"SPIDER-MAN 3" (2007) (Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst) (PG-13) Alcohol/ Drugs Blood/Gore Disrespectful/ Bad Attitude Frightening/ Tense Scenes Guns/ Weapons Mild Mild Heavy *Moderate Heavy Imitative Behavior Jump Scenes Music (Scary/Tense) Music (Inappropriate) Profanity Moderate Mild Heavy None Minor Sex/ Nudity Smoking Tense Family Scenes Topics To Talk About Violence Mild Minor Moderate Moderate Extreme QUICK TAKE: Action/Adventure: Infected by a symbiotic alien force that magnifies his egotistical and vindictive sides, a superhero must contend with that, various personal issues, and a set of new villains who he must battle. PLOT: Four years after being bitten by a radioactive spider that left him with superhuman powers, Peter Parker (TOBEY MAGUIRE) feels quite comfortable in his own skin, as well as that of his crime-fighting alter-ego, Spider-Man. He's still haunted by his uncle's murder several years ago that left his Aunt May (ROSEMARY HARRIS) a widow, and feels bad that his former best friend, Harry Osborn (JAMES FRANCO), incorrectly believes he killed his father and thus wants revenge as the villainous New Goblin. Nevertheless, Peter is now ready to pop the question to Mary Jane Watson (KIRSTEN DUNST), his former next-door neighbor turned Broadway actress. Yet, she isn't so sure, particularly after Peter -- as Spider-Man -- gives college classmate Gwen Stacy (BRYCE DALLAS HOWARD) an upside down kiss after saving her, an act caught on camera by Eddie Brock (TOPHER GRACE), a young photographer gunning for Peter's job under editor J. Jonah Jameson (J.K. SIMMONS) at the Daily Bugle. Then there's the introduction of Flint Marko (THOMAS HADEN CHURCH), an escaped convict who may or may not have been the real perp who gunned down Peter's uncle years ago, but has now turned -- thanks to inadvertently falling into a scientific experiment -- into Sandman, a powerful villain comprised of that sedimentary material. Things become even more complicated when an extraterrestrial symbiote lands on earth and infects Peter's Spidey suit. Now black in color, it enhances his negative characteristics, thus putting the superhero at odds with his usual mission of doing good. With that also infecting Eddie and turning him into the powerful villain Venom, Peter not only ends up facing three villains at once, but also his own self-destructive behavior that threatens to ruin everything he holds dear. WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT? Most likely yes, especially if they're fans of the first two films. WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: PG-13 For sequences of intense action violence. CAST AS ROLE MODELS: TOBEY MAGUIRE plays a college student who takes photos for the local newspaper and secretly is really the superhero Spider-Man. He unwisely falls prey to his own hype as that alter-ego, a point only exacerbated after his suit is infected by the symbiotic extraterrestrial that enhances his negative characteristics, including vindictiveness. As he battles that, he must do the same with various new villains, all while hoping to propose to Mary Jane. KIRSTEN DUNST plays his former next-door neighbor turned girlfriend turned Broadway actress who must not only contend with being fired from her musical, but also her doubts about Peter and his behavior. JAMES FRANCO plays Peter's former best friend who believes he killed his father and thus wants to undermine and/or kill him. After a head injury briefly removes that quest, he returns to it with a passion, although he eventually sees the light. He drinks some. THOMAS HADEN CHURCH plays a convict who's escaped from prison to try to get money to help his dying daughter. After inadvertently being subjected to a science experiment, he finds himself the super villain Sandman who can take solid form, but also the qualities of sand. TOPHER GRACE plays Peter's new photographer rival at work who becomes the super villain Venom after the space symbiote infects him. He then tries to kill Spider-Man. BRYCE DALLAS HOWARD plays the police chief's daughter who Spider-Man saves and briefly kisses. J.K. SIMMONS plays the curt but funny newspaper editor who wants more photos of Spider-Man. He smokes a few cigars. ROSEMARY HARRIS plays Peter's widowed aunt who continues to give him advice about how to live his life. CAST, CREW, & TECHNICAL INFO HOW OTHERS RATED THIS MOVIE Curious if this title is entertaining, any good, and/or has any artistic merit? Then read OUR TAKE of this film. (Note: The "Our Take" review of this title examines the film's artistic merits and does not take into account any of the possibly objectionable material listed below). OUR WORD TO PARENTS: The following is a brief summary of the content found in this action flick that's been rated PG-13. Profanity consists of a few minor expletives, while some colorful phrases and minor innuendo are also uttered. Some cleavage, kissing and shirtless men are also