Spiderman 3

My usual rule is to keep low expectations about movies, especially adaptations and sequels. But the Spiderman movie franchise is my favorite, bar none, and I thought the first sequel was the best superhero movie ever made. As a result, I couldn't contain my excitement to see the 3rd movie. When I walked out of the midnight show, I was not disappointed.

Director Sam Raimi's affection for Spiderman is obvious. It also nearly undid his movie this time around. While it was fantastic to see so many well-rendered characters from the Spiderman mythos like the Stacy family, Venom and Sandman, there were so many characters and subplots that a couple of times I disengaged from the movie as I actively wondered how he was going to tie all of the elements together. This was the exact problem of the third X-men movie. There were too many new characters and subplots. The ending did not make sense, and I wasn't even able to get through a second viewing of characters I loved without falling asleep.

In this movie, Raimi successfully wraps thing up in a heroic last half hour. While the weakest of the three movies, it's still one of the best of the genre. If the first movie was a 9 of 10 and the second a 10 of 10, this one is a solid seven.