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Sunday, May 06, 2007

Web of

It was of course just a matter of time until I posted my review of the highly anticipated Spider-man 3. Well, dear readers, wait no more!

The first thing I want to make clear is that, out of the first two movies, I think the second one is much better than the first one. I know not everybody agrees on this, but that's what I think. With that in mind, and also knowing that the critics were saying that this installment was weaker than the previous two films, I was still hoping SM3 would be better than SM2. And the answer -my answer- is… yes and no.

The "drama" part is unquestionably better than in the past chapters of the saga. Without spoiling anything, I'll say that there's a lot of dramatic interaction between Peter and Mary Jane, and their story evolves and gets more complicated than in the second movie. Then there's Harry Osborn complicating things even more; and the introduction of Gwen Stacy, Peter Parker's other love interest from the comic books --but I won't say what happens in the movie or the comic books. What I will say is that Bryce Dallas Howard, the actress that plays Gwen, is devastatingly, arrestingly beautiful. I discovered her in the truly awful The Village (she was the only thing worth remembering), and even though she's dyed her natural red hair blonde for the movie, she's still impossibly gorgeous. (I think it's kinda funny that Kirsten Dunst, a natural blonde, is a redhead in the movie, and Bryce Dallas Howard has to do the exact opposite.) So the whole love and drama story is certainly more satisfying than in SM2.


The action, however… I liked it, don't get me wrong: it is fun, fast, daring, and well conceived. The fights and other "speed" sequences are cool, but I had the feeling they were overworked. I don't know if it was because of all the crowds everywhere, or maybe because there were just too many villains in the movie (keep it down to one in the future!), but the action scenes struck me as way over the top. And yeah, I know it's kind of redundant to label a Spider-Man movie as over the top, but I think it was definitely more so than its predecessors. These scenes were, as I said, too crowded, with too many things going on at the same time. I think those sequences could have been streamlined to achieve a more unified and dynamic result.

Regarding the special effects, I was really looking forward to seeing Venom, but it was the Sandman who actually surprised me. The Sandman effects are just incredible, especially during the "origin" scene and the safe car scene (Spidey breaking his legs made my jaw drop open in amazement).

The acting was also good. I have read about Kirsten Dunst being accused of doing a poor job in the movie, and she even apologized for sucking at it, but I thought she was good, or, at least, as good as in the other movies. Tobey Maguire portrayed Peter magnificently yet again; James Franco played the duality of his character with sobriety; and it doesn't matter what Bryce Dallas Howard did, because she was stunning, and all I could think when she was onscreen was how amazingly beautiful she was. (Hotness aside, she was good too.) And the bad guys -Thomas Haden Church and Topher Grace- were good too, even if they didn't really have all that much screen time.


Something I also liked very much was the way the different story lines are intertwined. I was afraid the movie would be fragmented due to the multiplicity of plots, but everything fit together rather nicely, which only shows how much of a craftsman Sam Raimi truly is.

And last but not least, Bruce Campbell. I won't spoil anything, but I laughed so hard when he was on screen that I thought I would cry. The Man-with-a-Chin is just priceless, believe me.

And that's really it. I recommend everybody to go see the movie (except for Lori, of course), but I doubt you guys need my recommendation, since this movie is going to be huge, probably one of the two or three most grossing movies this year. I mean, the theaters here in Chattanooga are showing the movie 23 or 24 times a day, starting at 10:00 AM and starting new showings every 30 minutes until 10:30 or 1:00PM. With that kind of screen presence, the movie would be hard pressed not to do well. As it happens, I just read Spider-Man 3 has already established a new record for opening day, surpassing former champion Pirates of the Caribbean 2 by 4 million dollars. It is therefore obvious this movie is an event, so just go and be part of it. And if you see Bryce around, tell her I'm waiting for her to call me. I'll be home all night.

9 comments:

Dr. Banting said...

Bueno.

Varias cosillas.

1. Spiderman 2 es mejor que Spiderman 1, y es posiblemente la mejor peli de superheroes que se haya hecho nunca, junto a "Unbreakable".

2. Spiderman 3 es muy buena aunque quiza algo inferior a Spiderman 2. Es comprensible ya que es muy dificil superar la segunda parte. Aun así supera con creces a otras pelis del genero como X-Men3 o toda la legion de superheroes "morralla" de la Marvel: Fantastic Four, etc.

3. Posiblemente estes en lo cierto en que las escenas de accion son tan intrincadas y complejas que acaban por abrumar al espectador. Sospecho que nunca se podra superar la majestuosa escena del tren de Spiderman 2. Puro comic. Simple y efectiva.

4. Las tramas personales me parecen muy bien llevadas. Esta claro que la relación entre Mary Jane y Peter debe verse tocada o al menos puesta a prueba. La evolución de los personajes es lógica y no se a vosotros pero a mi el final me encanta (ellos dos bailando, resignados, tristes, agotados, vencidos, sin ganas de darse el tipico beso de pelicula...), en contrapunto al "super happy end" de la segunda entrega.

5. Creo que la trilogia esta bien como esta y no vale la pena seguir (no la caguemos como en otras trilogias que no deberian haberse tocado). No porque la MARVEL no quiera ganar pasta. Todavia hay excelentes villanos en el tintero y todo eso, el problema es que la trama "personal" ya no da mas de si...aunque vete tu a saber con que nos salen los guionistas. Un nuevo "Coronation Street" se cierne sobre nuestras cabezas!!!!

