Spider-Man 3 (2007) Director: Sam Raimi

“Uncle Ben meant the world to us but he wouldn’t want us living one second with revenge in our hearts.”

While the first two Sam Raimi Spider-Man films were surprisingly fun, admittedly Spider-Man 3 is just a mess. Apparently, Sony was overly involved behind the scenes, and it really shows. There are simply too many characters, too many disparate plot threads, and full scenes are simply awkward and bizarre. This film offers a revisionist story about Flint Marko (Thomas Haden Church), a working class ruffian with a heart of gold who has a daughter. One evening, he is trapped in the wrong place at the wrong time, and he is transformed into the “Sandman.” The revisionist element comes when the movie claims it was actually Flint Marko who killed Peter’s Uncle Ben in the first film. Who rewrite history like this? Surely there were better plot-points on the drawing board than this contrived twist.

At any rate, Harry Osborn (James Franco) returns and reclaims the “Green Goblin” title of his late father, but midway through the movie his memory is erased and he has little more to do –a jarring twist that simply goes nowhere. There is also a new photographer at the Daily Bugler named Eddie Brock (Topher Grace) who becomes infected with a dark goo from outer space which transforms him into a version of the comic book villain Venom. Meanwhile Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) has a falling out with both his Aunt and his girlfriend MJ (Kirsten Dunst) which leads him into a strange interlude where he dresses in black and dons an “emo” haircut while doing an “evil dance” and kissing another girl named Gwen (Bryce Dallas Howard) while haplessly hoping to propose to MJ. This movie is a disappointment unfortunately and any plans for a fourth sequel were soon canceled. However, Sony quickly cranked out another reboot of Spider-Man just a few years later with The Amazing Spider-Man (2012).