Along came Spidey.

Spider-man 3 - (Sam Raimi, 2007)

Black is back. Emo is too. Suddenly it’s cool to put eyeliner for guys. Jazz is suddenly pop. The kids would be donning their black outfits soon or start listening to Buble or Cullum or Norah Jones. Lest we forget, this is Spidey’s third adventure, which explains the necessity to show puzzle pieces of the two previous films as the opening credits roll. Enter Sandman. Unlike Doc Oc this villain proves much harder for Spidey to get his hands on.

Peter disses MJ. He gets to save another damsel in the person of Gwen Stacey and gets to wallow in his iconic stature and gets a kiss — not just any other kiss but the trademark MJ-Peter upside down kiss. The French thing didn’t work out and they broke up. Peter learns the real killer of Uncle Ben is Flint Marko which happens to be Sandman himself. New guy Eddie Brock steals show from Peter and gets to kiss J.K. Simmons ass. Symbiote devours him, so did revenge.

Let's skip the usual superhero story arc because Sam Raimi surely made one hell of an undertone with this one. It is rumored that this will be the last franchise he'll be directing, even Maguire who seemed to be comfy with the role and undaunted by possible career demise, made it look as if this part was his last show. From the obvious publicity stunt — the deletion of a supposed lip-lock between Harry and Peter — there was sure something fishy going around. And then I finally saw it.

It's written everywhere. In tabloid headlines: "Spider-man shows true colors". In a seemingly innocent and evasive reply to an equally innocent question — MJ: What's up with you and Harry?" Peter: "It's complicated." To Harry's wide beaming (all-teeth) smiles and Peter's longing gazes to the buddy-buddy theatrics. Peter disses MJ alright, but not for Gwen, who looks stunning by the way with the now-meatier Bryce Dallas Howard. Okay, I'm just playing it, but I think I heard a couple of sneers from my back so it's not just me.

This is not to say I totally detested it, Spider-man 3 is actually more fun and hipper than the previous two, but I don't think it quite achieve, at least technically, what the previous one did. Topher Grace of That 70's Show fame who was  a charmer in In Good Company, plays Eddie Brock who falls prey to the remnants of symbiote and becomes the Venom. Thomas Haden Church who was brilliant in Sideways, plays Sandman. But then there's little much to do with their characters.

But for what it's worth, this one can stand on its own — it doesn't have to prove anything grand. It's a good thing I didn't bring popcorn or else I would've have spill it from the Neanderthal-like manners of the person who sat behind me (I reckon it was some kid) who kept pushing the seat. My viewing was punctuated with intermittent jerks and I could've said. "What's wrong with your fucking feet? You want me to butcher them and throw them up front?" Then I remember it was Spider-man I was watching, not 300.