present. Violence consists of various bouts of brutal, comic book style fighting where various characters are struck in various ways, while lots of property damage is also present. One character dies from wounds received during one such battle, while a person is stabbed and a flashback shows a person being shot. Despite the severity of the violence, there isn't a great deal of blood, but those scenes, various moments of peril (many occurring at great heights), and some monstrous creatures might be unsettling or suspenseful to more sensitive viewers. Some of that behavior may be enticing for some kids to imitate, while various characters have varying degrees of bad attitudes. Some drinking and smoking occur, and some tense family material (mostly involving flashbacks to an uncle's murder) is also present. If you're still concerned about the film and its appropriateness for yourself or anyone else in your home who may be interested in seeing it, we suggest that you take a closer look at our detailed listings for more specific information regarding the film's content. For those concerned with bright flashes of light on the screen, there's some of that from lightning in the film. Those prone to vertigo might not like scenes set in midair where the camera features swooping and flying scenes, or those showing the heights in which they're occurring, or scenes where people dangle and/or fall from those heights. There are also spin-around camera shots, as well as handheld footage. ALCOHOL OR DRUG USE Miscellaneous people have drinks in a fancy restaurant where Peter arranges for the maitre d' to have champagne brought out to him and Mary Jane so that he can propose to her with it (but the latter doesn't happen). Harry drinks straight from a decanter. Harry has a martini. Eddie and others celebrate with champagne. People have drinks in a jazz club where Peter grabs and briefly drinks from one glass in passing during a dance number. Miscellaneous people have drinks in a club. BLOOD/GORE Harry and Peter battle, with Peter punching Harry who manages to stab Peter in the gut with a knife (we don't see the impact, but do see blood on the tip of the blade when it's pulled out). Harry has some blood on his face and shirt while battling Peter. We see that half of Harry's face is badly scarred from an earlier explosion. DISRESPECTFUL/BAD ATTITUDE All of the film's various villains obviously have bad attitudes, especially regarding their desire to kill Spider-Man. A kid in Peter's class shoots a spitball at him, while another uses a mirror to reflect light into Peter's eyes. There's talk that Flint -- now an escaped con -- murdered a man, and Peter later imagines just that regarding his uncle (from the first film), but Flint later complains it was his partner who shot the uncle. Spider-Man allows Gwen to kiss him while he hangs upside down facing her (she lifts his mask and plants a big kiss on him). He does this despite knowing Mary Jane is there watching, and mainly because he's succumbing to his own hype and is now full of himself (in a gleeful way). Peter continues to succumb to his own hype, and that's exacerbated when the alien symbiote takes control of him and turns him into an even more powerful jerk. Peter snaps at his landlord about paying his rent "when you fix this damn door!" Forced by Harry to do so behind the scenes, Mary Jane breaks up with Peter, saying she's seeing someone else. Later, when Peter visits with Harry, the latter tells Peter that he (Harry) is the other guy (all to make Peter feel bad, as a revenge tactic). Wanting to get back at him, Peter either finds or makes up evidence showing that Eddie stole an old photo of Spider-Man and recreated it to make it look new (causing Eddie to be fired). To try to make Mary Jane jealous, Peter interrupts her number in a jazz club, does an impromptu dance, and then grabs Gwen for a dance, pulling her leg up alongside his body. While in a church, Eddie asks God to kill Peter. FRIGHTENING SCENES Scenes listed under "Violence" may also be unsettling or suspenseful to younger viewers and/or those with low tolerance levels for such material. In scenes from the first two films shown during the opening credits, we see a close-up of a spider biting into Peter's skin. A meteorite crashes to the ground and some black, sticky substance (like a moving web) scampers across the ground and hops on the back of Peter's motorbike as he takes off with Mary Jane (both are oblivious to it). Flint runs from the police and must fend off a police dog that's cornered him at a fence (he punches the dog away). He then gets on the other side of the fence and ends up falling into a large pit being used in an experiment. He's soon surrounded by large panels that rotate around him at ever-increasing speeds (one hits him as he tries to get out). As the experiment continues, sand is forced into his DNA and we then see him dissolve away (painfully) into blowing sand. A crane atop a