Vayan a ver SM3 y pasen un buen rato de cine de palomitas. Siempre puedes ir otro dia a degustar las excelencias del cine azebayano

Mario Alba said...

Estoy de acuerdo contigo en todo (la excelencia de SM2 y su dominio sobre otras pelis de superhéroes; la escena del tren), excepto en coronar Unbreakable como una de las mejores. La peli me gustó, y es una de las mejores películas de su director (lo que tampoco es muy difícil, por otro lado, viendo el declive del señor Shyamalan, pero bueno).

Y para reírnos un rato, ahí va la recaudación USA en cines este fin de semana pasado. Daos cuenta de la pequeña diferencia entre los puestos número 1 y 2:

1. Spiderman 3--- 148 millones
2. Disturbia--- 5.720.000
3. Fracture--- 3.500.000
4. The Invisible- 3.125.000
5. Next--- 2.768.000

(Datos extraídos de www.movietickets. com)

huitzilin said...

Ahem. I really liked The Village. Granted, the entire premise of the failed attempt at constructing a social utopia is pretty much what my dissertation is about (and I actually mention the film in a footnote there), but I liked it as a whole. Really, what's so bad about it? Alberto hated it, you would have hated it had it not been for Bryce (who, I hear, is pregnant, btw), so really -- what's so awful about it?

And, Quique, some day I'm going to find a film festival with a focus on movies from former Soviet republics, and I won't miss a single one. I feel obligated now, since I have a reputation to maintain.

Nash said...

Que casualidad no coincido ni con Quique ni con Fin, la mejor peli de superheroes es x-men 2 y la siguiente la uno, los spiderman tambien estan bastante bien, y blade la primera tambien esta bastante bien. Respecto a la escena del tren de Spiderman 2 estaria bien si no fuese por su final, eso de que todo el mundo sepa quien es Spiderman y lo levantan en plan concierto de rock me parece lamentable. Cuando vea la 3 ya la comentare

Mario Alba said...

I don't like The Village because, even though it had an interesting premise, it BORED me to death. I've said many times that what I like about movies is their entertainment value. The Villaged offered zero entertainment. It was slow and not compelling at all. I felt like doing pretty much anything else (that included poking me eyes with burning matches) other than keep watching that horrible film. Then again, the director has been on a downward spiral for quite some time now, so I shouldn't have been surprised.

Y con respecto a tu comentario, Nacho, X2 está muy bien, pero no creo que esté a la altura de ninguna de las 3 Spiderman. Y la primera X-Men es normalita, como ya dije en alguna ocasión. Creo que el excelente recuerdo que todos guardamos de ella es que fue la primera (o casi) BUENA película basada en un cómic.

Nash said...

Fin, el problema que tengo con Spiderman, es que no respeta al comic en cosas basicas, la estupidez de la tela de araña de las muñecas en lugar de que Parker se la fabrique, ahora sacan a wen cuando deberia haber salido y muerto en la primera peli, la peli esta muy bien y me gusta bastante, la dos me gusto menos, no le sacan mucho partido a octupus, no se por que lo matan, y no creo que sea mejor que ninguna de los dos X.men, pero como pasa normalmente no no pondriamos deacuerdo ni en el color del cielo.

Mario Alba said...

Hahahaha. Supongo que tienes razón en lo de nuestra disparidad de opiniones.

Con respecto al tema cómics/películas, sí es verdad que han cambiado ciertas cosas, pero ninguna me resulta ofensiva o me parece que empobrezca el universo del arácnido.
Sobre Gwen Stacy, creo que tiene sentido presentarla ahora por dos razones. Una, porque Peter y MJ ya han tenido tiempo de conocerse mejor y establecer una relación, con lo que la introducción de Gwen no hace sino complicar las cosas para deleite del espectador. Y dos, porque con el futuro de la franquicia incierto, si Kirsten Dunst no quiere hacer más películas, siempre puede morir y Gwen Stacy pasar a ser la chica principal. Sinceramente, no me parece masl pensado :)

Anonymous said...

Con tanto debate sobre cómic y sus versiones fílmicas, no olvidemos "V for Vendetta" porque a mí, personalmente, me parece sublime. Y por suspuesto "Sin City". Estas 2 pelis han llegado a cotas de belleza y fidelidad al cómic que ninguna de las ya cmentadas ha conseguido. Ni las Spiderman ni las de XMen.

Por otro lado todavía no he visto Spiderman3 pero ayer un amigo me comentó que se hace un pelín larga. Me dijo que son 2 horas y media y eso es mucho en una peli.

Mario Alba said...

A mí Spiderman 3 no se me hizo larga, excepto por la última batalla. Aunque, como ya dije en el post, las escenas de acción fue lo que menos me gustó de la película.

Con respecto a Sin City y V for Vendetta, estoy de acuerdo en que son no sólo estupendas películas, sino magníficas adaptaciones (aunque confieso no haber leído V). Y me decanto más por V for Vendetta.

Tal vez sea hora de hacer un ranking con las mejores películas basadas en comics... Creo que es una buena idea para otro post...