Spider-Man 3 [Blu-ray] (2007)

When the review of "Spider-Man 3" in our local paper came out and trashed the movie I was braced for the worse, although since there were four midnight showings on opening day it seems obvious this movie is going to make a lot of money (at least this first weekend). But I really did think it would be nigh impossible for this 2007 film to be better than its 2004 predecessor, which is my favorite comic book movie to date (a verdict I render as someone who teaches comic books in general and Spider-Man in particular in my Introduction to Popular Culture course). "Spider-Man 3" certainly has its flaws and it is not as good as "Spider-Man 2," but those things do not add up to the film being a disappointment.For Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) and Spider-Man these are the best of times. Spider-Man is beloved by the people of New York City and Aunt May (Rosemary Harris) has given Peter the engagement ring that she received from Uncle Ben (Cliff Robertson) a half-century earlier so that he can propose to Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst). But Harry Osborn (James Franco) knows that Peter is Spider-Man, believes Spidey killed his father Norman (Willem Dafoe), and has found the secret Green Goblin hideout. So right off the bat he comes gunning for Spider-Man. This seems like they are trying to wrap up a loose plot thread from "Spider-Man 2," but this is but one of the several major pieces this movie puts in place for the endgame. Meanwhile, Flint Marko (Thomas Hayden Church) has broken out of jail and become the victim of one of those classic comic book situations where science turns a man into a monster, in this case the Sandman. When Peter finds out it was Marko who actually shot Uncle Ben he takes his first step off the deep end. Peter also has problems in that ambitious Eddie Brock, Jr. (Topher Grace) wants Peter's job as a photographer at "The Daily Bugle," where J. Jonah Jameson (J.K. Simmons). Then there is Gwen Stacy (Bryce Dallas Howard), a classmate of Peter who gets rescued by Spider-Man and has a big old crush on the web-head, and the sticky black thing from another planet that has attached itself to our hero. No wonder the movie runs 140 minutes.Director Sam Raimi pours on the special effects in the computer generated fight sequences. What made Doctor Octopus a great villain for a Spider-Man movie was how the two could fight on both the horizontal and vertical axises. Obviously that continues with Venom and to a lesser extent with Sandman, but what those two villains have in common is the fluidity of their "costume" and "body" respectively. They have fun making Spider-Man's costume all torn and tattered, but that is nothing compared to what they are able to do with Sandman's face and body in these fight sequences. When Spidey fights the New Goblin (and there is a reason Harry is not running around as the second Green Goblin), it looks more like a high-speed video game with everything happening faster than the eye can see (compare that with the great fight between Peter and Harry when they are not wearing their costumes).For me the problematic character is Gwen Stacy, because in the original "Spider-Man" comic books Gwen was Peter's girlfriend long before Mary Jane became his wife. Given the relatively small number of Spider-Man movies that you can make, it made sense to skip Gwen and have Mary Jane there from the beginning, even if it meant turning her into the girl next door instead of the sexy redhead in the go-go boots. But we now know that Peter ends up with MJ, just like we know Clark Kent ends up with Lois Lane and Bruce Wayne is never going to get married. So Gwen's mere presence is problematic because she cannot be the woman he loves who dies because he is Spider-Man. In the "Ultimate Spider-Man" comic book MJ is there from the beginning too, knowing Spider-Man's secret identity, and the integration of Gwen's character into that revision of the story was okay, but it did not have the significance or resonance of the original storyline. The movie Gwen is more like the comic book Mary Jane and that whole plot line would have worked better with Betty Brant (Elizabeth Banks) or an entirely new character than resurrecting Gwen Stacy.Besides the delicious irony that the blond Dunst has died her hair red while the redheaded Howard has gone platinum, I was bothered by how they had Gwen be a model. Mary Jane was the model and that was important because just like Peter it was a mistake to take her at face value. Instead Dunst gets to sing a couple of songs and while the movie agrees she is not good enough to sing on Broadway it seems a strange way to create a crack in her self-confidence, especially given that nobody faked self-confidence better than MJ. But they are fully committed to the idea of Mary Jane as the girl next door even if they have yet to figure out what that means for the character and her relationship with Peter. Howard is not given much to do, although her last moment is her character's best, and the same goes for James Cromwell as Captain Stacy. But Bruce Campbell completely steals his one scene, Mageina Tovah as Ursula steals a couple, and Stan Lee has his best "Spider-Man" cameo to date, but Dylan Baker's Dr. Curt Connors is still no closer to turning into the Lizard.The main element they have kept from "Spider-Man 2" is the idea that the conflict between Spider-Man and his foes is no longer black and white, but shades of gray. I liked that for once Doctor Octopus was not a ranting lunatic with mechanical arms but a good man turned evil by a fateful accident (the flip of what happened to Peter Parker) who refuses to die a monster. It was that moment more than Mary Jane discovering that Peter was Spider-Man that really gave "SM2" its weight. This time around there are important shadings for Flint Marko and Harry Osborn, just as there are for Peter Parker as his black Spider-Man costume gets the better of him (but Eddie Brock, Jr. is bad to the bone from start to finish).In the end I round down on "Spider-Man 3" because I think they are overdoing it with Spider-Man's mask coming off or being half torn (even though I understand the impulse to have the face of the actor you are paying millions to actually appear on screen), the comic relief from spectators during the big battle at the end gets in the way of the developing tragedy, and the fade out scene was by far the weakest of the series to date. I am also not happy with the way Peter's character is regressing, because even before the symbiotic flips him to the dark side he is embracing his inner nerd way too much. Maguire is hysterical when he has Peter strut himself down the street, but it rings wrong for the character. Also, even with the swelled head he is getting from the public adoration as Spider-Man, I do not want to believe that having the costume on when he receives the key to the city was enough to let Peter betray MJ the way he does there. The scene later on at the Jazz club is the insult; it was the other that was the real injury part of the equation. Still, I bet I make it back to the theater to see this one again.