high-rise under construction goes out of control, and starts spinning around high above the city. A girder on the end of it crashes through an upper floor in another building, sending those inside scurrying for cover, just like the people down on the street below it where wreckage falls all around them. The crane itself then crashes through the same building, this time a few floors below the first impact, resulting in the floors between them to collapse and angle outward. Gwen ends up sliding down the angled floor toward the edge. She ends up dangling from it, and office furniture and other debris falls around and into her, but she then falls when the crane swings around and strikes the building again. She falls a long way, but Spider-Man catches and saves her. We see the POV of the black, extraterrestrial ooze as it makes its way through Peter's apartment and then onto his suit. Peter tries but initially can't take off his infected suit (with its black strands of webbing resisting his efforts to tear it or them apart). Some of the black, extraterrestrial goo falls down onto Eddie, thus infecting him. He quickly becomes encased in a black, Spidey type suit, but this time with prominently displayed large and sharp teeth, making him appear monstrous. Venom suddenly grabs Mary Jane by the face and the next thing we see is her stuck in a cab suspended by webbing 80 stories in the air. At various points in the sequence, the webbing starts to break, meaning the cab starts to slip a bit and then fall some distance before being caught in another part of the webbing beneath it. During this, various cinder blocks or related material fall and nearly hit Mary Jane, and the car door comes off, leaving Mary Jane in an even more precarious situation. A large truck above her then falls in her direction, prompting her to jump from the cab and thus freefall until she lands in more webbing. The cab above her then breaks lose and nearly hits her, resulting in her freefalling again, with Spider-Man catching her just in the nick of time. A major character dies of wounds suffered in a battle (this might be upsetting to some younger viewers). GUNS/WEAPONS Handguns/Explosives/Knife/Blades on arm sleeves: Carried and/or used to threaten, wound, or kill others and/or cause property damage. See "Violence" for details. Police carry handguns and automatic weapons while responding to a crisis. IMITATIVE BEHAVIOR Phrases: "You're such a nerd," "Shut up," "Where do all these guys come from?" "See ya chump," "What the hell?" "When you fix this damn door," "Now I'm going to kick your little ass," "I'm gonna put some dirt in your eye," "You're such a boy scout," "You want forgiveness? Get religion," "That's not the position I hired you for," "You're looking fine, babe," "This is so cool," "Thanks, hot legs," "Awesome," "Wicked cool" and What the..?" All of the film's stunts, fighting and other such action might be enticing for some kids to try to imitate. A kid in Peter's class shoots a spitball at him, while another uses a mirror to reflect light into Peter's eyes. A young woman wears a midriff-revealing top. Thinking and feeling like he's a "bad boy" but still acting nerdy, Peter struts and partially dances down the street, doing some clothed pelvic thrusting along the way (to no one in particular). To try to make Mary Jane jealous, Peter interrupts her number in a jazz club, does an impromptu dance, and then grabs Gwen for a dance, pulling her leg up alongside his body. JUMP SCENES Harry suddenly grabs Mary Jane by the throat and pushes her back against a wall. Venom suddenly grabs Mary Jane by the face. Venom suddenly grabs Spider-Man. MUSIC (SCARY/TENSE) A heavy amount of suspenseful, dramatic, and action-oriented music occurs in the film. MUSIC (INAPPROPRIATE) None. PROFANITY At least 1 ass, 1 damn, 1 hell, 2 uses of "Oh my God" and 1 use of "My God." SEX/NUDITY In scenes from the first two films shown during the opening credits, we see Peter shirtless. Mary Jane wears a backless dress during her musical number onstage. We see Harry in just his boxers as he comes out of a treatment chamber. Peter and Mary Jane do some passionate kissing while lying clothed on a huge web at night. We see Harry shirtless while a defibrillator is used on him. A model shows some cleavage. Spider-Man allows Gwen to kiss him while he hangs upside down facing her (she lifts his mask and plants a big kiss on him). We see Peter shirtless. Mary Jane and Harry briefly but passionately kiss, with both then apologizing for doing so. Seeing his female assistant up close and personal with Peter in the office (both are clothed and are just flirting), Jameson yells out that's not the position he hired her for. Thinking and feeling like he's a "bad boy" but still acting nerdy, Peter struts and partially dances down the street, doing some clothed pelvic thrusting along the way (to no one in particular). To try to make Mary Jane jealous, Peter interrupts her number