Review Detail

QUALITY

Quality is decent overall, but some odd scenes look to be more heavily compressed with some noticeable artifacts. I know that trailers are used as additional sources, so maybe that has something to do with it? One example is 24:40 when sandman is "collecting" himself.

55-ish - During the montage, some of the audio seems quite brittle/artifacty


VISUAL

I thought that the opening credits being black instead of blue was a nice touch and much more fitting.

There were a couple of visual cuts that felt rushed:

- 7:37
- 36:54

When Peter is being taken over by the symbiote there is a visual montage. I assumed this was new, because it feels a bit random and I'm not sure what it's meant to be conveying (also references to Uncle Ben's killer, showing the face of someone who isn't sandman), but I can't see it on the cutlist... so I'll assume it's from the original. Either way, I don't think emphasising Uncle Ben's killer is relevant since that thematic is no longer explored in this edit (though I guess that's more of a narrative comment).


AUDIO

Venom's voice sounded odd to me, which I assumed was in the original, but scanning through the cutlist I see that it was pitch-shifted and modulated. Comparing with the original, the original is preferable. Some kind of modulation is a good idea, but I don't think the execution works here.

Misc audio things:

- 53:25 - the score clashes noticeably during a crossfade
- 1:01:21 - both visual and audio are abrupt here

Unfortunately, I'm scoring lower than I'd like because of an error where the audio completely drops out at 8:19. It only happens for a couple of lines, but it is there and it shouldn't be.


NARRATIVE

I haven't seen this film for over 10 years... so I came in pretty fresh and with only a vague memory. My impression after this viewing is that it is a choppy mess. I believe Bobson has improved some things, even if I can't accurately judge to what degree. I certainly cringed less... there are still some moments I'd rather be gone, but overall I found it considerably more watchable and not half as bad as I remember.

Unfortunately, one of the biggest narrative changes of the edit just doesn't hold together, and that is sandman no longer being uncle ben's killer. While it is a decision that makes perfect sense (a pretty jarring retcon), things still allude to the fact. At a push, spiderman's initial seeking out of sandman to pick a fight works based on the symbiote suit, but it's still a little random. Also, at the end of the film, they both have a conversation where it's very clear that the context is uncle ben's death. They talk of forgiveness, how he needed the money etc... in this version, if anything, it is sandman that should be forgiving peter, not the other way around. I don't think the scene works here at all.

But to expand on that further, if sandman is no longer Ben's killer, why is he in this film? Everything to do with sandman feels like an unrelated subplot that distracts from the main storyline. I'm surprised no one has tried to excise him entirely in a fanedit yet.

One other thing is at 28:39 when I think originally Mary Jane and Peter exchange words and then he leaves... now they say nothing at all, and he leaves abruptly, which just comes across as callous and out of character at that point. The editing itself is fine, but it felt like such an odd character moment that I thought it was very unlikely it would be in the original.


ENJOYMENT

The cut-list shows that a lot has been done here, and not being overly familiar with the theatrical I find it hard to judge thoroughly, but Spider-man 3 still comes across like a mess to me and some narrative problems are introduced. However, I did enjoy this iteration and found it to be less cringy than I remember, which is nice (and certainly it is a blessing to be without the strut scene). Some effects have not aged well (that initial fight with the goblin) and on a subjective level, I would have liked to have seen some of that trimmed.