Spider-man 3 Review

Spider-man 3 swooped into Cleveland last weekend and About.com contributor, Anne Price was there to see it. Here is her review:

Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) takes a swing on the wild side in the third installment of Sam Raimi's cash cow Spiderman series. As focused on relationships as it is special effects, the film has a little something for everyone, especially most Clevelanders.

Big-screen Cleveland
With blink-and-you'll-miss-it footage of our fair city, half the fun of watching is found in trying to identify landmarks as Spidey whips past them: Is that the Wyndham Hotel he just zoomed over? (Yes, it was.) Wait, did he fight with Harry Osborn/Young Green Goblin (a really gorgeous James Franco) atop the Terminal Tower? (Yes, he did.)

Most of the Cleveland scenes, of which there are relatively few, are filmed around Euclid Avenue and include the BP Building, the Halle Building, the aforementioned Wyndham Hotel where Spiderman tussles with Sandman (a sinewy, bulked-up Thomas Haden Church, virtually unrecognizable from his work in "Sideways") and of course, Terminal Tower.

Filming took place over a few weeks last summer and plenty of Clevelanders were on-hand as extras and helping out with filming. The Brinks truck sequence features the bulk of local scenery and the buildings are clearly distinguishable from those of New York City. I believe part of the final action sequence was also filmed here, but no real landmarks emerged in that scene for me.

Heroes as Villains
Fortunately the rest of the movie, shot in New York City, offers a whole lot of pop psychology, special effects, good arc-progression for Peter Parker, his lady love, MaryJane (MJ) Watson and their good pal, Harry Osborn. Staring at Osborn might just be enough for some of us; not since Johnny Depp's arrival on the big screen has one man's cheekbones and dark brown puppy-dog eyes deserved their own credits.

As always, the Spidey franchise is concerned with good versus evil, evil versus good, and Spiderman versus nearly everyone - including himself. We've got three villains in this one: Harry, out to avenge his father's death, the Sandman, out to get enough money to pay for his daughter's surgery, and Brock/Venom (That 70's Show's Topher Grace, clearly having a grand time), victim of creeping evil goo and his own overzealous ambition. In fact, Grace has some of the best lines in the movie and, like Robert Downey Jr. did in "Zodiac" he steals scenes from the earnest lead character.

Spiderman's dark turn
There are women and children to save, villains to battle, broken buildings and cars galore, but nothing beats seeing Peter Parker go to the dark side. After an accidental merger with some black meteor goo, Spiderman gets, well, a little bit crazy and evil. His strut down the streets of New York is both a paean to John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever and some kinda funny nerd boy dancing at a wedding. Cringeworthy, magnetic and hilarious, all at once. For the metamorphosis Maguire was given a Duran-Duran hairdo and some eyeliner - way to save on the big budget costs - yet it works. He's far more interesting and layered as a baddie than he is as Peter Parker or even regular Spiderman.

Does Spidey return to form, save the day and win back the love of MJ? Well, we can't give every arachnid action sequence away. Let's just say that in a movie focused most on relationships and forgiveness, Spiderman 3 won't let the audience fall too hard.

Rated PG-13, the film has already broken opening weekend box office records set by last year's Pirates of the Caribbean 2 and is playing at nearly every theater around town.

For more about Spider-man 3, see:

• Northeast Ohio Movie Theaters
• Spidey Merchandise
• An Inteview with Tobey McGuire about Spider-man 3
• Movies Filmed in NE Ohio

^{(image © Columbia Pictures)}