Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Thomas Haden Church, Topher Grace ... see more see more... , Bryce Dallas Howard , Rosemary Harris , J.K. Simmons , James Cromwell , Theresa Russell , Dylan Baker , Bill Nunn , Bruce Campbell , Elizabeth Banks , Ted Raimi , Perla Haney-Jardine , Willem Dafoe , Cliff Robertson , Elya Baskin , Mageina Tovah , John Paxton , Becky Ann Baker , Stan Lee , Michael Papajohn , Joe Manganiello , Hal Fishman , Lucy Gordon , Steve Valentine , Tim Maculan , Marc Vann , Joe Bays , Gregg L. Daniel , Rogelio T. Ramos , Timothy Patrick Quill , Menachem Mendel , Boymelgreen , Nasir Stewart , Austin Hendrickson , Taylor Hemhauser , Kathryn Bryding , Joe Virzi , Bill E. Rogers , Mike Alexander , April D. Parker , Edward Padilla , Robert Curtis-Brown , Paul Terrell Clayton , Carolyn Neff , Christina Cindrich , Sonya Maddox , Andre Blake , Derrick Thomas , Jessi Collins , Michael McLaughlin , Anne Gartian , Emilio Rivera , Keith Woulard , Rey Gallegos , Jim Coope , Dean Edwards , Margaret Laney , Toni Wynne , Aimee Miles , Tanya Sinovec , Mark Kubr , Emma Raimi , Lorne Raimi , Henry Raimi , Samantha Ressler , Alan Cohn , Dan Callahan , Ronald King , Carol Chaikin , Dan Cummings , Vance Hammond , Alfred Molina , Donna Murphy , Daniel Gillies , Vanessa Ferlito , Aasif Mandvi , Bonnie Somerville , Brooke Adams , Joel McHale , Jason Ortiz

A strange black entity from another world bonds with Peter Parker and causes inner turmoil as he contends with new villains, temptations, and revenge.

Flixster Users

54% liked it

2,076,446 ratings

Critics

63% liked it

239 critics

PG-13, 2 hr. 18 min.

Directed by: Sam Raimi

Release Date: May 4, 2007

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DVD Release Date: October 30, 2007

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Stats: 266,323 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (266,323)


  • May 12, 2007
    It's everything a summer movie should be and everything a movie in general should be.
  • August 29, 2010
    A bit too much happening with the storyline, but loved the darkness of this one most. And Thomas Hayden Church, who doesn't love him...
  • August 29, 2009
    Too many storylines left Spider-Man 3 feeling like a bad superhero sequel. I'd normally give this 4 stars but Kirsten Dunst singing, that candyass twist scene, Topher Grace in general and that jazz club scene demand a H U G E apology to the human race as a whole and hurt way too ... read moremuch. And the emo/candy-ass Peter is going to date this one so incredibly bad in about 10 years time. The villains were handled pretty well with the exception of there being too many of them in one movie and Topher Grace not being able to act. Not awful but it didn't live up to the hype. Especially after a second viewing. I watched this for a 3rd time and for all its faults I was ready to forgive Spider-Man 3 but that goddamned motherfucking jazz club scene couldn't be forgiven if it fixed the economy, solved global warming and found a cure for cancer all in a 30-second span of time.
  • August 29, 2009
    Although the phrase "with great power comes great responsibility" is pretty much the cornerstone of Spider-Man's crime fighting stance, the third film finally explores a new theme and is all the better for it with the key theme being the darkness inside of us and what happens whe... read moren we choose not to keep it to ourselves. We spend so much time trying to keep our darker thoughts, impulses, urges and such to ourselves but the human mind has its limits and sometimes the darkness explodes in ways we can not foresee.

    Both Peter Parker and Eddie Brock, Jr go through a time of darkness in this film and each of them emerges with a different viewpoint of the effect darkness has on them. Whereas Peter believes holding on to dark designs is a betrayal to his upbringing, Eddie sees it as his chance to step into the spotlight he believes he so rightly has earned time and time again. The question the audience must ask themselves is this: Is darkness what hinders your progress or is your dark nature what brings you what you desire most?

    Much more complex than its predecessor, Spider-Man 3 makes us look in ourselves and we come out of the film with a new understanding of how we work on our own and how we work in conjunction with the world.

    The Spider-Man film series has proven itself to be more than just an action driven adaptation of a popular icon and Spider-Man 3 does this better than the first two.

