I'm not a big fan of knee-jerk reactions -- I prefer to give a movie a fair shake. So, when initial word that Spider-Man 3 would feature three -- count' em three -- villains, the knee-jerk reaction was that it was going end up a crowded mess. So I put doubts aside and went in there hoping they could pull it off -- after all, ensemble movies are entirely possible, so maybe there is a perfect balance to be found.

Turns out the knee-jerks were right. Spider-Man 3 is a big, bloated finale trying to do too much to wrap up the trilogy. It's as if everyone involved realized this was their last shot to make happen their remaining checkboxes on their Spidey wishlist and threw it all in there. That insecure need to overstuff this movie really hurts the picture. I remember the exhilaration felt by the audience as they left the theater after Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2. This time, there's no rush. Granted, it ends on a quieter note, but for a raucous midnight crowd ready to cheer just about anything, the cut-to-credits evoked more confusion and dissatisfaction than anything remotely approaching the first two joyrides.

What Works:
Peter and Mary Jane work. The good news is the heart of the movie does work, despite its arteries being clogged by a fatty story. You do end up caring about these two, and you do understand how it is that two people who love each other can end up hurting each other like this. This really is what connects the movies into a trilogy, as you watch how these kids mature and try to deal with one another. Yeah, it's very soap opera at times, but that's okay. That's very much keeping with the comics source material.

Peter's descent into darkness works. Even without the symbiote pushing the story along, Parker's increasing ego and cockiness work and seem like a natural progression of his character. Aunt May continues to serve as voice to his often confused moral compass, and that still works and is true to the comics. Yeah, there will be those who wrinkle their noses at the extended strut scenes and the cah-razy confrontational dance number at a jazz club, but to be honest, I thought they were so Raimi-fueled that I dug them. Unfortunately, when there's so much filler in this movie, these little quirky diversions stand out as targets.

Flint Marko works. Works so damn well that it feels like such a missed opportunity. Really, if this movie only had Sandman as the villain and explored just his motives, it really could have been much stronger. Instead, this compelling element gets very short-shrift treatment in order to cram everything else in.

Bruce Campbell works. Great great stuff.

What Doesn't Work
The Goblin story doesn't work. It seems so shoe-horned in here, like it exists only to awkwardly deliver on the final-minute promise of Spider-Man 2 when Harry discovers his father's gear. Early in the movie, Harry loses track of his vendetta (I won't say how, but let's just say it's not very convincing) and we end up watching a once -chilling character turn into a smiling simpleton. By the end, the character has turned several circles, but it is extremely unsatisfying. When the curtain falls on his character's story arc, the audience I was with just didn't care.

The symbiote and Venom don't work. I don't envy the filmmakers here. See, they wanted to do the Spider-Man fights the darkness within story arc. Great. Good. Excellent material. But, they needed the symbiote in there to motivate the story. Okay... so, let's keep that it's from space. Yeah, I know, kind of weird, but let's keep that in there and never really get into it. But that's not the difficulty. See, once you get into the symbiote storyline, you'd be suicidal to decide not to include Venom and Eddie Brock. But it was a mistake to put that in here, because the movie simply wasn't big enough to support all this, especially not when the Sandman story ends up feeling much more interesting. As a result, while the symbiote and darkness story feels rich and full, the payoff -- Eddie as Venom -- seems rushed and shallow. You really needed a fourth movie to have Eddie pick up the symbiote and become Venom. Instead, it becomes this really tacked on element without enough time devoted to play it out.

The combat choreography doesn't work. It's so muddy. Now, just to be clear, I have no problem with the Spidey CG when he's swinging around town. I think it looks rather beautiful. It's just when he starts fighting and bouncing around people that it gets weird. It's hard to peg just what it is -- is it the cloth sim? The muscles on the character rig? The characters look like there's nothing going on beneath their clothes or flesh, and the camera moves are just too extreme for my liking -- it gets to the point where you simply can't figure out what's going on. And they play the "Character hits items A, B, C and D as he goes flying" card way too often.

JJJ and the Bugle don't work. Sadly, too, since the cuts to J. Jonah Jameson were always such a highlight in the previous two movies. The jokes seem too broad this time around. Bummer.

Final tally? I'd give it a C.

Other recent movies.

Grindhouse: Good gory fun, but both installments go on too long and begin to stretch the boundaries of novelty film. B-

Blades of Glory: Nice to see Will Ferrell spread out the funny to his co-stars so that it really ends up much more of an ensemble picture. Big laughs. B

Hot Fuzz: Measured and meticulous in its set-up, and cuttingly insightful in its action movie observations. Only bad is that action payoff at the end goes on a wee bit too long. But really solid. B

ph