'Spider-man 3'
(Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, Thomas Haden Church, Topher Grace, James Franco, et al / PG-13 / 95 mins / Sony Pictures)
Overview: Having settled into his relationship with M.J. (Kirsten Dunst) and come to terms with bein' Spider-Man, Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) is one happy fella. But not for long. Soon, his love life is complicated by an old flame, Gwen Stacy (Bryce Dallas Howard); two new baddies (Thomas Haden Church, Topher Grace) are on his tail; and Harry Osborn (James Franco) suffers some seriously conflicted feelings about his old pal and a potential secret identity.
Verdict: I could fill this whole page with plot! Seriously, there is enough stuff going on to make the next couple of sequels. More villains, girlfriends, more emotional weight, more lovey-dovey stuff, more Bruce Campbell, more special effects — just more of everything. You even get two of Spider-Man. And I have to confess: Black-suited, evil Goth Spidey was kind of who I was rooting for. Packed with crowd-pleasing moments and satisfactorily wraps up the trilogy — without quite capturing the magic of the first two installments. And sure its a tad bit uneven, ungainly and frayed at the edges (in places) but there's lively mischief in it still that will keep everyone cheering long after they've left the theatre! So yeah, the 'Wow Factor' works overtime with state-of-the-art effects sequences that often are as beautiful as they are astonishing, but the acting is as first class as you can get for these movies for sure. Enjoy this amped-up fun for all it's worth :-)
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