Spider-Man 3
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Spider-Man 3 is a 2007 superhero film written and directed by Sam Raimi, with a screenplay by Ivan Raimi and Alvin Sargent. It is the third film in the Spider-Man film franchise based on the fictional Marvel Comics character Spider-Man. The film stars Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Thomas Haden Church, Topher Grace and Bryce Dallas Howard.
The film begins with Peter Parker basking in his success as Spider-Man, while Mary Jane Watson continues her Broadway career. Harry Osborn still seeks vengeance for his father's death, and an escaped convict, Flint Marko, falls into a particle accelerator and is transformed into a shape-shifting sand manipulator. An alien symbiote crashes to Earth and bonds with Peter, influencing his behavior for the worse. When Parker abandons the symbiote, it finds refuge in Eddie Brock, Jr., a rival photographer, causing Peter to face his greatest challenge.
Spider-Man 3 was commercially released in multiple countries on May 1, 2007, and released in the United States in both conventional and IMAX theaters on May 4, 2007 by Columbia Pictures. Although the film received generally mixed reviews from critics, in contrast to the previous two films' highly positive reviews, it stands as the most successful film in the series worldwide, Marvel's most successful movie, as well as the second highest-grossing superhero film behind 2008's The Dark Knight.
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[edit] Plot
Peter Parker has begun to feel secure in his life and plans to propose to Mary Jane. One night in a park, while Peter and Mary Jane are on a date, a small meteorite crashes nearby, and an alien symbiote oozes out, attaching itself to Peter's moped. Meanwhile, escaped convict Flint Marko falls into a particle accelerator, which fuses his body with the surrounding sand. The result allows him to shape shift at will, becoming the Sandman. Peter's best friend, Harry Osborn, who seeks vengeance for his father's death, which he believes Peter caused, attacks him. The battle leaves Harry with short-term amnesia, making him forget his vendetta.
Later, during a festival honoring Spider-Man for saving Gwen Stacy's life, Sandman attempts to rob an armored car, and overpowers Spider-Man. Captain Stacy later informs Peter and Aunt May that Marko is the one who killed Ben Parker, and a vengeful Peter waits for Marko to strike again. The symbiote bonds with his costume while he is asleep; Peter discovers that not only has his costume changed, but his powers have been enhanced as well. The black suit also brings out the more vengeful, selfish, and arrogant side of Peter's personality, exemplified by a near lethal attack on Sandman during a battle underground.
The shift in Peter's personality alienates Mary Jane, whose stage career is floundering, and she finds solace with Harry. Harry recovers from his amnesia, and, urged on by an apparition of his dead father, forces MJ to break up with Peter. After Mary Jane leaves Peter, stating she is in love with another man, Harry meets him at a restaurant and claims to be the other man. Later, Peter finds him at the Osborn mansion. With the help of the black suit, Peter is victorious in a brutal fight, which leaves Harry's face disfigured. Influenced by the suit, Peter exposes and humiliates Eddie Brock, Jr., a rival freelance photographer, who has sold fake pictures to The Daily Bugle supposedly showing Spider-Man to be a criminal.
In an effort to make MJ jealous, Peter brings Gwen to the nightclub where Mary Jane works. Peter gets into a fight with the club's bouncers and knocks MJ to the floor. Peter realizes the symbiote-suit is changing him for the worse. He runs out of the nightclub and goes to a church bell tower to get rid of it. Initially he is unable to pull the suit off, but the sound of the church bell weakens the symbiote, enabling Peter to break free. Eddie Brock is at the same church praying for Peter's death when the symbiote falls from the tower and takes over his body. The newly-empowered Eddie, now Venom, finds Sandman and suggests that they join forces to destroy Spider-Man.
The pair use Mary Jane as bait to force Spider-Man to confront them. Peter approaches Harry for help, but is turned down. Spider-man arrives at the construction site to rescue Mary Jane but was easily defeated by Venom and gigantic Sandman. Learning that Venom is immune to Spider-man's spider sense, and proves no match for Venom, as the two super-villians closed in for the kill. However, Harry learns the truth about his father's death from his butler Bernard, and arrives in time to rescue Peter, teaming up against Venom and Sandman. As the fight progresses, Harry takes out Sandman leaving Peter to deal with Venom. Trying to explain to Brock that the suit is taking over his life, but Eddie refuses and attempts to impale Peter with Harry's glider, but Harry sacrifices himself and is fatally wounded. Peter recalls how the church bell's toll weakened the symbiote, and frees Eddie from it by clanging several pipes together to create sonic vibrations. However the symbiote forms a symbiote-monster but Peter throws a pumpkin bomb at the symbiote just as Eddie attempts to rebond with it, killing Eddie and the symbiote.
