Spiderman 3
May 5th 2007 20:57
Spiderman : Pensively in confict about his new dark side
Is it an elaborate but simple metaphor for America experimenting with the dark side and rediscovering the good side again? Check. Is it the biggest instalment of what is already the bigges movie franchise and creating history in every part of the globe? Check. Is it the symbol of a rejuvenated Hollywood after a lackdaisical two years where it seemed it would be overtaken by Chinese martial arts and Bollywod bump and grind? Check.
Spiderman 3 begins with a very happy Peter Parker : his masked avatar is very popular in the New York City, he is about to propose to Mary Jane and life is one happy spectacle. But, things go quickly wrong. Peter's friend Harry decides to seek vengeance for his father's death at Peter's hands and gets himself a cool suit and some funky gizmos. Mary Jane has a career setback and is jealous at Peter's popularity and insecure about his relationship to a new blonde in the class. A fugitive at large called Flint Marko is roasted in a particle accelerator and becomes the Sandman. Peter later gets to know that Marko was the guy who killed his uncle. An alien substance from a meteorite burst follows Peter; unknown to him it can sense and increase the aggresive side of a person. While Harry at one point succeeds in driving a wedge between Mary Jane and himself, Peter in a fit of defiance uses the dark stuff to transform himself. At the Daily Bugle, there is a new smartass photographer who quickly becomes a rival of Peter for taking Spiderman's photographs. When Peter realises the awful nature of the substance he is abusing he tears his new suit off which quickly finds a humiliated and smarting Edwin as the new host who turns into Venom.
Spiderman has four adversaries in this movie: Harry, Marko, Edwin/Venom and himself. It is the time of the myth, when the hero engagesd with the Dark Side and battle elemental monsters. Some are complaining about Sandman's grotesqueness as a monster but it is a required elemental monster which vanquishing binds the hero to this world. The plot works as a ballet where friends become adversaries and friends again and the whole thing unspools more or less satisfactorily.
So what are the downsides? Mainly acting. Tobey Maguire may have made a homely Spiderman but doing a Jazz dance and looking bad ( he manages to look gay) is completely beyond him. Topher Grace can't play a villain. Thomas Hayden Church and James Franco suffer from wooden roles. And Kirsten Dunst is one ugly chick. Also, the special effects are not consistent. Some are awesome whereas some llike the final battle between Venom and Spiderman are quite badly done.
The second is the climax. It is a big, big copout. It's basically trying to work through the anger and talks itself out of revenge. Petet's job, you see, is to police the streets of New York and not to seek revenge for his uncle's murder and so he should not kill his tormentors but try saving their souls. Such saccharine stuff is beyond my ken for sweet things.
I am told French critics are busy equating Sandman with George Bush (who else?). I know the British critics are offended that there is a big falsh of the Old Gloryin the background when Spdiey returns to his good side and see it as a pandering to the patriotic instincts of the Americans. When I read those reviews I thought they were being unnaturally ungracious. But even for a sympathetic audience like me, the big shot of Old Glory is really jarring. But, I don't think it was pandering; Sam Raimey was making a statement.
In Spiderman 2 , Raimi talked himself out of isolationism and in this movie, Raimi talks himself out of neoconservatism. Now that America has punished the wrong guys in a wrong war, tasted hitherto-unknown power and experimented with the dark side, it should come back to its traditional friendly, neighbourhood vigilante role where it should prevent new upstart powers from dark temptations and learn to understand and forgive world's big monsters ( which if only it forgave would happily sneak away into nothingness) and last but not the least, when the girl has to be saved, the girl who is the anima, the golden fruit or the symbol of power, both the hero and his rival, the two divided halves of a divided country have to come together . There is also a possible throwaway for reconciliation with France in the film's most comedic scene involving a French maitre d'.
That's my take on it anyway.
| 43 |
| Vote |