Thank you so much

My review is strictly about the quality of the Blu Ray, and my feelings on the whole Mastered in 4K concept.First and foremost, this is a regular Blu Ray that will play in 1080p, and should not be considered a true 4K source. But it says mastered in 4K though, you may ask. Which it does, what that means is instead of a 1080p source being transferred onto a Blu Ray disc, the 1080p source goes through a 4K upscaling source and color corrector. However, the technology didn't exist at the time for 4K to play on disc (I will get to that towards the end) so what Sony did was come out with a Mastered in 4K line. Is it a gimmick... Maybe. Will you notice a difference... Very little unless with the right accessories.You see, this movie went through a wider color correction called xvYCC. Which not all TVs or players support, almost all of them don't support it even though it gives a wider range of color. The most common and widely used format has always been standard sRGB, however it discarded a lot of color. Sony TVs and players support this color format, I want to assume the new OLED, and SUHD would as well since these TVs support HDR (High Dynamic Range) which far surpasses xvYCC. But still need the player to support that color, which Sony's Blu Ray player and possibly the PS3 and PS4... Possibly those. I don't know of any other Blu Ray player that does because it's such an unused color format.Without those, you won't get the true picture that the disc wants to give, but it's still the best 1080p picture you can get on any Blu Ray disc.After which it goes though Sony's 4K detailing, then gets downloaded on to a single Blu Ray disc. You'll notice that there isn't any special features, commentary, trailers... Nothing. Because the entire disc space was used to download a more detailed, colorful, high definition movie.Now, is this movie worth buying? Yes and no, if you don't already own the movie and you want to then this is the better option to have. If you already own it, I wouldn't buy this again. While this is the better version of the movie, it's only so much better that you may or may not notice much of a difference.If you're going from DVD to Blu Ray, then yes this would be a better one to get.Now, when I said the technology wasn't available at the time... It's because the Blu Ray association was currently working on a disc formate that could handle 4K, 3D 4K, and HDR. Because there wasn't enough space on the Blu Rays we have now. They finally announced a few months ago that they finished finalizing the format that would support 4K. I don't know if we will see another battle between two disc formats like HD DVD and Blu Ray, but I'm confident they will stick to a single format.Panasonic at the beginning of this year showed us at CES that they had a prototype 4K UHD player, but was only a prototype. However, Samsung introduced their 4K UHD Blu Ray player that will come out in February next year. While they haven't listed a price, they did say it will play DVDs, Blu Rays, 3D movies as well as 4K and have a fantastic upscaling ability because it will also be upscaling with the HDR color coding. The only TVs now that will give you a wider range of HDR color is the flat LG OLED, and Samsungs SUHD TVs. TVs that support HDR, will be Samsungs JU7100-7500, Samungs HU8550 and up (with purchase and upgrade from the evolution kit), and select Sony 4K TVs.With this being known, I suspect a lot of Sony 4K movies being released on that format. So if you have the money, and you are an early adopter to new technology, I would wait a little while longer before you buy any Mastered in 4K movie. If you aren't, and have no intention of buying a new player, then this is as close as you are going to get to a 4K movie on a disc.

