Spider-Man 3.1: The Hybrid Cut

Outstanding work! I always resented Spider-Man 3 for ending the saga on a frustrating note. The film was a bloated mess and tonally inconsistent.

Bobson Dugnutt does the impossible with his restructure and makes the film not only less frustrating, but enjoyable. I still have some issues with how packed the film is, but the emotional journeys of the characters learning to forgive now make for a satisfying and earnest end to the trilogy.

This edit develops Flint/Sandman into a stronger character. In particular, the sandcastle scene with him works so well here. It seems to highlight a key point of the film and those of all the characters -- being a superhero is like being a king at times, but that exhilaration often is short-lived much like the sandcastle vanishing so suddenly. People like Peter must learn to relish but not take for granted their abilities.

My biggest complaint with Spider-Man 3 and this edit rests with Eddie/Venom. He is the only character who does not align with the forgiveness/redemption overarching theme and he seems like an afterthought. When the film pauses to give him a chance to admit to his addiction to power and let go of that pursuit, he just quips that he likes being bad. This part rings false and dulls the impact of the rest of the action finale. I wonder if there is a way to omit that line, so it is less about him being evil and more about him being a lost cause/too far gone as Peter's line could be met by Venom just swallowing Eddie's face (a reminder that Peter was lucky to escape the creature's influence before it consumed him).

The audio and video work in this edit is superb. I watched with a 2.6gb copy and wonder if there is a version with a higher bitrate. If not, that would be my only request for a future update. Also fingers crossed for a 4K release of the trilogy!

I will continue to check out Bobson's edits, as this was impressive.

A noticeable improvement over the Editor's Cut, but still needs trimming and reordering.
I did not like the Theatrical Cut. Really, really didn't. Only after hearing good things about the Editor's cut two years ago did I give the movie a second chance, and it was much, much better. The addition of the deleted scenes and the reordering of several scenes made the movie much more comprehensible, and Peter's addiction made a lot more sense. However, there were a few scenes missing from it that I remembered vaguely from the TC. And this is where Bobson's Hybrid Cut comes along.
The HC does what it aims to do well - allowing the audience to see the full story by creating the longest possible version of Spider-Man 3. Bobson's editing, as usual, is technically superb. However, the edit doesn't fix the film's major narrative flaws, which is why I deducted a few points. For example, three unrelated villains are introduced in the first 20 minutes by seemingly randomly cutting between them (especially between 8:10 and 17:07). I think the narrative can be much stronger by further reordering several scenes throughout the movie, and hopefully trimming others (e.g., emo Parker).

This worked really well. I liked the original, but I loved this one. The small changes, the extra bits -- these all add up to a much more satisfying film, closer in quality and feel to the first two Raimi pictures. Great job. Definitely my preferred version.

I knew there was a good movie in this one somewhere, thanks to the editor for putting all the work and effort into it.

I'm legitimately shocked. After watching this, I think I have a much bigger appreciation for Spider-Man 3 now than I ever did before, and anyone who knows me personally and on social media knows that I have a rather intense dislike towards that film. There are still quite a few things that bug me, but its themes of learning the value of forgiveness, that the world isn't always black and white, and how caving into toxic masculinity and ego can change you into something ugly, but at the end of the day, you evolve and learn to grow from it and learn from all those mistakes and terrible things, really shined through this time around. There's some really clever editing here too. For example, the James Brown strut montage now comes after Peter tries killing Harry with the pumpkin grenade, which makes a lot more sense and really shows you how progressively awful the symbiote's influence is on Peter. I used to complain about the dance scenes, but what I failed to realize is that this is Peter caving into toxic masculinity as a result of his inflated ego thanks to New York praising him everywhere he goes as Spider-Man. I also never took into account that the symbiote wouldn't now real humans would interact in those situations, since it is alien in origin and nature after all. I also took more notice of how it's like a drug to Peter. No matter how many times he puts it away, he can't get enough of that power and craves more of it. Same with Eddie Brock. While I would've preferred if they just created an original character perhaps partly inspired by Brock, I did enjoy his characterization here this time around. Mary Jane was much more likable and justified in her emotions and actions here than I first thought. Gwen Stacy not being the science genius she was in the comics also bothered me much less here, surprisingly. There's also a scene I really loved in this cut that wasn't in the theatrical version, where Flint Marko's daughter Penny is at a park and he turns into a giant sand castle for her without her knowing he's even there, just wanting to feel her embrace him again. I really liked this edit.