I recalled one day when I decided to go for a session of buffet dim sum. The first wave of deliciously steamed goodies were laid down before me and were quickly snapped up. And then to my horror, there was an abrupt delay in waiting for the next wave of food. My machine-like stomach was beginning to slow down from top to 2nd gear when the fried stuff came along. Momentum slowed down again after that as I had to wait for some time before the table was filled again. This went on and on…When the meal ended, I was of course, filled (it’s a buffet anyway), but not really satisfied with the pacing of the food. That was exactly how I felt after enduring more than 2 hours of the over-hyped Spiderman 3.

Venom. The name of Spidey’s popular symbiote-villain was enough to make me excited to watch the third installment of Spiderman. With all actors, actresses and the director coming back to give the fans a third helping of fun and adventure, what could go wrong, right?

Alas! How wrong I was. Too bad my spidey sense didn’t warn me earlier…

Personally, this has got to be the worst chapter of Spidey on the silver screen. First and foremost, it was wayyyyy too draggy. Sure there were exciting moments (eg. First flying fight scene with the New Goblin) but the pacing switched wayyyy too much between melodramas and adrenaline pumping action. Somehow this round, the human aspect of Peter Parker (love life, struggles with death of uncle, friendships, etc.) didn’t gel well with the entire flow of the story.

Although we had 3 of them in this chapter (Sandman, Venom and New Goblin), all the villains didn’t really stand out. It was really sad not to see much more of Venom and the carnage (hmmm..;-P) he could do. In addition, it was really weird seeing PP having Venom’s black costume stashed away in the trunk when in fact Venom SHOULD be the suit itself when it attaches to PP. The special effects for Sandman was pretty good, but that’s about it. New Goblin was too soft and ungoblin-like. Maybe that’s because the whole movie premise was about Spidey battling his greatest villain – himself (within).

It was also rather disappointing to see Spidey not using all his powers, most notably his Spider Sense and also the lack of humor throughout the movie. The Gwen Stacey love triangle angle didn’t really take off as well. It was just sad to see Sam Raimi (Mr Director) trying to inject a lot of extras into the movie but none failed to lift off.

Some of the things I found to be missing that would make this movie great include pacing of action and drama should be smoother; more humor or scenes from the Daily Bugle office; more wise-cracks from Spidey as he is known for; more venomous and villainous villains?; etc.

In the end, I’m just glad that Mr Raimi has decided to take a rest after Part 3. If he had continued on to direct part 4 without any clear directions or ideas, it could make Spidey end up like the miserable Batman franchise sequels.

If you have to watch it, do it for the storyline continuity from the excellent Parts 1 & 2, but just don’t expect too much. After all, it’s only a comic book.

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(Originally posted on allandog.multiply.com)

I felt cheated. Absolutely gutted. Ghost Rider was one of the coolest iconic characters of the Marvel Universe and his first foray onto the silver screen was a complete disaster!

Personally, I felt that this movie is excellent proof of how well a good movie trailer can really deceive and hide the obvious. After watching the teasers and trailers a couple of months back, and of course being a sucker for comic-adapted movies, I was admittedly ‘sold’, not like poor JB, but sold and blown away by the effects and potential that was written all over the trailer.

What a sad pretense it turned out to be. Overall, the plot and storyline was lame; dialogue was stale and corny; acting was so bad that the CGI engineered ol’ Skull-Head were at times more brilliant then its human counter-parts. There was so much potential in GR and all they manged to come up with is this forgettable flick? Sigh.

It disappointed me to find out later that the director was the same, one and only captain who helmed the catastrophic disaster Daredevil to the depths of the abyss. Strange that he actually got a second chance at another Marvel project. Perhaps that explained why Nic Cage kept mumbling about how his character (JB) should be getting a second chance all throughout the movie. Double Sigh.

At the end of it, it really made me wonder if the industrious people behind Marvel are really starting to lose their heads and feet, as if they have come to a point (after successes of Spidey, X-Men, Hulk, FF, etc.) that they think they can milk anything out any characters in their comicdom. But if they think they can simply paint up GR in some effects laden showcase, wrap it up with some poorly written plot and lines and expect the people to love, pay and make it a success at the box-office, they must be grimly mistaken.

This is one movie that should be left in the grave. Tis sad to see GR treated that way. Oh how I wish he could produce that patented Penant Stare at all the crew involved in making a mockery outta his screen debut.

Rating:

(Originally posted on allandog.multiply.com)