Spiderman 3: My Review

[Don't worry no spoliers ahead]

Cross Spiderman 1 & 2, Mask and the Powerpuff Girls and what do you get? Yep, Spiderman 3.

For a Saturday night, the GSC at 1 Utama wasn't packed as it normally would be and I had no trouble smuggling something into the cinema. Not a video camera obviously but a can of Pringles potato chips since there was nothing at the popcorn stand that could last me through the 2.5 hr show. Shirley carried the drinks.

The movie started with a few flashbacks to serve as useful reminders as to why the story developed the way it did. As far as the action scenes went, there was nothing new. Its the same old swinging around and bashing people up.

But if you can see beyond simply action, you'll find where the gem truly is. I only realized about an hour into the show that a message slowly was sinking in - that while its easy to get mad and destroy the things we hate, forgiving ourselves and our enemies is a tougher yet more noble way of solving conflict. For me the story unravelled itself as one about friendship, betrayal, anger and forgiveness and ultimately about how to get peace.

The fact that a movie like this had a message at all made it superior to the 1st and 2nd installation of Spiderman. And for that I give it an enthusiastic thumbs up.

So why do I compare it to the movie Mask? Well, when Peter Parker was under the control of the alien black thing, his persona took on dark side. He then got aggressive and started kacau-ing the girls, danced on countertops and generally made an ass of himself on the streets of NYC. That was a mirror of Jim Carey's trademark character in the Mask.

And the Powerpuff Girls? Well, look at how Spiderman and Green Goblin Jr tried to take on the gigantic Sandman, then look at how Blossom & Buttercup try to take out a monster attacking Townsville. Then you'll see what I mean.

But that doesn't change my view that this is one of the better Spiderman installments so far. My recommendation: go watch it.