    James Franco's acting really shines in this film and say what you will about Kirsten Dunst's performances in the previous films, she's on top of her game here.
    Tobey Maguire runs the gauntlet of different emotions here and succeeds in adding more layers to one of the better superheroes in the world of comic books.

    Yes, Venom may not have appeared until the closing act but every moment he's on screen he uses that to his advantage and he reminds us why people love the villain.

    And it's refreshing to see at the end of a Spider-Man film a villain that gets to live to see another day (and possibly another film). Fingers crossed this isn't the first and last time for Thomas Hayden Church's wonderful portrayal of the conflicted Sandman, a man who may have done wrong by the law but we can't hate him for it.
  • August 27, 2009
    After the fairly decent Spider-man 2, I had high hopes for this film, especially when the villains were announced and the fantastic looking poster/Trailers were released. Unfortunately, it turned out to be all gas and no fire, and possibly the biggest disappointment in the last 1... read more0 years of cinema. I did like this Bruce Campbell cameo though!
  • August 24, 2009
    I think that I was a little too harsh on Spider-Man 3 the first time that I saw it. I still stand by the things that I didn't like, but I guess I enjoyed more of the rest of the movie the second time around.

    The while re-do of Uncle Ben's death still sucks. "Sympathetic" Sandma... read moren was not handled well at all (except for his top notch special effects). Emo Peter was a bad joke. The jazz club sequence was way, way too campy and out of place. Peter and MJ treat each other in ways that are completely contrary to their characters, solely for the convenience of the plot. And Eddie Brock/Venom was NOTHING liked he actually should have been. Couple those issues with a running time that feels too long, and Spider-Man 3 definitely didn't live up to it's potential.

    At the same time, there are things about this that work well. The special effects and action scenes are uniformely great, and Bryce Dallas Howard was a PERFECT Gwen Stacy. I hope that she comes back for a sequel. Spider-Man 2 is still the best of the franchise, but the third entry is as enjoyable as the first, in my opinion. You'll have a good time as you watch it, just like I did. I mean, it's Spider-Man! I just wish that Venom could have been saved for a movie where he could have been handled properly.
  • June 16, 2009
    THIS RATING IS NOT OF THE MOVIE SPIDER-MAN 3. THE RATING IS OF THE RIFFTRAX COMMENTARY OF SPIDER-MAN 3. I CANNOT PROPERLY RATE SPIDER-MAN 3 BECAUSE FLIXSTER DOES NOT ALLOW NEGATIVE STAR RATINGS.

    I swore I would never see this; I didn't need to see it to know how godawful it is. ... read moreI was right that I didn't need to see it to know how bad it was, but I wanted to test out the RiffTrax guys to see if they could really stick it to a crap movie. They didn't, keeping their comedy very broad and PG. I laughed 6 times total, and yes I was counting, at their comments. Not impressive considering that I laughed at the actual dialogue more times than I could keep count of. This is one of the worst movies ever made, so the RiffTrax guys should have produced an epic pwn of this craptacular, but instead they went pretty damn soft on it and I was disappointed.

    So there really is no reason to see this movie until some other professional peanut gallery puts together a decent commentary track.
  • May 6, 2009
    "Look, I want to kill the spider, you wanna kill the spider. Together, he doesn't stand a chance. Interested?
    - Yeah."

    'Spider-Man 3' arrived the theatres with a lot of hype, as the viewers were preapring themselves for the symbiote suit, which would eventually give birth to Spi... read moreder-Man's most vicious foe, Venom. But did everything go as the fans would've wanted? Oh yeah, I forgot. Sandman's in the movie also!

    'Spider-Man 2' was a huge hit and loved by critics and viewers. The filmmakers really raised the standards of superhero movies, so people's expectations were really high for this third one. Did it all go right? You should know by now that I love Spider-Man and pretty much everything involved with it. But I've seen the film now for maybe 5-6 times and I have some issues with it. And here we go..

    1. Irrelevant or badly planned scenes. In the comic when Pete got the symbiote suit, which happened during the Secret Wars, he didn't turn into a foul boy who looks like he's been taken from the world of 'Grease' or 'Saturday Night Fever'. The bar scene or the scene were Pete's walking on the street like a member of the Beegee's, was for me embarrassing. Would've worked so much better without these scenes.

    2. Mary Jane Watson. I'm rambling about the same issues again but when the 4th movie is due to hit theatres in 2011, I would be pleased if MJ would get a total change of.. everything. This character is so different then what comic fans of Spidey are used to. Did Sam Raimi want to push the drama to maximum by making MJ the way she is in the movies?

