflict and turmoil between Peter and Harry. Harry is a much more developed character, their conflict is much more believable and integral to the story, and he offers a much more realistic comparison for spiderman of what can happen if you take the path of revenge and anger. Then you throw in the catalyst of the symbiote and eventually venom and you have the movie this should have been. You really don't have to change the overall arch of the story either. The suit and venom in the end is just a metaphor for the anger and revenge that both peter and harry have to overcome. just stop wasting time on Sandman and stick with the characters that people actually care about.
- In the end that's the result of this movie. So much stuff that the audience just doesn't care about. Sandman has a whole sob story that he rolls out to spidey, but it doesn't matter because NOBODY CARES. They had the right idea of what kind of story arch they should make, they just bungled nearly every possible aspect of it along the way.