Customer Reviews

Spider-Man 3: A Novelizatoin

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4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've been a Spidey fan since I was old enough to understand comic books (here's a hint: I'm over the age of 40), and my fondest day as a Spider-Fan was to see the original SPIDER-MAN movie released in 2002. SM2, two years later, was the first sequel I'd ever seen that was better than the original, and I really thought the original would be difficult to top.

Now, I'm pretty sure that SM2 is going to be topped, if this novelization is any indication.

I am usually skeptical about the accuracy of novelizations: They're normally written while the movie is still in production, from a script that is probably not in its final stages, and thus a lot of things described in the book may never materialize on screen. This was especially problematic in Peter David's novelization of SPIDER-MAN, and slightly less problematic in the novelization of SM2. That said, take this to the bank: If SPIDER-MAN 3 the movie is HALF as exciting as SPIDER-MAN 3 the novelization, SPIDER-MAN 3 the movie is going to rock hard, because SPIDER-MAN 3 the novelization is very well done.

I read the novelization in about 3 hours the day I got it, but later went back and reread certain parts. I'm very glad I did that, because Peter David has a way of detailing certain scenes (such as characters interacting with Harry Osborn when Harry is hallucinating seeing his dead father) that end up being two segments dealing with the exact same scene (for example, one scene has Peter trying to get Harry to talk to him as Harry is sitting in his limo, but Harry merely stares at Peter before yelling at him; the second set of paragraphs following is the same incident from Harry's PoV, with him turning to talk to Peter and seeing Norman's face reflected in the limo's windows and hearing Norman's voice telling him to ignore Peter, at which point Harry starts yelling in rage at the insanity around himself). A re-read helped clear up some of the confusion I had at thinking things were just being repeated for the sake of repetition.

SPOILERS ABOUND IN THE NOVELIZATION; but if you don't mind being spoiled, pick up a copy of the novelization and get in on the excitement of the build-up to SPIDER-MAN 3.

to be honest i really didn't even want to read this book and spoil the movie for myself, but i just couldn't resist. i will say that if this book is any indication, this truly is going to be the best spider-man movie yet. the only minor quibble some may have is that venom is only in the book for the final battle, but truthfully it seems to be such an epic battle that he should have more then enough screen time to please the fans. to me venom is not a character that should be in the whole movie anyway. the excitement of building up to him and then having a massive battle with spidey is far more exciting. if you don't mind spoiling the movie i give this book the highest possible reccomendation.

As a Spider-man fan, the movies have always disappointed me because they are not accurate enough to the characters. Enter Peter David, He gratefully takes a so-so Spider-man story and injects it with the "Spideyness" the movies were lacking. (and yes I just used the word "Spideyness" but I'm a Spider-man fan, so I can do that) This Novel is no exception. He fills in the gaps the movie left behind and even manages to make the movie's depressing ending feel more triumphant. A must read for any Spider-man fan who felt the movie was not up to par. AKA: almost everyone. So after that stirring review you may wonder why not five stars? Until he gets the black costume the story is too close a retelling for me and just like in the movie theater I found myself slightly bored. It's too bad he didn't have more to work with, because it could have been...well...Amazing.

