Friday, May 04, 2007

Spider Man 3- The Ultimate Battle Lies Within



Ever since our friendly neigbourhood spiderman exploded on the movie screens in 2002, every subsequent sequel has been awaited with bated breath. What's spidey gonna do next ? Ending months of speculation and rumors spiderman 3 has hit screens across the world in May. Billed as the most expensive movie production ever, spiderman 3 production house Sony pictures left no stone unturned to market the movie. Reports suggest a whopping $500 million budget, of which roughly 50% was spent on marketing the movie. Now we know why spiderman is so popular. No wonder Tobey Maguire and the rest of the cast have been globetrotting for the movie's world premiere.

The Thailand premiere happened on the 1st of May, and the movie was released simultaneously in cineplexes across Bangkok and other provinces. Your's truly had been also waiting with feverish anticipation for this spidey installment. The IMAX experience was amazing, the huge screen, and 3-D surround sound made the movie experience much more exciting.

Spiderman 3 reveals the dark ,revengeful side of the main protagonist Peter Parker. As we have seen in the previous two episodes , Peter Parker is just like your guy next door,happy and contented with what he has, and for the first time seems to have realised what it means to be spiderman. His girlfriend and love of his life Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst) is still facing an uphill battle to be successful in showbusiness.

The storyline does not move at a frenetic pace but seems to gradually grow on you. 2 hours and 45 minutes still seems a long duration for a hollywood movie, but hey who's complaining. The story starts with a meteorite carrying what i would call "black alien scum" crashing in the suburbs of NYC. This alien scum is a sort of symbiotic creature which can only survive if it latches on to a host. In doing so it aggregates the dark and morbid side of the host.
Spiderman is dealing with his own share of problems with friend turned foe Harry Osbourne played by James Franco, baying for his blood. Harry Osbourne as we had seen at the end of part two discovers the gadgets and weapons chamber of the Green Goblin. Now Goblin Junior is out to avenge his father. Misunderstandings with Mary Jane put spidey in a desperate situation.
Spiderman is confronted by the Sandman,or Flint Marko who is the actual murderer of his Uncle Ben. The Sandman as do most spidey villains has a human side to him,as all he wanted was money for his daughter's treatment. Now as an escaped convict he enters a particle physics testing facility and is transformed into the sandman. It gives him the ability to change his body into malleable sand.The transformation sequence was one of the best scenes in the movie. Some comic relief is provided by J.K Simmons as the chief editor of the Daily Bugle.

Caught between love, friendship and revenge spidey is taken over by the alien scum and it reveals his dark and revengeful side to the world. The black symbiote bonds with Peter's costume in his sleep. He awakes to find a strange new level of strength of power that he accepts, but soon influences his behaviour for the worse.Its powers are unleashed on first the sandman, then goblin junior and finally Mary Jane also. By the time spidey becomes self aware,its too late. Soon, he realises he must lose this power to become his better self, and he rips the symbiote off his body.One notable addition to the list of villains is Eddie Brock Junior aka Venom......he is also taken over by the alien scum which transforms him into a ghastly representation of spiderman. As Venom, he wants to get back at Peter Parker for evicting him from his staff position at the Daily Bugle.

Spiderman has to battle both Sandman and Venom and save Mary Jane, but in doing all this he needs help. Yes you heard it, spidey needs some help, and guess what Harry osbourne comes in to help spiderman in his battle. The stunts and visual effects are at a level never before seen in motion pictures.Spiderman conquers his demons and wins the battle, but loses his dear friend Harry Osbourne. The movie had a very well developed story line and the focus was not only on stunts and action sequences. There were many emotional sequences in the movie which showcased the human side of spiderman, and how he could also be afflicted by love, friendship and revenge. Sam Raimi has done true justice to the trilogy, it couldn't have ended better. For all we know maybe a 4th installment might just come out in 2 years.

The movie is a must watch, as to me it is the best one in the trilogy. So what are you waiting for ......go see spidey in action....