Spider

Spider-Man 3

Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, Topher Grace

Why do we need superheroes? Men and women who can fly, bend steel bars, and climb walls? Action heroes who wear the white hats? I think the answer is evil. I truly believe there is evil among us. There are people who are easy to get along with. There are people who are a little difficult. Others who are wounded - they can be forgiven - but a handful of times you interact with those made of pure evil from their pointy little horns to their cloven hooves. I know I worked for one once more than a decade back and think I dated a couple, but I am not sure. But one of my relative's married such a woman. I was the first one in the family to meet her. I was invited to eat with them as the rest of the family waited on bated breath. My relative has always been a good looking guy, and even with the extra weight that your 40s bring, he still cut a dashing figure, and so I expected a babe to greet me. What I found was, well, have you ever seen The Drew Carey Show? Imagine an angry Mimi and that is what sat across from me. When she got up from the table, I wanted to ask my cousin if this was some kind of Crying Game thing or something. None of my friends who know my relative believed my description of her until one of them bumped into her while getting popcorn at the movie theater. He describes it as the moment he lost part of his soul. Now looks are one thing, but her ugly ran to the bone. She was one of those people who were always running a con of some kind. They never paid for a hotel room in their entire marriage, her third or fourth at that point, as she would always find something wrong and nag the poor employee at the desk until they got the room for free except when she claimed she slipped on hotel property when they were on their honeymoon in Las Vegas. As they were being handed their luggage, they learned that hotels in Sin City video tape almost every inch of their property. She had her kitchen redone for almost nothing. Lawsuits were common place. At least a dozen that I knew about, and over the course of their marriage the police were called more times that you can count one your hands and toes, not including the times my relative got led away in handcuffs. You can already probably figure out her profession: child care. The egg timer on their marriage lasted about three years, if you include the months that my relative moved back with his parents, before restraining orders kicked in.

I went with t`his relative to see Spider-Man 2. So, I thought of him when I sat down for a preview of the third installment of this franchise, arguably the most successful superhero franchise in modern history. You would have to be living in a cave for the last 40 years not to know who the webslinger is. The first two installments took in around $800 million and just under $1.6 billion worldwide. That kind of money can make even Peter Jackson’s Hobbits gasp and studio executives who for years said there would only be three films suddenly talk about how they have 20 years worth of ideas. Whether director Sam Raimi and the main cast returns is still up in the air, but Spidey with again swing into a theater near you in 2009 with or without them. Peter Parker might have trouble keeping a job but he is money in the bank for Marvel. Pretty good for a 45-year-old throw away idea from a huckster writer named Stan Lee.

Superheroes films rise and fall on the strength of the villains. Next to Batman, Spider-Man probably has the best rogues’ gallery in all of comicdom. With dozens of iconic bad guys to draw on, the third installment features three of the best baddies – Sandman (Thomas Haden Church), Venom (Topher Grace), and Green Goblin (James Franco) – and the introduction of Peter’s first girlfriend in comics, Gwen Stacy (Bryce Dallas Howard). Plus, for comic geeks, like in the second film, there are plenty of Easter eggs, tips of the hats to several characters and stories that have appeared in the monthly adventures of the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.

For those of you who don’t break into Turrets Syndrome when the words “Clone Saga” or “Rob Liefeld” are mentioned, a little background on these characters is in order. Sandman (not to be confused with the DC Comics’ Sandman) is literally his name, a man made of sand. (Sam Raimi has publicly stated that Sandman is his favorite Spider-man nemesis.) Flint Marko, a.k.a. William Baker, is a mob enforcer who escapes from Ryker’s Island and hides out on a deserted beach where he is irradiated by an experimental reactor. His body is transformed into a dirt-like substance that can harden or disperse according to his will. Imagine fighting a creature that can take a punch or blow like sand, morph to any shape or form, and hit like concrete. Possessing a deep love for his mother, Sandman is one of the most complex characters in modern comics. He is joined in the film by his Sinister Six cohort, Venom. (Sadly, my publisher will confirm that I have framed s/n lithographs of the Sinister Six and another of the Sinister Twelve in action.) Venom is a symbiote, an alien life-form that bonds with other life forms. Judged insane by his people, he is banished and imprisoned until he is discovered by Spider-man. Bonding with Spidey as a new suit, the symbiote at first impresses the webslinger with its abilities and how it made him feel. In time, Peter realizes the creature is alive and having a negative influence on him. Ridding himself of the symbiote, the creature does not like being put on the sidelines and bonds with reporter Eddie Brock, a man who also has issues with Spider-Man due to blaming the webslinger from ruining his prize story. Finally, audiences are introduced to Gwendolyne “Gwen” Stacy, the blonde bookish daughter of Police Captain George Stacy (James Cromwell). Also look for cameos by future villains John Jameson (Daniel Gillies) a.k.a. Man-Wolf who has been jilted by Mary Jane in favor of Peter and Dr. Curt Connors (Dylan Baker) a.k.a. Lizard.

This film picks up on plot threads from the first two movies, the death of Uncle Ben (Cliff Robertson) and Harry Osborn’s descent into insanity over the death of his father at the hands of Spider-Man. With three different nemesis and a potential love triangle in the works, keeping all these balls in the air, it avoids the great sin of the last Superman movie, being boring. Usually the wheels fall off a franchise by the third film, but Raimi keeps it on par with the first two films. In fact, it can be argued that the films have progressively improved. The Hobbits are going to have to hang their heads in shame. There is a new trilogy champion in town, Spider-Man.

These kinds of movies are important. We live in a world of grays, of meaningless stories, of lives that don’t add up. I cannot help but think of my relative. After his painful divorce, he lost his job, had to move around several times, and had a lot of people judge him. Still, I was so proud of him. He put the pieces back together. He reconnected with the children from his first marriage and tried in his own way to make up for all mistakes he made. He got a job with an income that made me do a double take and even found a super girl to marry. It seemed like one of those purely American narratives. Then came the seizure; the doctor telling him that he had tumor in his brain, stage 4 cancer. Ten percent chance of survival. I hope he makes it, because if he does not it is a story without a moral like a lot of people's lives and that is the evil of this world. True evil is all the lives that don’t add up, fruitless struggles, and tears that have no healing. Brothers hating brothers for no good reason. Egos getting in the way of apologies. Broken families and individuals. This world is a sad, sad place at times with no redemption. Movies like Spider-Man 3 make our world a lot easier to get through, provide positive narratives and smiles when we need them.

Verdict: As Good as the Second Film