Ho-lee crap,
Whilst Japan usually gets movies dead last in the international release schedule, yesterday saw an early release of Spider-Man 3, presumably to coincide with the annual Golden Week holiday here.
Seeing as I virtually live at the local cinema (i.e. I go there quite a lot - I'm not a homeless dude living in the cinema doorway!), I rushed down to my local multiplex to see Spidey's newest adventure (Sorry therealpidge, looks like they stopped showing the Gegege no Kitarou ads now that the movie has been released, so I couldn't sneak a recording of them for you!).
I gotta say that I freakin' loved it. Screw the haters. Going in, I was expecting to be disappointed because there were going to be so many characters in it - the established guys, plus Venom/Eddie Brock, Sandman, Gwen Stacy... it could have been a recipe for disaster. Right Batman and Robin? (^_^)
But somehow, it pulls it off! I loved how they managed to balance the movie and pack so much story in. If there's one caveat, it's that Venom doesn't get enough time onscreen, and when he does, it's more Brock's face poking out of the Venom suit than Venom itself. Venom's also a lot less 'roided up than the comics and cartoons. Sandman's scenes are excellently played, although you have to wonder should he really get away with so much in the name of saving his daughter? The part where Sandman comes out of the sand for the first time was great. I felt like I was watching the birth of a new creature, as he tried to find his feet... and arms, hands, face, etc. (^_^)
It is a long movie (139 mins., I believe), but I didn't get bored for a second. There are some surreal moments of humour that I bet will take a lot of flak, mainly involving Venom symbiote-influenced Emo-Parker, but I was laughing like a drain when I saw them! Even some of the audience were laughing out loud, which is a little unusual in a Japanese cinema. Usually I'm the only one laughing with my (Japanese) wife telling me to shut up because I'm embarrassing her! The now customary Bruce Campbell cameo got a good reaction from everyone, too.
There are a lot of holes that critics have mentioned already, but I was sucked in from the "Story So Far" opening titles, and the first flight'n'fight through the streets of New York was the spray cream on the cake for me. If you're going to get bent out of shape about why an alien symbiote just happens to land by Peter Parker, then why are you watching a movie about a dude who gets superpowers from a radioactive spider bite? Just enjoy this wonderful Hollywood event movie - with some of the key crew and stars expressing doubts about wanting to make another - it may be the last we'll see.
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