After the battle, Marko tells Peter that he had no intention of killing Ben Parker, and that it was an accident born out of a desperate attempt to save his daughter's life. Peter forgives Marko, who dissipates and floats away. Peter and Harry forgive each other, before Harry dies with Mary Jane and Peter at his side. After Harry's funeral, Peter and Mary Jane begin to mend their relationship.
[edit] Rating
this film has been rated PG-13 for intense sequences of action violence
[edit] Cast and characters
- Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker / Spider-Man: A superhero, a brilliant physics student at Columbia University and photographer for the Daily Bugle. As he grows arrogant with the city starting to embrace him for the first time in his career, an alien symbiote attaches itself to Peter's costume and influences his behavior for the worse. Maguire said he relished the opportunity to play a less timid Peter in this film.<ref
- Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane Watson: Peter Parker's girlfriend and a Broadway actress, whom he has loved since childhood. Mary Jane has a string of bad luck in the film, reminiscent of Peter's misfortune in Spider-Man 2, losing her job because of bad reviews and losing her boyfriend when the symbiote takes him over.
- James Franco as Harry Osborn / New Goblin: The son of Norman Osborn and Peter Parker's former best friend, who believes Spider-Man murdered his father. After learning Peter is Spider-Man and that Norman was the Green Goblin, Harry becomes the New Goblin to battle his former friend directly. Afterwards, Harry assists Spider-Man as the New Goblin to battle Sandman and Venom.
- Rosemary Harris as May Parker: The aunt of Peter Parker and the widow of Ben Parker, Peter's uncle. She gives Peter her engagement ring so he can propose to Mary Jane, and gives him lessons in forgiveness.
- J. K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson: The aggressive chief of The Daily Bugle. He has particular dislike towards Spider-Man, whom he considers a criminal.
- Dylan Baker as Dr. Curt Connors: A college physics professor under whom Peter Parker studies. He examines a piece of the symbiote and tells Peter it "amplifies characteristics of its host... especially aggression."
- Willem Dafoe as Norman Osborn / Green Goblin: The hallucination of Harry Osborn's late wicked father returns to encourage his son to destroy Spider-Man.
- Cliff Robertson as Ben Parker: Peter Parker's deceased uncle.
- Bill Nunn as Joseph "Robbie" Robertson: A longtime employee at The Daily Bugle.
- Michael Papajohn as Dennis Carradine: The carjacker who was believed to have murdered Uncle Ben.
- Elizabeth Banks as Betty Brant: Receptionist at The Daily Bugle and the bane of J. Jonah Jameson's existence.
- Thomas Haden Church as Flint Marko / Sandman: A small-time thug who has a wife and sick daughter, for whom he steals money to help get the treatment to cure her. He transforms into the Sandman following a freak accident, and incurs Peter's wrath when Peter learns he was his Uncle Ben's true killer. Church was approached for Sandman because of his award-winning performance in the film and accepted the role despite the lack of a script at the time.
- Topher Grace as Edward "Eddie" Brock, Jr. / Venom: Peter's rival at the Daily Bugle. He is exposed by Peter for creating a fake incriminating image of Spider-Man, and leaps at the opportunity to exact his revenge when he bonds with the symbiote. Grace had impressed the producers with his performance in the film. Grace spent six months working out to prepare for the role, gaining twenty-four pounds of muscle. Grace found his costume unpleasant, as it had to be constantly smeared to give a liquid-like feel. The costume took an hour to put on, though Prosthetic took four hours to apply. Grace also wore fangs, which bruised his gums.
- Bryce Dallas Howard as Gwen Stacy: Peter's lab partner. He asks her out to embarrass Mary Jane when possessed by the symbiote. Howard said the challenge of playing the role was in reminding many fans of the good-natured character who was Peter's first love in the comics, yet was "the other woman" in the film. Howard strived to create a sense that Gwen could potentially be a future girlfriend for him, and that, "I was not acting like some kind of man-stealing tart.
- James Cromwell as Captain George Stacy: Gwen's father and a New York City Police Captain.
Spider-Man co-creator Stan Lee has a cameo in Spider-Man 3, as he did in the previous Spider-Man films, which he referred to as his "best cameo".
[edit] Development
Immediately after Spider-Man 2's release, Ivan Raimi wrote a treatment over two months,with Sam Raimi deciding to use the film to explore Peter learning that he is not a sinless vigilante, and that there also can be humanity in those he considers criminals. Harry Osborn was brought back as Raimi wanted to conclude his storyline, but Raimi felt that Harry would not follow his father's legacy, but be instead "somewhere between." Sandman was introduced as an antagonist, as Raimi found him a visually fascinating character. While Sandman is a petty criminal in the comics, the screenwriters created a background of the character being Uncle Ben's killer to increase Peter's guilt over his death and challenge his simplistic perception of the event. Overall, Raimi described the film as being about Peter, Mary Jane, Harry and the Sandman, with Peter's journey being one of forgiveness.
