save your money

Spiderman 3 is proof positive that a huge Hollywood budget cannot make a bad movie (with a ridiculously poor script) into a good movie. I was overwhelmingly disappointed with this the first blockbuster of the season. (If you haven't seen the movie and the first two sentences of this blog haven't turned you off completely I warn you do not keep reading)

I left the movie feeling the onset of whiplash. Like I myself had been hurtling towards the ground then grabbed by Spidey himself and jerked into a different direction. But it wasn't in that enjoyable thank god I've been saved sense but rather in the where the heck am I being taken to now sense. First Spidey fights his best friend, then the Sandman, then himself and then a conglomeration of evils. Yet none of the battles seemed believable to me in the least. I mean in the character sense. The special effects were another story. They were unlike anything witnessed on screen except perhaps the first two movies. Only this time the chase and battle scenes were sped up to the point that it was nearly impossible to follow. To me it seemed like they couldn't come up with anything original so they just decided to make it faster.

The normally enjoyable mildly self deprecating humour that in the past has served to heighten the action was disappointingly lacking replaced instead with dry dull dialogue that only interrupted the flow. The chemistry between Kirsten Dunst and Tobey Maguire was so unheated that by the end I didn't care in the least if they found their way back to one another. And Topher Grace, who I wanted to love, turned in a duller than dull performance. I don't fault him though since even the best actor couldn't turn his unfortunate lines into a more than cardboard performance. And his teeth at the end came off as really bad fake Dracula teeth.

You might be thinking what was I expecting....Academy worthy performances from a comic book adaption? But it was the combination of stunning special effects mixed with believable character development that made the first two movies the enjoyable experiences that they were. Last night I left the movie wishing I had not only my money but my time back.

But at least I got to see the new Harry Potter trailer on the big screen. Only 67 days to go.