And with a great movie comes a great challenge to outdo it.

Warning: along comes a spoiler.

Well, to be fair, it was still a great movie by everyday standards. By the Spider-Man franchise standards? Not so much. For starters, it was the first time I let out yawns during a Spidey movie. And I hate yawning during a Spidey movie.

It started OK, with a great battle between our friendly neighborhood, well, you know, with Harry Osborn -- who, according to the closing credits, is the "New Goblin." In other news, MJ had gone Broadway. And our superhero was there in the first row -- for a change. Everything was, to quote our lovely Enid, jolly good -- to our main characters and yours truly.

From then on, conflicts were introduced in the forms of Flint Marko AKA Sandman, an alien symbiote, Gwen Stacy, and Eddie Brock. And while things appeared good to our Spidey -- Harry having an amnesia and they being suddenly best friends again, New York showing their appreciation of Spidey's efforts -- they went downhill for MJ -- getting fired by the Broadway show producer after bad reviews for her singing, finding out Peter couldn't really put his woman "before him", and seeing Spidey and Gwen share a kiss -- "our kiss" according to MJ.

Me? Oh, I was kinda lost, is all. Too many subplots going on. Scenes at some French restaurant provided much welcome comic relief amidst Peter's failed attempt at proposing to MJ. Then to further complicate matters, Peter and Aunt May were told by the police -- Gwen's father? Can't remember -- that the man they'd thought had killed Uncle Ben was not the murderer after all. It had been Marko who'd shot him. I don't think that's canon, though.

The black symbiote bonded with Spidey, resulting in a black -- as in black-costumed, although it would've been killer had Peter Parker suddenly turned African American; but I'll stop here lest I get accused of a silly hate crime -- Spider-Man out for revenge. He thought he got it when Sandman appeared to have dispersed permanently. Spidey also had his revenge on MJ and Eddie Brock. Those were weird Spidey moments and totally out of characters, if you asked me. And how did Peter suddenly have two sets of Spider-Man outfit?

So, OK, I thought, we had enough conflicts to last two and a half hours. But no. More and more turned up. Sandman returned and so did Harry's memory. For some reason, Harry made MJ break up with Peter. Maybe that was supposed to weaken him or something. Which, if so, failed miserably. Peter showed up bonded with the symbiote and defeated the "New Goblin" rather easily. A pumpkin bomb blast had the audience -- me, at least -- thinking, OMG, they killed Harry! You bastards!

Just for the record, Harry didn't die. Not then, anyway. And I'd like to say hi to the two girls who for some reason or another sat down in the aisle next to me and were very helpful in providing colorful commentary throughout the entire movie. And I thought only Indonesians talked during a movie.

Peter himself, made aware by Aunt May of the bad things the symbiote had caused him, decided to shed the black costume, only to have the alien form find a new host in Brock. And thus, Venom was on screen for the first time -- with two hours gone. Aware of this (I presumed,) he wasted no time in forming an alliance with Sandman, out to get Spidey, who had turned blue-red again.

As with every movie in the franchise, the only way to get Spidey? Is to grab MJ and hang her high somewhere. In this case, in a yellow cab suspended by black spider webs tens of meters above the ground. And as with every movie in the franchise, our friendly neighborhood superhero showed up as expected and saved the day. Only this time, he needed help -- badly -- from Harry, who had had a change of heart, thanks to his Alfred-esque butler. Hmm, then again, all butlers are Alfred-esque.

And that was about all there was to it. If you've read my hasty synopsis above and are confused right now, you know how I felt watching the movie.

I think the problem was mainly the overcrowded plots. The fight scenes and special effects were still as great. Although, Sandman did look cartoonish at times. I like the altered appearance of the Goblin -- the "New" one -- and they did a good job on Venom. The occasional comedy values were refreshing. I also dig the marching band playing the old Spider-Man theme.

That said, I feel the conflicts were resolved too easily. MJ went from being lovely, sweet, and adorable, to such pain in the behind, to something not awfully clear at the end of the movie. I wished Peter had done a Stan and said, "As if I give a crap about what you think, MJ." Harry's heart changed way too readily, and it was all thanks to a logical fallacy. I mean, come on, just because Norman's wounds had been caused by his glider (which itself was questionable given the lack of an expert witness) that didn't automatically mean he had caused his own death. There's enough argument in that as in the notion that Harry blew his face off himself.

And the loose ends. Sandman was let go just like that. He should've at least served the remainder of his sentence and then some more. This guy killed a man -- at least -- and broke out of prison! Venom... Well, I have no problem with Venom's demise. He would so return. Not crazy about how facile his defeat was, though. Resonating pipes? Surely Spider-Man could've come up with something better.

Overall, too much drama and not enough actions for me. It was as if the producers tried to appeal more to the female audience -- sorry for stereotyping. IMO, Gwen Stacy's character was unnecessary in this movie, let alone her father's. Harry's death was too convenient. It's like the producers were thinking, OK, what can we do with him now that he's disfigured? Oh, I know, let's kill him and make him a hero. And what was Gwen doing at Harry's funeral, anyway? Far as I know, she didn't even know him. Well, not in this movie, anyway.

Damn you, Mountain, making me too wise I can't enjoy my beloved Spider-Man movie as much as I used to.

In any case, I stand by my earlier statement: still a great movie by everyday standards. Go watch it if you haven't. At the very least, going by the dollar-per-minute rate, the ticket's cheaper than, say, The Kallang Wave.

Now, the serious question: can you tell how many South Park references I worked into this entry?

Current music: Dewa - Live On
Current mood: happy