Played as it should.

Easy download

My daughter adore Spiderman and she asked for this particular one on DVD. The movie arrived on time. She was very pleased to say the least.

The first 2 movies were a bit more grounded in reality compared to this third entry. This one brings in the even more fantastical elements of SM lore which don't mesh too well with the vibe established in this universe. Raimi still did a good job directing this more Loony Tunes sequel, just remember he rarely takes any of it seriously here. The story is bonkers which IS a disappointment but the action is still cool and ambitious, and Toby Maguire dancing in the bar is so cringey I always laugh "now dig on this." Some of the actors also feel miscast after the excellent casting seen in the previous films. Overall however it has to be said, I still prefer this to the annoying Amazing Spider-Man 2, and even HomeComing.

This 3rd installment in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man franchise follows the same formula of the previous two films yet suffers from some serious problems. I'm not entirely sure why but whilst watching this movie in the cinema and at home I just didn't feel the same as I did when I watched number 1 and 2. I think that too much is happening in this movie, Peter is having his face-off against Harry as well as his alter-ego "new goblin" as well as tackling the sandman and venom. Not to mention having an annoying blonde Gwen ruining Peter's relationship with Mj, who is also being a right pain in the ass to him in this movie by constantly complaining. Oh and also he has to deal with his new black venom suit that's making him out of control AND also he now has a rivalry with Eddie Brock over photos of spider-man. OH AND hes out to get revenge on Flint Marco for being the true killer of his uncle Ben. There is just too much going on here! 3 enemies is simply too much! There's hardly any time for venom at all as he enters and leaves the movie swiftly. I don't know, this film just tries to do too much and as a result ending up causing the cancelation of Spider-Man 4. It's an ok film but it's not the multi-award winner that the first two were.

Spider-Man is my all time favourite superhero! After seeing the first trilogy with Tobey Maguire, it made me a bigger fan of both Spider-Man and superheroes alike! I had the first and second one, but didn't have the third, so I decided to get it to complete the trilogy! Tobey Maguire is the Spider-Man I grew up and I remember seeing the first film in cinema as a kid! Spider-Man will always be my all time favourite superhero!

This has my 4th copy I've had, and needles to say, disappointing, at 1:59:00 the audio will cut out completely for the ending of the movie on the 4k disc. I have not check standard disc as the reason primarily to buy the 4k disc is for the 4k upgrade.

Perfect condition. BRILLIANT MOVIE, honestly I bought it because I lost my old Spider-Man DVD’s and it was FANTASTIC the nostalgia in its self was fun but not as fun as watching Spider-Man 3. It was so interesting and I could write a literal essay right now but I do t want to spoil anything😂