In the beginning of "Spider-Man 3", Peter Parker is on top of the world. He has a girlfriend, Mary Jane Watson (played by Kirsten Dunst in the film), and the whole city loves him. But there is a storm brewing on the horizon; While on a date with Mary Jane, a strange, oily entity from another world comes to Earth in a meteor. The thing sticks to Peter's shoe, and eventually to Peter's Spider-Man costume. It enchances his powers, but, unfortunetly, brings out the selfish, vengeful qualities in his personality. This time, unlike the first two films and books, our hero must face two supervillains. The first one is Flint Marko (played by Thomas Haden Church in the film), a small-time thug with a wife and daughter who becomes the shape-shifting, extremely dangerous villain known as the Sandman. Sandman is an extremely sympathetic character who does what he does simply for the well-being of his family. The other villain is Eddie Brock (played by Topher Grace in the film), a rival photographer at Peter's job at the Daily Bugle. Brock is a complete slimeball who rightly gets fired from his job for framing Spider-Man. Brock eventually gets a full helping of Peter's black costume (which he has just gotten rid of), and becomes the hulking, monstrous creature known as Venom. Not only does poor Spidey have to face off against these two, but his own friend Harry Osborn (played by James Franco in the film) is hell-bent on killing his super-hero ex-friend for ruining his life. I know that you really can't judge what a movie will be like just by reading its novelization, but I'm sure that most of what is depicted in the book will appear onscreen on May 4th. The only thing that I don't like is that there are WAY too many coincidences. For example(Spoiler!), during the final fight with Sandman and Venom at a construction site, Sandman's wife and daughter just happen to appear at the site to tell Sandman to stop trying to kill Spider-Man. And Peter and Eddie Brock just happen to be at the same exact church when Brock transforms into Venom. Other than that, this book tells me that "Spider-Man 3" will be the best out of all of the "Spider-Man" movies.

Im torn....really torn.....I love Spidey...always have. This story really deserves about another 300 pages to flesh out all of the hundreds of characters Raimi decided to cram into this one. Youve all these storylines converging in every which way throughout and youre going...."How is this thing going to come together right in all of this mishmash?" In the end I think the film will be successful, and it is a good story. It just seems rather chaotic; struggling to find a cohesive whole. The whole venom thing was a tack on and pointless to the story. Absolutely pointless. I could go on and on. Anyway, it will make its cash and it will be a great summer film. I just wish Raimi would have split this thing up into 2 films; thats all.

I hope the movie is as good as this novel. If so, Spidey 3 will be a winner at the box office. With Peter David at the helm, he mixes the universe of the comics with those in the film. He does this with great ease. Any book that is written by this author a sure bet that it will be something compelling.

All the characters: Gwen Stacy, her father Capt. Stacy, M.J. and all the supporting cast ring true to their illustrated counterparts. The only downer is the new Green Goblin costume. If that's the only bad thing in this film, I won't notice. I only hope that there is a book sequel that will tie the loose ends in this film or at least give us a glimpse of what Spider-Man 4 will be...

This is terribly difficult to review. For starters, it's a novelization of a screenplay with maybe a little bit of knowledge of how the film itself is done, ie, pacing, acting, etc. Also, it's common knowledge that a movie often does not live up to its corresponding book, even if the book is a direct prose translation of the film's script (still with me?). Strange, but true.

I read this in one day -- significant for me because even though I'm fairly intelligent (I think...) I've never been a fast reader. Obviously, I enjoyed it -- you don't read 300+ pages in a single day if you don't enjoy it; at least, I don't know anyone that does. Still, it's tough to judge because if this were the book that came before the movie, I'd judge the story on the book's merits taking the limitations of motion picture and its translation ability into consideration. Here, as I've already indicated ad-nauseum, the situation is reversed.

I enjoyed the first two Spider-Man films, even though I felt the first was a bit too tongue-in-cheek and the second a bit... long (like this review lol). Clearly, the second is the better movie of the first two, and just as clearly, the Raimi brothers and screenwriter Alvin Sargent are continuing along the same lines as Spider-Man 2. It's both a strength and a weakness.

The biggest problem I had with the second film was that the battles with the villain, Doc Ock, seemed incidental rather than crucial to the story itself, which -- perhaps by necessity -- was first and foremost about Peter, MJ and Harry and secondly about Peter's superhero alter-ego and his battles with criminals. This was true of even the earliest comics, but at least the comics knew the value of a rip-roaring adventure story and didn't shortchange the good guy / bad guy stuff.

In Spider-Man 3, the villains are once again incidental to the story rather than intregral, save for the New Goblin and one part of the story of the otherwise wimpy Flint Marko / Sandman. The villains get very little story time and, I suspect, will get as little screen time. The real villain of the piece is the New Goblin -- more time is devoted to him / Harry Osborn than just about anyone, something that surprised even me.

