Spider-Man 3.1: The Hybrid Cut

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.

Good job Bobson Dugnutt!
The theatrical version felt rushed to me, trying to mix too many villains in one single movie.
This "hybrid cut" fixes it for me. It is incredible how these extra 6 minutes (with some skilled editing) can improve so much the result. I enjoyed this version as much as the two first movies of the saga.

Mr Dugnutt does it again, taking a deeply flawed film and giving it the necessary adjustments to make it . The editing, as always when it comes to his fanedits, is seamless and really enhances the best moments of this film while making the cringe-worthy ones disappear or be much more tolerable (the latter are the ones that can't be excised due to narrative coherence requirements).
This edit must have been a complicated challenge, since the movie is really problematic in many places (specially compared with its two predecesors) but Mr Dugnutt really manages to make it a definitely enjoyable watch.
Give it a try, you won't regret it.

I want to make this clear upfront. This review is NOT a reflection on Bobson's work or skill. The goal with this edit wasn't necessarily to create a good movie, so much as it was to create the longest possible cut of Spider-Man 3 without any scenes removed; akin to restoring a workprint, if you will, rather than fine-tuning or perfecting that workprint. In solely reviewing it from that standpoint, Bobson's restoration is technically flawless (and if they're reading this, well done).

Now a review of the film itself. In short, it's still terrible. If I'm being honest, increasing the runtime actually creates a new problem; in that not only do I not care what's going on, because of how unlikeable and/or underdeveloped some of the characters are, the pacing is now so slow I kept checking my watch to see when it would end. If you're interest in this edit is that the restored material potentially fixes or improves the film, manage your expectations.

I'll re-iterate, this edit constitutes a technical experiment in restoring an original film's workprint. While Bobson succeeds in doing that with flying colors, alas it does not constitute a good film.