Spider-Day

One of the big events on my summer schedule was the premiere of Spider-Man 3. (And, yes, I know that May is technically spring.)   I really liked the first one and loved the second one, so I had high hopes for the third installment.

But, before I blabber about the movie, let me tell you why the premiere was fantastic.

I've got a great group of friends and family. And for stuff like this, we all get together. I've seen every Spider-Man movie on opening night with them. (And every Star Trek, Star Wars and a few others.) As they've gotten married and had kids, and I've become more entwined with my career, it's a little tougher to pull these things off. Sometimes it's like planning the Normandy invasion, but it's worth it.

Going with friends is insulation. The esteemed cabal got together for Batman and Robin, a movie which has been called (in a cleaned-up version) “a sodomizing of my childhood.” It was horrible. When the movie ended, I thought “Man, things can't get any worse” and ran right into an ex-girlfriend.

That is, incidentally, why I never tempt “worse” anymore.

But, for as bad as Batman and Robin was, is, and always will be, the night was great. I was with my friends having fun.

No matter how bad the movie is, if I'm with them, everything will be okay.

So, did I need that insulation? Some of the reviews of the third Spider-Man movie were pretty cold. “Too long”, “too many characters” and so on. So…

Hey, I liked it.

It's not as good as the second film, but I like it better than the first. I'll try to do a quick, spoiler-free review, but I might mention a minor plot point or two, so be warned.

I think a lot of the negative reviews from comic book fans involve missed opportunities. I wasn't a fan of putting Venom in the movies. I think he's got way too complicated a backstory to make him work. Peter has to get the costume, think it's okay, use it, start to realize something is up, get rid of it, and then have Eddie Brock get it and become Venom. And, in a movie which also introduces Gwen Stacy, her father, and the Sandman, that's a lot of ground to cover.

I was surprised at how well everything worked. Heck, I was surprised by a lot of things, and that's saying something (and please don't read this paragraph thinking I'm arrogant). I'm a comics fan, and I know the source material. I remember avoiding all the reviews of the first film, lest I spoil anything. Then I realized that there wasn't much to spoil.

Hey, when Uncle Ben shows up, you know he's not making it out of the first reel.

Now, some of the better comic book movies can still surprise. There are a couple of moments in Batman Begins, especially involving the identity of Ra's Al Ghul, that still snuck up on me. Spider-Man 3 has some of these moments in it.

The action is great, the story is solid, and I enjoyed every minute of it.

Now, it's not perfect. I think a great movie can overcome its imperfections   by getting you so into it, you don't notice things until you leave the theatre. In the second Spider-Man film, Doc Ock throws a car through a window that would have killed Peter, but needs him alive to find Spider-Man. Yeah, it doesn't make any sense, but I didn't notice it at the time.

Here, the movie has a couple of those “what?” moments that don't work as well. Here's an example from the first ten minutes, so it may be a spoiler, but it isn't a bad one.

The movie doesn't establish how much time passed between this one and the last one. At the end of the last one, Harry knows Peter is Spider-Man, and blames him for Harry's father's death. We don't touch on this until they run into each other at MJ's play.

Some of this may be the comic book fan in me. I know Harry's a threat, so I needed something to show that Peter determined that Harry was or wasn't dangerous? How was Peter so admittedly happy with someone who hated him and knew his identity hanging out there?

Worse yet, Mary Jane asks Peter “What happened between you two?” Did he never tell her? They've been dating long enough for him to consider marrying her, but he never told her about that? It seems kind of odd, especially coming from the guy who worried that Spider-Man could be attacked through his loved ones, not to tell his loved one about someone who actually knows his secret and, at least once, tried to kill him?

Now, Peter could be trying to respect Norman's wish not to tell Harry and decided to keep everything quiet. Maybe he didn't want to sully the memory of a dead man. But, I needed some explanation to cover that ground.

So there are a couple of moments like that. But's it's still a fine film.

What I always find weird, too, is that for as much as I am a Superman fan, I really relate to the Spider-Man films. I saw the first one the same day I was chastised by a friend for not being around much as I was desperately trying to finish up the first Raider graphic novel.   So the “I have to take care of this” moments resonate to me.

And, if you've seen it, yes, I am perfectly aware of the irony of me saying I relate to a movie in which Peter makes everything about himself. (In fact, I've had that whole conversation before. And I'm trying to take it to heart.)

But that's one of the things a lot of people miss about comics, and some of the Marvel movies in particular: they're about something. It's not just superheroes being super, but themes of forgiveness, responsibility and more.

The more I think about Spider-Man 3, the more I'm impressed with the threads that run through it. There's more than one symbiotic relationship in the film. The forgiveness theme plays well throughout it. And even some of the plot points are introduced well. Notice that in the first ten minutes, Peter has a conversation with MJ that introduces his knowledge of acoustics. True Spider-Fans will know why that's important.

Okay, I've taken enough of your time. If you've got an inkling to see the movie, go ahead and see it. You won't regret it.