Spider-Man 3 (2007)

By the time Spider-Man 3 arrived in cinemas in May 2007, Sam Raimi's web-slinging franchise had established itself as one of the most commercially and critically successful superhero series of the early 2000s. The first two films, which you can read about in our reviews of Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2, had set a high bar, winning audiences over with a combination of comic-book spectacle and genuine human warmth. The third instalment was always going to carry enormous expectation, and Columbia Pictures and Marvel Studios backed it accordingly, with the production going on to gross over 890 million dollars worldwide, making it the highest-grossing film of 2007 at the time of its release. Whether the box office reflected quality is, as it so often is, a different question entirely.

Raimi had come a long way from the low-budget horror films that first made his name, pictures like The Evil Dead and Evil Dead II, and by 2007 he was working at the very top of the Hollywood studio system. Spider-Man 3 runs to 139 minutes and pits Peter Parker against not one but three antagonists: Flint Marko, the shape-shifting Sandman played by Thomas Haden Church; Harry Osborn, continuing his arc from the previous films under James Franco; and Eddie Brock, brought to life by Topher Grace, who eventually becomes the fan-favourite villain Venom. The screenplay, credited to Raimi alongside his brother Ivan and Alvin Sargent, was reportedly subject to considerable studio pressure regarding which characters to include, and accounts from the production suggest Venom in particular was added at the insistence of the studio rather than at Raimi's own initiative. Whether or not you take that behind-the-scenes context as mitigation, it does go some way to explaining the film's somewhat crowded character roster.

Tobey Maguire returns for his third outing as Peter Parker, and Kirsten Dunst is back as Mary Jane Watson, the pair continuing the slightly push-and-pull romantic dynamic that has run through the series. The central emotional thread this time involves Peter's encounter with an alien symbiote that bonds with his suit and, gradually, with his personality, giving Maguire the chance to play a darker, more self-absorbed version of the character he has made his own over the previous four years. Church, perhaps best known at the time for his work in Alexander Payne's Sideways, brings a weathered, almost mournful quality to Sandman that sits in interesting contrast to the film's more heightened moments. It is, on paper at least, a polished but unremarkable assembled cast playing broadly well-defined comic-book archetypes, with the possible exception of Franco, whose ongoing Harry Osborn storyline gives the film some of its more grounded dramatic material.

There’s a lot to like in Spider-Man 3. Moments of genuine emotion, some impressive action sequences, and a few strong performances, but it’s also a film trying to do far too much. Where the first two films focused on one villain and one central conflict, this one piles on three antagonists (Flint Marko, Harry Osborn, and Eddie Brock), a dark turn for Peter, a dance sequence, and a redemption arc, all while juggling romance, revenge, and personal failure. The result isn’t chaos, exactly, but it’s close, a bloated, overstuffed finale that never quite finds its rhythm. Tobey Maguire still brings heart to Peter Parker, and his descent into arrogance after embracing the black suit is actually one of the film’s smarter ideas, a literal manifestation of pride and temptation. Thomas Haden Church makes a surprisingly sympathetic Sandman, and James Franco’s Harry Osborn continues to carry real emotional weight, especially in his fractured friendship with Peter. But then there’s Topher Grace’s Venom, a wasted opportunity, reduced to smirking one-liners and cartoonish rage, with a transformation that feels more silly than scary. The infamous jazz-dancing, fist-pumping Peter moment has become a meme for a reason, it’s wildly out of tone, and emblematic of the film’s identity crisis. Is it a dark character study? A romantic drama? A campy action spectacle? It wants to be all of them, and ends up being none fully. Raimi’s direction still has flair (the church fight between Peter and Harry is beautifully shot) but the script is stretched too thin. It’s not a bad film. In fact, it’s often entertaining, with strong visuals and moments of real feeling. But it lacks the focus and emotional clarity of Spider-Man 2 . It’s good, yes, but not great. A step down from the peak, weighed down by too many ideas and not enough time to do any of them justice.

What stays with me, re-reading all of that, is the sense of a film that was so close to working. The bones are good, the performances (for the most part) are there, and Raimi clearly still cares about these characters. But caring isn't always enough when the script is pulling in four directions at once, and for me the Venom storyline in particular feels like a thread that was never properly woven in, just sort of dropped on top of everything else. Spider-Man 2 remains the gold standard of this trilogy, and honestly of a lot of superhero cinema from that era. This one, though, I don't think deserves quite the level of mockery it sometimes gets online. It has real moments. They're just harder to find than they should be.

Rating: ★★★  | Year: 2007  | Watched: 2025-08-08

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Trailer

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Related on Movies With Macca

More from Sam Raimi: Evil Dead II (1987) · The Evil Dead (1981) · Spider-Man 2 (2004) · Spider-Man (2002)
More with Tobey Maguire: Spider-Man 2 (2004) · Spider-Man (2002)
More from the 2000s: Kirikou and the Wild Beasts (2005) · Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004) · Daredevil (2003) · Apocalypto (2006)
More action: A Better Tomorrow (1986) · The General (1926) · Hand of Death (1976) · Daredevil (2003)
More adventure: Alice in Wonderland (1951) · The Eagle (1925) · Louisiana Story (1948) · The General (1926)