in a jazz club, does an impromptu dance, and then grabs Gwen for a dance, pulling her leg up alongside his body (while her dress shows some cleavage). About Mary Jane, Venom tells Spider-Man that his spider sense is tingling, adding, "If you know what I'm talking about." SMOKING In scenes from the first two films shown during the opening credits, we see Jameson with a cigar. He later smokes one during the film. TENSE FAMILY SCENES There's talk that Flint -- now an escaped con -- murdered a man, and Peter later imagines just that regarding his uncle (from the first film), but Flint later complains it was his partner who shot the uncle. Flint worries about his sick daughter's health (to the point that he breaks out of prison to try to steal enough money to help her). Flint's daughter hears him and her mom arguing, with the mom not happy that Flint is there (since he's an escaped convict). Aunt May gets a bit teary while commenting that it would have been her 50th wedding anniversary had her husband not been murdered a few years ago. Regarding bad reviews critiquing her performance, Mary Jane says she looks at the words and it's as if her father wrote them. Peter receives news that Flint was really the man who killed Peter's uncle. Peter then imagines a flashback of Flint tapping a gun to his uncle's car window, throwing him to the ground, and then shooting him (we don't see the impact). We then see a flashback to Spider-Man pushing the other man he believed was the killer out a window to his death (it turns out the men were partners). Peter has a nightmare featuring imagined and real flashbacks to his uncle's murder. Harry gets his memory back, including that of holding his dying father (and then hears his father "talking" to him). TOPICS TO TALK ABOUT How ego can get in one's way. The comment that a man has to be ready to put his wife before himself. Eddie kisses up to Jameson to try to get a staff job at the paper. A symbiote. Aunt May's comment that revenge is like a poison that can take over a person and turn them into something ugly. Flint worries about his sick daughter's health (to the point that he breaks out of prison to try to steal enough money to help her). The comment that choices make us who we are and that we can always choose what's right. VIOLENCE In scenes from the first two films shown during the opening credits, we see a close-up of a spider biting into Peter's skin. In scenes from the first two films shown during the opening credits, we see the robber who shot Peter's uncle with a gun, and then the uncle on the street, dying from his wound. As Peter swings through the city, the New Goblin suddenly attacks him in midair. The New Goblin initially has the upper hand, nearly getting Peter with the sharp blades on his arms, and he knocks Peter back into a building's exterior wall. Peter then avoids another hard punch, but the New Goblin then pulls a huge wall piece down with Peter below it. Peter gets out from that as it falls, and during the midair fight there's all sorts of hard-hitting contact, including Peter firing blobs of web at the New Goblin who fires various flying explosives at Peter. He also smashes Peter into a wall and then through part of a building, with the fight then turning into a chase through an alley. More explosives are sent Peter's way, with Peter sending a few back (with one landing in the New Goblin who must pull it out from his super-villain suit and/or skin (no blood)). One such thing explodes near the New Goblin, with him then being clotheslined by a string of web across the alley. He crashes into the sides of the buildings and other objects before landing hard on the street below. Peter thinks he's dead and then performs CPR on him. Flint runs from the police and must fend off a police dog that's cornered him at a fence (he punches the dog away). He then gets on the other side of the fence and ends up falling into a large pit being used in an experiment. He's soon surrounded by large panels that rotate around him at ever-increasing speeds (one hits him as he tries to get out). As the experiment continues, sand is forced into his DNA and we then see him dissolve away (painfully) into blowing sand. A crane atop a high-rise under construction goes out of control, and starts spinning around high above the city. A girder on the end of it crashes through an upper floor in another building, sending those inside scurrying for cover, just like the people down on the street below it where wreckage falls all around them. The crane itself then crashes through the same building, this time a few floors below the first impact, resulting in the floors between them to collapse and angle outward. Gwen ends up sliding down the angled floor toward the edge. She ends up dangling from it, and office furniture and other debris falls around and into her, but she then falls when the crane swings around and strikes the building again. She falls a long way, but Spider-Man catches