Spider-Man 3 DVD: Review By slysnide

After Harry Osborn (James Franco) as Green Goblin II fails to slay Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) and lands himself with temporary amnesia, Peter allows arrogance as NYC's hero to go to his head and begins to unintentionally alienate his friends with a little help from an alien symbiote. But when classic villain Sandman unnecessarily enters the picture with a semi-decent story, the film begins to suffer as lackluster subjects like tween love triangles hijack what was going to be a story with revenge, a vengeance, and two sides to every villain as its' theme so as to make everything fit into this 134 minute mesh of blah. Average performances with none standing out. Oh, and Venom would've made for a nice storyline had Sandman been axed, and the love triangle been downplayed. Or better yet, had Sandman been kept, and the love triangle axed completely.

Overall, a lackluster film with cool fight scenes, but they don't milk it for what it's worth as you've gotta have alotta patience if you really wanna see it without spoiling the rest for yourself.

On Disc 1 there's an audio commentary by Director Sam Raimi, and cast members Tobey Maguire, James Franco, Kirsten Dunst, Topher Grace, Thomas Hayden Church, and Bryce Dallas Howard. Also, there's a second commentary with Producers Laura Ziskin, Avi Arad, Grant Curtis, Editor Bob Murawski, and Special Effects Supervisor Scott Stokdyk.

Bloopers, thirteen previews, photo & painter galleries, and a "Snow Patrol" music video are also featured.

On Disc 2, there are three featurettes about the villains which run around 15-20 minutes apiece. The first is "Grains of Sand" which reveals how Sandman was visually realized, including a breakdown of the atomization sequence, and more on the character's creation & history by his creator Stan Lee; "Re-Imagining the Goblin" delves into how the filmmakers redesigned the comic book version so as not to make a rip-off of the iconic villain from the original; "Covered In Black" shows how long it took to both come to a decision on how to visually portray the symbiote, and how to animate it in both its web form, and Venom form. All three of these are cool special features that could've been longer, but are still great.

"Hanging On" reveals the making of the action scene of Gwen Stacy at the crane disaster, while "Fighting, Flying, and Driving" delves into the stunts in the film. And "Wall of Water" shows the filming and digital work behind blasting the Sandman into a large sewer pipe.

And the romantic subplot which hijacked the story gets its own piece too, in "Tangled Web," in which the filmmakers explain how they came to a 'decent' conclusion to the love triangle that's plagued the trilogy in how much screen time it's received.

On location in New York reveals fights on rooftops & backstreets, and on location in Cleveland showcases the chase on Euclid Avenue.

"Inside the Editing Room" & "Science of Sound" are also rare treats for techies like me. But of course, the explanations are dumbed down for the armchair explorer.

There are also the typical TV Spots and Trailers from Japan, Spain, Germany, Russia, Brazil, Italy, Chile, UK, and three theatrical trailers from the US.

This film is truly a big screen movie. Small screens don't do it justice, but the quality here is just as good as any Blu-Ray. But there aren't as many moments in the film where this really shines given the runtime and slow pace, but when it does come up, it'll satisfy anyone.

Dolby Digital Sound is perfect, and a surround sound system is highly recommended. Though like the video, the benefits of it are seldom felt given the runtime.

Seeing as mine came from Target, it featured the traditional plastic case & cardboard slipcover, but also a second slipcover which slides the case in on the right side. The rear image was the same as the other two, but the front cover was of Spidey glancing at the symbiote creeping up his shoulder. The purpose to this was an exclusive booklet of interviews that couldn't fit in the plastic case, and a third disc within the case that featured more promotional material, as well as the finalists for one of the various S-M3 contests from May 2007. But since this was a limited time offer (which was true to its word, unlike others which remain around forever) then I doubt you'll likely find the same edition new unless there's a mini-surplus at Target's website.

Overall, the Venom story was good, and Sandman's was decent, but the bogus tween love triangle had to go, or at least be reworked. The extras however were impressive for the third installment in the franchise, though didn't match the runtime of the predecessor's extras, but probably surpasses the first film's extras. I was lucky that this was a gift, but if not, then I'd recommend getting it at an online shop if you're like me and thought the film needed major improvement, but still appreciated it enough as a stand alone film. But overall, the stuff that was good was just meh.