Raimi wanted another villain, and Ben Kingsley was involved in negotiations to play the Vulture before the character was cut. Producer Avi Arad convinced Raimi to include Venom, a character whose perceived "lack of humanity" had initially been criticized by Sam Raimi. Venom's alter-ego, Eddie Brock, already had a minor role in the script. Arad told the director that Venom had a strong fan base, so Raimi included the character to please them, and even began to appreciate the character himself. The film's version of the character is an amalgamation of Venom stories. Eddie Brock, Jr., the human part of Venom, serves as a mirror to Peter Parker, with both characters having similar jobs and romantic interests. Brock's actions as a journalist in Spider-Man 3 also represent contemporary themes of paparazzi and tabloid journalism. The producers also suggested adding rival love interest Gwen Stacy, filling in an "other girl" type that Raimi already created. With so many additions, Sargent soon found his script so complex that he considered splitting it into two films, but abandoned the idea when he could not create a successful intermediate climax.
[edit] Filming
Camera crews spent ten days from November 5, 2005 to November 18, 2005, to film sequences that would involve intense visual effects so Sony Pictures Imageworks could begin work on the shots early in the project. The same steps had been taken for Spider-Man 2 to begin producing visual effects early for sequences involving the villain Doctor Octopus.
Principal photography for Spider-Man 3 began on January 16, 2006 and wrapped in July 2006 after over a hundred days of filming. The team filmed in Los Angeles until May 19, 2006. In spring 2006, film location manager Peter Martorano brought camera crews to Cleveland, due to the Cleveland Film Commission offering production space at the city's convention center at no cost. In Cleveland, they shot the battle between Spider-Man and Sandman in the armored car. Afterwards, the team moved to Manhattan, where filming took place from May 26, 2006 until July 1, 2006. Shooting placed a strain on Raimi, who often had to move between several units to complete the picture. Shooting was also difficult for cinematographer Bill Pope, as the Symbiote Spider-Man, Venom and the New Goblin were costumed in black during fight scenes taking place at night.
After August, pick-ups were conducted as Raimi sought to film more action scenes. The film then wrapped in October, although in the following month, additional special effects shots were taken to finalize the production. At the start of 2007, there were further pick-up shots regarding the resolution of Sandman's story, amounting to four different versions.
[edit] Effects
John Dykstra, who won the Academy Award for Visual Effects for his work on Spider-Man 2, declined to work on the third film as visual effects supervisor. Dykstra's colleague, Scott Stokdyk, took his place as supervisor,[30] leading two hundred programmers at Sony Pictures Imageworks. This group designed specific computer programs that did not exist when Spider-Man 3 began production, creating nine hundred visual effects shots. In addition to the innovative visual effects for the film, Stokdyk created a miniature of a skyscraper section at 1:16 scale with New Deal Studios' Ian Hunter and David Sanger. Stokdyk chose to design the miniature instead of using computer-generated imagery so damage done to the building could be portrayed realistically and timely without guesswork involving computer models. In addition, to Sony Imageworks, CafeFX provided visual effects for the crane disaster scene when Spider-Man rescues Gwen Stacy, as well as shots in the climactic battle.
To understand the effects of sand for the Sandman, experiments were done with twelve types of sand, such as splashing, launching at stuntmen, and poured over ledges. The results were mimicked on the computer to create the visual effects for Sandman. For scenes involving visual effects, Thomas Haden Church was super-imposed onto the screen, where computer-generated imagery was then applied. With sand as a possible hazard in scenes that buried actors, ground-up corncobs were used as a substitute instead. Because of its resemblance to the substance, sand from Arizona was used as the model for the CG sand. In a fight where Spider-Man punches through Sandman's chest, amputee martial arts expert Baxter Humby took Tobey Maguire's place in filming the scene. Humby, whose right hand was amputated at birth, helped deliver the intended effect of punching through Sandman's chest. Concept art of the Venom suit, which possesses a webbing motif, unlike the comics, in order to show the symbiote's control and represent the character as a twisted foil to Spider-Man.
Whereas the symbiote suit worn in the comics by Spider-Man was a plain black affair with a large white spider on the front and back, the design was changed for the film to become a black version of Spider-Man's traditional costume, complete with webbing motif. As a consequence of this, the suit Topher Grace wore as Venom also bore the webbing motif; as producer Grant Curtis noted, "it’s the Spider-Man suit, but twisted and mangled in its own right." Additionally, the motif gave a sense of life to the symbiote, giving it the appearance of gripping onto the character's body. When animating the symbiote, Raimi did not want it to resemble a spider or an octopus, and to give it a sense of character. The CG model is made of many separate strands. When animating Venom himself, animators observed footage of big cats such as lions and cheetahs for the character's agile movements.