and saves her. Cops chase Sandman with their guns drawn, but he disappears by turning into sand. He then blasts one cop back against a windshield and then turns into something of a small sand giant, with the cops firing into him (causing holes and seemingly causing Sandman some pain, but no permanent injury). He then knocks those cops aside, along with a police car. A sandstorm flies through the city and ends up crashing down through the roof of an armored truck. That causes it to crash into other vehicles, and Spider-Man then swings in to battle Sandman. He avoids various punches, but his punch to Sandman's gut simply goes through him. Sandman then knocks Spider-Man from the truck and the two continue to battle, with Spider-Man's web packets blasting holes through Sandman who otherwise knocks Spider-Man around. Spider-Man then manages to yank out the drivers just as the vehicle crashes. Peter receives news that Flint was really the man who killed Peter's uncle. Peter then imagines a flashback of Flint tapping a gun to his uncle's car window, throwing him to the ground, and then shooting him (we don't see the impact). We then see a flashback to Spider-Man pushing the other man he believed was the killer out a window to his death (it turns out the men were partners). Peter has a nightmare featuring imagined and real flashbacks to his uncle's murder. Sandman punches into a wall while missing his intended target, Spider-Man. Spider-Man then kicks Sandman back and he lands hard, while Spider-Man must avoid commuter trains that zip by. Spider-Man then holds Sandman's head to one such train, causing his sandy head to crumble from the impact (but he's otherwise okay since he's made of sand that can come back together). The two then continue battling with brutal punching and kicking until Spider-Man purposefully spills a great deal of water onto Sandman that turns him into mud and washes him away in a torrent of water. Harry suddenly grabs Mary Jane by the throat and pushes her back against a wall. Harry and Peter battle, with Peter punching Harry who manages to stab Peter in the gut with a knife (we don't see the impact, but do see blood on the tip of the blade when it's pulled out). The two then continue to battle, with property damage occurring around them, and as Peter avoids the blades on Harry's arms. Spider-Man then punches Harry quite hard back against a wall. Harry sends a flying bomb out toward Peter, but the latter uses his web to grab it in midair and then sling it back towards Harry where it explodes (we don't see the impact, but later see him with half his face badly scarred). Peter pushes Eddie back against a wall hard enough that the glass in a framed poster behind them breaks. Peter is asked to leave a dance club, and a bouncer grabs him by the arm. Peter then drives that man back against a wall and knocks others aside as they try to intervene, including Mary Jane who is knocked to the floor. Sandman smashes into Eddie as Venom, thinking he's Spider-Man. Venom suddenly grabs Mary Jane by the face. An increasingly monstrous (in size) Sandman knocks various cars aside. Venom blasts Spider-Man back through a cab's windshield hard enough to tear off its top section. Venom knocks Spider-Man aside and is about to pummel him when Mary Jane drops a cinder block onto his head from above. The two then continue their fight with various brutal blows and such, with Spider-Man landing quite hard. A giant-sized Sandman then tries to smash and step on Spider-Man, with Venom being successful at striking him. He then gets a web around Spider-Man and a girder, trapping him there as Sandman repeatedly smashes him with his monstrous fist, each blow further weakening the superhero. Harry then sends a small bomb into Sandman's head, causing part of it to explode, and flames him with his flying "surfboard," while he also knocks Venom aside. Harry and Spider-Man join forces to battle Venom and Sandman, and both parties deliver brutal blows to the other and cause property damage in the city. During this, Sandman punches Spider-Man quite hard, with Harry firing various bombs into Sandman, causing various explosions in his massive sandy body that then falls apart. Venom suddenly grabs Spider-Man and then repeatedly pummels him with a large metal rod of some sort, eventually holding the sharp end on him. Harry then lands hard and takes the impact from Venom (we see two rods sticking out from Harry's chest). Spider-Man then hits Venom with the rod, and manages to pull Eddie from the monstrous black substance, but the latter goes back in just as an explosive is used to blow up the extraterrestrial monster (his fate is unknown). We see a flashback to Peter's uncle accidentally being shot. Reviewed April 26, 2007 / Posted May 4, 2007

Privacy Statement and Terms of Use and Disclaimer
By entering this site you acknowledge to having read and agreed to the above conditions.

All Rights Reserved,
©1996-2012 Screen It, Inc.