The depiction of Sandman is as faithful to his comic book counterpart as it can be and still contribute something of substance to the film. His motives are, like Ock's, maybe a little too pure in spite of the need to make him at least a little bit sympathetic, and by the end it's clear why they waited so long to use him besides his lack of a real emotional arc from the comics: He's impossible to kill.

But what everyone is going to eagerly anticipate is... Venom. Long story short, his story in Spider-Man 3 is pretty much exactly as I expected it, save for his fate at the end. It's good because I don't see how they could have pulled off such a sci-fi character any other way in such an otherwise grounded superhero franchise. It's bad because, in spite of what the trailers imply, the whole "evil doppleganger to Peter Parker / Spider-Man" angle is only ever exploited, if even apparent, in the last third of the story. Even the black Spider-Man suit doesn't show up until well into the first half, and sticks around for a very short time. This was odd to me since the symbiote itself is present throughout.

Bottom line, the trailers for this movie apparently only sell us on a fraction of the actual film and its story, namely the last third. The rest of it is like an episode of "Smallville," a sort of bittersweet romantic comedy with a love triangle and some superpowers. The trailers also all but ignore the Gwen Stacy character, which doesn't resemble her comic book counterpart except in look and personal circumstance but which still has a place in the story far more important than we've been led to believe -- not just to Peter Parker but, surprisingly, to Venom!

Lastly, not having read but the most recent comic book treatments of the villain, it's hard to evaluate Raimi and company's interpretation of Venom except to say that I kind of understand why Raimi was so hesitant to use the character, particularly for the reasons stated above. I'm also worried that, however cool the image of the villain and his similarities to the hero, his use may well be a creative mistake pushed upon the filmmakers on the part of the producers, namely Avi Arad. I'm sure audiences and fans will be thrilled that he's in the movie, but I have a feeling that most will invariably be disappointed, however cool the final battle.

On a purely aesthetic note, I can't help but think that this particular entry of the franchise was the wrong time for such a great special effects guy like John Dykstra to quit -- or for composer Danny Elfman to do so, too. Just the stuff in the trailers with Harry Osborn's New Goblin doesn't look as good, to me, as the original Goblin effects in the 2002 film -- five years ago! Sandman seems like he'll be cool to watch, but I'm skeptical of Venom, particularly their treatment of his head and face. I fear it will look like a miniature, CGI Alien in a black Spider-Man outfit.

After reading this book, i was pushed to re-watch the film. I gained much more insight through the novel.

As I have seen Peter David mention in writing online, the problem with doing novelisations is that if the source material is very stinky, then there isn't too much you can do about it.

While this story isn't as bad as one of the Swamp Thing movies, it isn't too flash, either, descending more towards some of the later Batman movies than the earlier examples of those, or Spider-Man itself.

Throwing in multiple villains gives not much time to any of them, particularly when large chunks of this story are taken up with overly mawkish and extended scenes with angsty drama queens (literally), and well-meaning aunts, making the third Spider-Man book somewhat duller than the others, and certainly not as interesting as some of the novels David has managed.

It certainly doesn't help from the start when, let alone having a prologue, it is several pages, all in italics! Recipe for making my eyes glaze over, that.

Some of the book is nifty - the Sandman origin scene, and the bit with Curt Connors are more interesting in the prose version.

On the whole though, this is basically ordinary.

I'm a newbie Spiderman fan, but I can honestly say that ever since I saw the first Spiderman movie I've been hooked. The sequal actually topped the first one which suprised me and kept me rooting for a third film. After seeing the movie at the cinema I was going nuts trying to find different ways to wait for the movie to come out on DVD. I then remembered that every major motion picture usually has a novel attached to it. Happily I found Spiderman 3: the novel based off the movie. This had to be one of the best finds on Amazon I'd come across, I couldn't put the book down (it was very hard to tear away from it for class). I read it in a matter of weeks but kept going back to read over the chapters, needless to say the book held my interest and still holds it. I think I'll give it another read after I'm done reading my English homework.

PS: I recommend this to any Spidy fan who liked the film, although even if you didn't like the movie perhaps the book would be satisfying enough to your Spidersenses.