Spider-Man 3, When your inner darkness haunts you.

I'm gonna be honest with you guys, I was gonna rip this movie a new one, you know with all the dirty laundry being aired out in the years since this has been out, it is a pretty open secret that this movie faced massive studio interference, with Venom almost exclusively being a demand of the Studio, when in reality Ol' Sammy boi just wanted Sandman as the villain, with perhaps a touch of New Goblin.

The entire point of this movie was going to be Spidey's past catching up with him.

But I guess the execs really must have liked Superman 3 because they decided that this was the time for Spidey to turn all evil and shit.

I mean guys, it didn't work our there either, take the hint!

But upon this incomplete rewatch(incomplete cause some work came up lol.) it actually started to become pretty clear that even though the obvious seams were visible, there maybe was some merit to be granted to the Studios.

I mean if nothing else we are now graced with the glorious presence of Bully Maguire.

But memes aside, when your past comes to haunt you and especially haunt you in the way it does for Peter, you often uncover a lot of repressed anger, anger that was always there but you buried it deep down, intentionally or otherwise, and in such times when you are emotional, it is prime time for bad actors to latch on to you and take advantage...

And that is precisely what happens in the scene where the Symbiote latches on to peter.

He has just learnt that his Uncle's Killer was potentially still at large, that he chased down the wrong guy, and carried all of that Guilt for nothing, because if you remember the guy that Peter thought killed Ben was the same one he let go when he was robbing someone else, for the sake of Revenge...

And to add to all of that he was going to propose to his Girlfriend and that went swimmingly...

And it is at this moment, when I should be talking about how massively Peter fucked up at being a good boyfriend, is when I choose to deviate from this whole topic and choose to mention a random theory on the internet, that while Sam Raimi has always been known to cast Bruce Campbell in Cameo roles in his movies, it might be the case this time around that all three cameos across the three movies are actually the same person, leading on to the cancelled fourth installment in this series that was going to reveal(according to some concept art) That ol'Brucy boy is indeed none other than Mysterio.

Yes, the fish bowl guy.

No not that one!

Fuck you Sony.

Thank god Marvel stepped in in time to make him more comic accurate lols.

But yes, we all are very familiar with ol' Fish Bowl head by now, thanks to the absolutely wonderful portrayal by Quinten Bec... I mean, Jake Gyllenhaal and then his subsequent appearance in Marvel's Spider-Man 2.

So how, and Why does Bruce Campbell decide to put on a Fish Bowl on his head?

Well for one, based on all the characters he has appeared as, it does appear that my man Campy has some acting experience, and his roles always have this bombast to them and he can blend in pretty much like a chameleon.

And the main theory is, he is roaming around through out Peter's life making it miserable... for some reason...

I mean the thing is, in this version Mysterio knows who Spider-Man is, he knows it is Peter.

But regardless of all of that, Peter is in a dark place when the Symbiote latches on to him.

Opportunistic bad actors latch onto you precisely when you are at your most vulnerable, and the worst part is that it feels good to give in to the darkness...

It makes you feel powerful, and good.

And it feels like it is solving all your problems...

And maybe it is, initially, at least that's what it feels like...

I bet that is what Peter thought when he "killed" Sandman.

But unfortunately none of these are solutions, these actions do one of two things, and sometimes both...

They either turn you into the very thing that made you have all the trauma in the first place or, they make you more enemies that otherwise might not have hated you as much if you weren't just a jack ass pissing people off willy nilly.

Oh no wait then we wouldn't get Bully Maguire, I take back everything I just said :3.

But then if the Black suit fits so well in with everything else then why does everyone hate it's inclusion in the movie?

Well there are a couple of reasons, firstly, it wasn't the director's original vision and no matter how well it gels conceptually, the cracks do begin to show in the movie itself.

For One, I don't think the suit itself is a problem, they could have ended it with Peter using the suit to defeat Sandman in some grand way, giving rise to a much Darker Spider-Man who is now separated from MJ and Harry, and suddenly the New Goblin becomes the hero while the old Hero starts his journey towards Villainy.

But they tried to Rush it all in one movie...

Secondly, Venom.

You see the back Suit isn't just a suit(obviously) it is what one would call a Symbiote, as in it bonds to a host to survive in an ideally mutually beneficial way to a host.

And that is how it goes for Spider-Man at first, enhanced speed, agility and reflexes along with strength, but the thing is, at full symbiosis, it also affects a person's thoughts, making them potentially more violent and aggressive.

That and it's black color together make it represent one's inner darkness/demons.

But also, in the comics, the suit itself has a personality, it calls itself, Venom.

Or sometimes the bonded Eddie brock and Symbiote is Venom, it... gets a little confusing sometimes...

But the point is, the suit isn't this mysterious dark influence that creeps on to you and makes you all evil, it's its own character...

And Sony Forgot about that...

I guess that information isn't that surprising now that the Venom films are out huh.

But regardless, a downgrade is a downgrade, speaking of Downgrades, let's talk about New Goblin.

For one, this guy takes the same performance enhancers that the original Goblin took, and yet doesn't face the same insanity...

The last movie ended with this stinger teasing him as the newest villain that Spidey had to face and yet he got knocked out in the first like twenty minutes and while yes, he comes to ruin his life later, the problem is, with so many things going on, the story line just does not get enough time to be fleshed properly...

And ultimately that is the problem, too many story lines, too much to be set up and paid off in the same movie, but the strangest part is, it somehow plays well with the story?

It's kind of like Order of the Phoenix, the fifth book in the Harry Potter series is often hated by many because of how bulky and depressing it is, but the thing is, it kind of had to be?

Like that was appropriate for that phase of Harry's life?

And here we are with Spider-Man 3, with Peter growing overconfident and full of himself to the point he can't tell that his girlfriend will get uncomfortable when he kisses another girl the same way he did her in front of her, and then is aloof enough to think of proposing to her...

And not only that, he doesn't get that with her own career potentially failing badly, all the fame and attention that he is getting might affect her negatively... he just goes on without listening to her...

And then when his uncle's true killer is revealed to be alive and kicking, he turns her help down and tries to take matters into his own hands by "killing" the chap.

Sure Mary Jane once again tried to go back to Harry showing once again that... she needs some therapy...

Actually everyone in this movie needs therapy, these movies definitely have an asshole problem.

Anyone not named may is a straight up asshole.

But that's okay, you see, true relationships do not start with perfect people, they start with two imperfect people who refuse to give up on one another.

And there are times, as tragic as it is, when friends do not realize the value of each other until it is too late, until one of them is irrevocably gone from the other's life...

And the only thing one can do, is honor the memory of the friendship the best we can...

The worst tragedy of all however, is when someone hurts you, but they didn't even mean to do it...

And in those times, nothing but forgiveness can forge a way forwards.

Because at the end of the day, you've done terrible things too.

And so that was Spider-Man 3, a movie I disliked immensely as a kid but acted like I liked because I wanted to be with the cool kids, and now as a grown up rewatching it with a questionable career, have a new found appreciation for.