"Spider-Man 3: C-

Spider-Man 2," in my book, is the pinnacle of comic book adaptations that have found a place on the big screen. It took what made the first movie enjoyable and capitalized on those elements tenfold. However, with a production time of more than two years, it's clear now that director Sam Raimi, Tobey Maguire and the rest of the gang are burned out with these big-budget spectacles. \n"Spider-Man 3" is a joke, and a bad one at that. The kind a friend tells you thinking you'd find it to be hilarious, only to have you roll your eyes and possibly smack them for wasting your time. In the third film we find Peter Parker (Maguire) living up his celebrity status as Spider-Man, all the while balancing his relationship with Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst) and fighting crime. One night while star-gazing, a meteorite holding a mysterious black symbiote crashes and follows Parker home, only to take over his body during his sleep, hence the fancy black outfit. Now Spider-Man must fight the "battle within,": an escaped convict named Flint Marko (Thomas Haden Church) with the ability to become a raging sandstorm and an arrogant new photographer at the newspaper, Eddie Brock (Topher Grace), who will soon become both Parker and Spidey's worst adversary. Oh, there's also Harry Osborne Jr. (James Franco) who is still out to avenge his dead father, and Gwen Stacey (Bryce Dallas Howard), a cute gal who has the hots for Spidey.\nAll that is a mouthful, and that's one of the many reasons why "Spider-Man 3" doesn't work; the film tries to pack way too much into its near 2 ½ hour running time. Spider-Man is my favorite superhero, so I hold this material very dear to me and my childhood. When the black symbiote takes over Parker, he turns into the most emo poster child I've ever seen, wearing all black and sulking until an unnecessary scene, which comes off as an homage to "The Mask" plays out with Parker dancing around the city and in a lame jazz club. \n Character development has been thrown out the window. Sandman, who robs banks to save his dying daughter, maybe has 20 lines of dialogue in the entire movie. You never know what she is dying from nor do you really care because nothing happens with this story arc other than a few great fight sequences. Stacey is completely useless. So useless, in fact, that she disappears halfway through the movie. And after seeing him in this flick, Topher Grace needs to stick to episodes of "That '70s Show."\nIt's clear that the regulars (Raimi, Maguire, Dunst and Franco) are just tired of these films. It shows on their faces and the way they act. Everything feels sluggish, forced at times, with a clear desire they'd just like to pursue work that isn't consuming years of their lives at a time. With all the crying and emoting throughout "Spider-Man 3," it feels more like a melodrama than a fun and exciting comic book flick. The fights are great, but not much else is worth mentioning. And if they do decide to make a "Spider-Man 4," then do it to make up for this embarrassing excuse for what could've been the greatest comic book trilogy ever. I left the theater feeling disappointed and abused -- hopefully I won't feel the same way about "Pirates of the Caribbean" in a couple weeks.