    3. Venom. Oh boy, there's so many great things about Venom, so much material to be used, in the comic I mean, and the filmmakers went on to do the easiest things. Venom is a being of great physical appearance and one of the scariest creatures ever. And they decided to cast Topher Grace as Eddie Brock/Venom? Why? In the film, Venom is even skinnier then Spider-Man! In the comic, he's like 2-3 times bigger and a brutal force to be battled. Nothing wrong with Grace as an actor but he's more suitable for his role in the 'That 70's show' than as Spider-Man's most fierce enemy.

    But besides these issues, there was a lot of things that I liked very much. As a start I have to mention the Sandman character. Sandman is one of the original adversaries of Spider-Man. In the movie, he is portrayed as a sympathetic small-time criminal, who decides to go on the path of crime to save his daughter.

    "I'm not a bad person. Just had bad luck."

    Thomas Haden Church is an actor of different caliber than for example Topher Grace. He is much more versatile and he really made me care for what would happen to Flint Marko/Sandman. But because they showed the humane side of him at the beginning of the movie, it was impossible to turn him into a sinister villain. Hence, the symbiote got involved in the picture.

    J.K Simmons was once again on hyperdrive as J.J Jameson, the publisher of Daily Bugle. I enjoyed the scenes he was and look forward to see him in the 4th movie.

    The special effects have once again been upgraded. Web slinging has never looked more awesome! Sandman was made into a beliavable creature and Venom was a disappointment but looked good anyways. One of the first action scenes, were Goblin battles Spider-Man is something unbeliavable! It's a scene were you really want to crank the volume up...

    So, in the end, 'Spider-Man 3' was a nice finish to the trilogy. It brings closure to the whole Harry vs Peter thing in a heartbreaking way that left me satisfied. 'Spider-Man 3' is at times very uneven, but that is completely Sam Raimi's fault. Some embarrassing scenes will leave you cold but in overall, the film is a must see for fans of Spider-Man films and comics. Now, when remakes are an unnecessary popular way of filmmaking, maybe Venom will return to the big screen in a more appropriate way. Or maybe Carnage, the spawn of Venom, will come to ruin Pete's life in the sequel. Or Lizard..?
  • April 5, 2009
    Again too many characters spoil the broth and the story is waaaay too complex for a comic book adaptation. It looks cool, probably the best looking Spidey, but they try to squeeze in too much. I wanted to see more of Venom...the evil characters are always the best and more intere... read moresting. The bad Spidey idea was too much of a Superman 3 rip and there were also some very silly scenes, getting abit too pantomime.
    The second film is the best.
  • February 7, 2009
    Just a little too much everything for its own good

Critic Reviews


Bob Mondello
October 18, 2008
Bob Mondello, NPR.org

At 141 minutes, this supe-opera is seriously overextended, with four distinct subplots and way too much hand-wringing over things like the heroine's singing career. Full Review

Roger Ebert
November 16, 2007
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

Too many villains, too many pale plot strands, too many romantic misunderstandings, too many conversations, too many street crowds looking high into the air and shouting "oooh!" this way, then swiveli... Full Review

Stephanie Zacharek
May 4, 2007
Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com

Raimi at least manages to make it both huge and human. Full Review

Joe Morgenstern
May 4, 2007
Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal

After two epic successes that deserved their success, the latest installment swings between intense action sequences and unaccountably flat dramatic interludes. Full Review

James Berardinelli
May 4, 2007
James Berardinelli, ReelViews

One has to consider that the film's problems -- and they are numerous -- may be the product of the franchise's runaway popularity. Full Review

Robert Denerstein
May 4, 2007
Robert Denerstein, Denver Rocky Mountain News

If there's a moral to be gleaned from Spider-Man 3 -- aside from the fact that heavily promoted franchise movies tend to rake in megabucks -- it's this: Movies don't necessarily need to hit grand slam... Full Review

Michael Booth
May 4, 2007
Michael Booth, Denver Post

All in all, the fun has simply gone out of it. Full Review

Tom Charity
May 4, 2007
Tom Charity, CNN.com

An extravagant three-ring circus of a movie from director Sam Raimi, but it's not without a struggle. Full Review

Manohla Dargis
May 4, 2007
Manohla Dargis, New York Times

Aesthetically and conceptually wrung out, fizzled rather than fizzy, this latest installment in the spider-bites-boy adventure story shoots high, swings low and every so often hits the sweet spot, but...

Colin Covert
May 3, 2007
Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune

It's mostly enjoyable. But it's a limping effort compared with the first two. The trilogy hobbles to a finish when it should have soared. Full Review

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

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