Think Wink.

I didn’t make it to the midnight showing of the Spider-Man 3 movie, but I did make it yesterday afternoon. I must say, I really enjoyed this movie. There might some plot spoilers here so make sure that you don’t want to ruin the movie before seeing it, though I will try not to give too much away.

The main and central theme of the movie, that I observed, is that of forgiveness. Parker struggled to forgive the man that killed his uncle. Harry struggled to forgive Parker for the events of his father’s death in the first movie. Eddie Brock struggled to forgive Parker for what he did to him and his career in photography. In the end, Peter and Harry were able to forgive those who had wronged them. Peter was then able to get his life back on track. Harry was able to leave in peace. Brock was destroyed by his inability to let go and forgive. Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matthew 6:114-15). We must be a forgiving people if we are a forgiven people. The Apostle Paul echoes this in Colossians 3:12-13, “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.” Paul also says to the Romans, “Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’ To the contrary, ‘if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:17-21). This movie really highlights what happens when a follower of Christ fails to obey these commands. Youth leaders would do well to use this film as an illustration of these marks of a disciple of Christ.

As a comic fan and a Spider-Man fan, I liked this movie. My favorite Spider-Man villain and one of my favorite Marvel Comics characters is Venom. I was very pleased with his look and its consistency with the black Spider-Man costume. Venom’s face was particularly pleasing because it looked very much like the comic version, though not totally. I liked the development of his character. I don’t know much about Sandman so as far as comics go, I can’t comment. I would have wished that Harry would have followed the Ultimate Spider-Man storyline and became the Hobgoblin, though I’m not complaining about him following the original storyline and being the Green Goblin. It would have just allowed more characters of the Spider-Man Universe into the movies. But I liked the Harry Osborne character though.

As a movie fan, the movie itself was good. My only complaint was what my cousin Henry Michael “affectionately” calls Emo-Parker or Emo-Peter (click here). It was just dumb and pointless. We could have seen the change in character with how he exacted revenge on Brock and the whole jazz club scene. They should have had some Saturday Night Fever music going on during his street walking. When Parker got his new suit, I felt like I saw a total rip off of Bruce Almighty. I must say, this film is my favorite performance of Kirsten Dunst in all of the three movies. I felt more engaged by her character and really felt bad for her as she struggled with her old feelings for Harry and her current feelings for Peter when Parker was caught up by his fame or his black suite. James Franco and and Topher Grace really impressed me. I really like James Franco, and his job was just outstanding. Topher Grace did an amazing job pulling off Venom. Brock seemed to me to be another version of Eric Foreman from That 70s Show, but he played Venom perfectly. Thomas Haden Church had me empathizing with him as well over his daughter, especially since I have a sister of comparable age. I really could understand his point of view and see that he wasn’t a “bad” person (I am a Calvinist and believe all men are depraved and thus the “” around bad) but struggling to help his daughter (cf. Matthew 7:9-11).

I think personally, I like the first movie the most, followed by this film and then the second one. The plot was more focused and was so fast paced, but this movie had to be in order to engage all of the characters as soon as possible. I liked the Green Goblin of Norman Osborne played by William DeFoe the best, no offense to James Franco. The split personality was pulled off very well (I liked how they brought back the “attack his heart” tactic in this movie too!). I would give this movie four stars out of five, it was very well done but that whole sequence with his street walking was just dumb and unneeded. I enjoyed seeing it int theaters and would recommend it to all.

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