Spiderman III-Review for Comic Enthusiasts

[Lugotorix]

Spiderman III-Review for Comic Enthusiasts

The cosyness of cult classic parties has returned to me with this film, though not in the incarnation I had expected. Being a long time fan of Sam Raimi, I was expecting a redemptive push on behalf of Marvel, whose books have taken a noir turn, and turned up a couple of snide disaster epics in cinema.
The Parker in the film is not your sidewalk peddler's Spiderman, the bard tradition which, I reason, is the point of the film and Marvel's original intention.
Stan Lee's spirit is all there. Over the top villains and truth be told no real crime as a platform, which is the heart of pulp comic adventures, and the personal strife between characters they were intended to display.
This is an information age Spiderman, with all strings attached, manifested in the symbiote, an alien entity that garishly, and lewdly exemplifies aggression and venal nature, whilst many forget that two separate beings are interacting, not to mention the tryst depicted. No punches are pulled, which is why Rocky was such a franchise in it's day. There are allusions to Todd's work, half expected, since he brought realism to a surreal genre, but the film is Marvel to the core.
The cast. James Cromwell is a new addition to Spiderman's New York, and very well cast. It shows his range. One of the film's of his I appreciate is L.A. Confidential, so a comic movie really shows his range. Suddenly he isn't muscling in, save from the depredations of Brock, and the rest of the cast ain't pulpy sock puppets like Stompanado and Cohen. They're, well, human, in irony.
Peter Parker. He needs no introduction.
Having worked with arachnids in scientific life, I can say you'd be surprised how truly braggadocio some really are. It varies between species. Some are pet holes or webs, secretive for months at a time. Some are pompous, swaggering jokes, which is what the symbiote did to Parker.
These are usually arboreal tarantulas and for all intensive purposes apex, as avians (read Vulture) have learned to avoid their venom. Pamps and Psalms come to mind. They dig deep and their veins of ore are zoological.
All baboons, or bird spiders, which is a cross-genus term, are frighteningly aggressive and secretive. They build elaborate lairs, say, a taxi cab suspended from a building with a giant sign intended for prey, or molt webbed up in the line of potential striking, and never, ever, run.
For a human, this is incidental. No-one has ever been killed by a spider, alergics and Australians excluded. However, for a Kenyan or South African dung beetle making a nest out of fresh molt, problems have occurred. Most tarantulas can pierce a fingernail and catch a cricket before it hits the ground.
They are also notoriously fast when confronted.
Sylvester once said "That means he's doing alot." This defines the term baboon. They could just as likely be a meteorite, cast from something that has been MIA for millions of years.
Peter Parker was the guy that was bitten by a mutant spider, most probablly a reference to Tolkein himself.
The average banana spider doesn't do much unless it's doing it's job, which, like most animals, is hunting and mating. They build giant, simple webs and wait for oppurtunity. They have territory, but they share it with family and mates.
This is Parker's identity, and his web is New York. He slings. He defends the innocent. He is friendly and humble and brilliant, a true dork.
He protects the coffers, and, every once in awhile, he gets beaten badly.
Enter Thomas Hayden Church. Not a character I was familiar with as a boy, but brilliantly enacted. Like his work. A man becoming accustomed to his form before he becomes an enraged golem. One must recall Andy Serkis' man started by fishing for his family, and gathering for his grandmother, and ended without either, saving the world. Blatant Judaic reference, post Maccabee, probablly Stan's, but who can argue after premeire.
A man at odds with destiny, and Stacy's justice. Good origin.
Glad Bruce is back in the fold. Couldnt help but grin.
Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane Watson. Fine actress and really a rite of passage for her I think now that Tobey is looking up. Like most 90's kids, I was set back a generation, so I still remember her when she cut her hair. She wants her boy back, from the job he took up for her, and he doesnt understand. Peter Parker has trouble disengaging between his utility and his purpose. His suit shows just how out of touch, jealous, uptight, and restrained he is. The cat burglar and the cat have become indistinguishable to him. Aunt Mae really defined the relationship when she said "A man has to put his wife before him.". There is tragic duality, which is what the tryst was meant to instill. She is in the bard tradition where money talks, and Peter defines the tradition itself, quite literally, as his own photographer.
Eddie Brock represents the corruption of that tradition, exhibited in his wooden nickel photo, which wasnt really his fault, but the symbiote in Peter, and naturally, the symbiote loves Brock the more for it. Enough to break him out of prison years later.
Peter is smart enough to see the duality between marriage and the alien.
Aunt Mae plays devil's advocate, when she mentions the duality and finality in the ring, and that of the molecular bond of the alien, but she is faultless, given her men. Peter and Ben. Change the men and you change the formula.
The symbiote is the token Brock covets, captured by Peter on a daily basis by mirrors, when all he needed were the real ones. The very same token that caused children to ignore him, and lambasted his face on Times Square. Clearly, the three masks of Harry.
Eddie Brock suffers from full blown Stockholm, given evidence by running backwards into a poison trap, acting as abuser and abusee, whereas James Franco is Erikson. It's like comparing Britain or America to Rome. Only obscenity I saw other than Brock's gimmick, which was post Walt Disney, and has no place in the genre.
James Franco. Good job, playing Hobbie and Green Goblin at once. I felt the hospital scene was well done. Pumpkin bombs oppurtunely placed. Glad Harry and Peter finally fought as men. The action sequences are destined to be classics. Mockery of the Jedi acrobatics of Star Wars Episode III, in place this time. The sword/stiletto was not a good point to make. Blessed are defenders of faith and kin.
This isn't DC. There is no Arkam at the time, which is the premise of Cletus Cassidy. That's when the symbiote gets really loud, though Brock was suitably obnoxious. The idea of Cassidy is a human psyche that overcomes the depravity, and flat out Satanism of the symbiote, once Eddie has come to terms with his own demons.
The model girl Gwen. I was playing rapido mariachi with my ligaments in the jazz scene. Damsel just strong enough to resist Peter's heightened libido and get him back on track, which is left tentative, albeit hopeful. Finally Peter sees he needs to look after his family, New York, especially his girls, Mary Jane and Aunt Mae, which is why he took up the web slinger's errand in the first place.
The movie summarizes itself. Epic sin. Choice. Forgiveness.
Great movie. But like any movie, if consumed right or wrong, it could lead from anything from religious sermons, to hate speech. Be safe.

-Lug