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Trapped in his own web

Complicated: Spider-man 3

Spider-man 3

Genre: Action/Drama

With great power comes great responsibility, all right. But the responsibility in this case seems to have taken its toll. Especially, on director Sam Raimi and leading man Tobey Maguire. If anything is wrong with the film, it’s not the lack of effort but too much of it.

Spider-Man 3 spins multiple cobwebs, involving half a dozen characters that fall apart only because Raimi and Tobey bite into more than what they can chew. Raimi gives Spidey an overdose of problems just to be triply sure that the superhero is adequately challenged and the audience super-engaged with the proceedings.

First, his relationship with Mary Jane (Kirsten Dunst) is on the rocks because success goes to his head.

Next, his best friend Harry Osborn (James Franco) now wants revenge for stealing his girlfriend and killing his Dad. Also, Uncle Ben’s real killer (no, the guy they showed in Spider-Man 1 was only an accomplice we learn) Marko Flinto (Thomas Haden Chase) has now become King Kong-sized Sandman, after a freak accident. Then, Peter has to deal with competition from another freelance photographer Eddie Brock (Topher Grace) at the Daily Bugle.

To add to Spidey’s woes, even this shrewd human rival transforms into the larger-than-life villain, Venom. And, there’s another damsel in distress waiting to be rescued and kissed upside down in Gwen Stacy (Bryce Dallas Howard). If all this were not enough, an alien organism looking for a host decides to corrupt Spidey. Finally, there’s a full-fledged Aunt May-track to give Spidey his dose of moral instructions. Very poorly written, this. Plus, there’s the Bruce Campbell cameo, the Bad Spidey dance, the making of the bad guys and visual effects and action sequences that make time disappear into thin air. If Raimi goofs up by soaking these sub-plots with the trademark sentiment and soppy melodrama that the franchise has been associated with, Tobey botches it up with incredibly bad acting. His performance is only made worse with his double-chinned, cherubic, balding presence, and an effeminate demeanour – especially his pansy portrayal of bad Spidey. Is this the same chap we so adored in the first two instalments?

Let’s not even get started on how much the film departs from the comics. But hang on, Spider-Man 3 is not a bad film at all, thanks to the ensemble of actors, especially James Franco, J.K.Simmons, Topher Grace, Thomas Haden Chase and, of course, the outstanding ultra-spectacular visual effects. With most of these actors having an electric screen presence, the director decidedly does away with their masks, further distancing the film from the comic book.

It is not easy to make a film on the theme of forgiveness that is both effective and entertaining. While the intention of the makers is commendable indeed, the creation of such a complex web of character graphs calls for a convincing resolution of their sub-plots too. Instead, Raimi resorts to age-old tricks like memory-loss and taking a bullet for a friend that seem lazily borrowed from Hindi cinema of the Seventies. Hence, the best way to enjoy Spider-Man 3 is to leave your brains home. The child in you will sit back and love every moment of it.

R. SUDHISH KAMATH

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