snap judgments

I have now seen Spider-Man 3.

Without spoilers, I can tell you that I cannot think of a single serious thing wrong with the movie.  Not even a third of the way through, the little kid next to me turns to his friend and stage whispers, “This is the best Spider-Man movie ever!”  Mind you, I remembered this moment of childlike warmth because I felt like a cad exclaiming, “OH SHIT!” next to him at a crucial point of action, but the heart is still there.  Was it the finest Spider-Man movie?  Hard to say, since it’s been awhile since I’ve seen the last two, but I can acurately say that it is my favorite Spider-Man movie right now.

WARNING:  Spoilers Commence!  Go to Free Comic Book Day, pick up your books, go see the movie and come back.  You have been warned.

Right at the start, the movie and Marvel was summed up for me by The Man himself.  In that almost supernatural way he has, everything I wanted to say about Marvel heroes was summed up quickly and warmly.  As Peter Parker sees the celebrated work that his alter ego is finally getting the respect for, Stan Lee steps up next to him and says something to the point of, “Looks like one man really can make a difference.”  Peter looks at him and he smiles.  “‘Nuff said.”

Everything after this point is the flashier, action packed version of the above sentence.

And yeah, I can say that “Goblin Jr.”’s hip hop X-TREME snowboarder gear looks pretty cheesy, Peter’s Venom-induced ‘emo’ bangs are kind of giggle worthy and that Gwen Stacy is a heck of a lot more dizzy a dame than I remember (though I am being spoiled by recent issues of Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane), but I recognize this as personal preference and the way the story plays out?  They are perfectly fine choices to make for the intended audience.    We’re keeping true to the heart of Spider-Man here, and without a doubt, the movie delivered on every level.

They even brought back Ursula, the landlord’s daughter who totally won my heart in movie 2, so really, how can I fault them for the snowboard-glider-thing?

Visually, the movie gave and gave and gave, as I never thought about Sandman’s powers in a practical sense and seeing it “live” and on the big screen, it’s actually a very beautiful and dramatic power to work with.  Also?  Very scary.  Seeing a toned down version of Venom’s hideous maw was worth my money and the constant reveals from alter ego to hero or villain was an interesting choice, but again hits my Marvel buttons.  After all, the House of Ideas has a whole lot of people first, heroes second.  Every time I try and dislike Tobey Maguire, they just have him pull off some sort of dorky stunt like the Travola walk down the street or the boogie in front of the clothing store and I remember the reason why he seems so awkward is exactly why they chose him.  MJ’s the supermodel, not him and that dorkiness brings him back to a guy we know.

Nope, in the high of the post-movie moment, I can’t think of a single thing to change about the film.  Go Spider-Man 3!