I liked Spider-Man 3. I had heard people being down on it, and while I agree it was not as good as SM or SM 2, it was still very good. I had major concerns about there being three villains in the film – that is where the older Batman movies began to go very very wrong. Usually, when you have more than one villain, you end up with lots of fights and little story and no character development.

Spider-Man 3 did a very good job of navigating the triple villains. They did it by unifying everything around the “darkness within” theme. All the characters, Spider-Man, Harry, Sandman, and Eddie Brock, all had to fight the darkness within. So the story line held together, and there were good relationships and good development as a result.

Most of the major story lines were RIGHT out of the comic books. I imagine there were multiple “oh, come on” moments for people seeing these stories for the first time, but all the major events (except for Sandman killing Uncle Ben) were right out of Spiderman lore. Harry’s issues with Peter and his ultimate fate? Out of the books. Venom’s origins and weakness? Check (including the bells in the church tower!). Gwen Stacy? Okay, so she was not dropped from the Brooklyn Bridge by the original Green Goblin, but her appearance is appreciated by fans like me.

There were LOTS of signs and foreshadowing in the film as well. Keep an eye and ear out for details, and they keep coming back again and again.

Bruce Campbell as a maitre’d is lots of fun.

I do not think that Spider-Man 3 is not uber-deep, but it is a well made, well shot, thoughtful, entertaining film that is worthwhile to see. If SM and SM 2 were “10s,” I’d say Spider-Man 3 was an “8.” Go see it – it is a good 2+ hours.