Concerning Spider-Man 3

Life is good. At least, that's what Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Tobey Maguire) thinks. Sure, the door to his one-room apartment sticks. But he's at the top of his class, he gets to go around saving people with his superhero powers, his popularity in New York has never been so high, and he's about to propose to Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst), the girl he's loved for as long as he can remember. Unfortunately, things never run smoothly for long. Peter's best friend, Harry Osborn (James Franco), knows that Peter is Spider-Man. He also knows that Spider-Man was responsible for his father's death. Add that to a strange robber nicknamed the Sandman (Thomas Haden Church) terrorizing New York, Mary Jane's career troubles, and a weird black substance from outer space and you get a lot of trouble.

Spider-Man 3 is not my favorite Spider-Man movie, but it's probably the best one. The themes, visual symbolism, and graphics are superior to the first and second movies. The reason why it's not my favorite is very simple: The first two feel much more like superhero stories. Slow-motion action scenes, spidey-sense, and basic good vs. evil storylines all contributed to the good ol' action-figure hero feel. Spider-Man 3, on the other hand, is much more complicated.

This more complex twist to the movie is partly owed to the sheer number of "bad guys" in the movie. Harry, the Sandman, the black goop, and even Eddie Brock (Topher Grace), the rival photographer, are all bad characters that Peter or his alter-ego must fight. In the first two movies, it was just Spider-Man vs. the Green Goblin or Spider-Man vs. Doc Ock. Spider-Man 3 has Peter/Spidey fighting evil on all fronts - his personal life, his professional life, and his life as a superhero.

Besides the large number of bad guys, another reason for the complexity of this movie is the question that is posed and answered: Can people who lead bad lives be good, or are we responsible for the lives we lead? I'm quite pleased with the answer given by Spider-Man 3.

As well as asking what a "good person" is, this movie also contains a lot of religious symbolism. *Spoilers from here to the end* The most obvious symbolism is when Eddie goes to the church and prays for Jesus to kill Peter Parker. First he speaks about being humbled and humiliated, which is followed immediately by a shot of a crucifix on the wall. Eddie's humility is being compared to Jesus' humility in not only giving up His life, but in everything He suffered leading up to that point. Then the comparison ends and the contrast begins - Eddie pleads for Jesus to kill his enemy. Jesus' ultimate victory over death was not achieved by killing His enemies, but by sacrificing His own life. A quick glance at a crucifix would show how twisted Eddie's approach to justice is.

Soon after Eddie's prayer, Peter decides to free himself of the awful black goop that took hold of him in the form of a new Spidey suit through the hatred in his heart. He soon discovers that he can't pull it off. His black suit, which has almost taken on a life of its own, has attached itself to him so strongly that nothing he can do will loosen it. Until he accidently strikes the church bell. The rich sound of the bell ringing sends the black suit into contortions, and Peter is freed. His lack of clothing while he lies gasping in the shadows is most likely a reference to being born again.

After Peter rids himself of the suit with the aid of the church bell, the black goop finds another victim in Eddie, whose hatred for Peter consumes him. When Spider-Man tries to free Eddie from the villainous goop, he uses steel bars in a construction zone to make a bell-like sound. Eddie is freed from the goop, but almost immediately throws himself at it again - straight into an explosion. Peter was freed by a church bell. Eddie was, sadly, not entirely freed by steel bars.

My Rating: T (frightening images, mild sexual content)

Picture from coverbrowser.com