Know this: I’m a huge comic geek. I’ve been reading the so-called funny books (although they’re rarely funny) for more than 20 years. So when it comes to super-hero movies my expectations tend to be pretty high. “Spider-Man 2” not only met those hopes; it exceeded them. It was a great movie, comic-based or not. So the Spidey team had a lot to live up to with this third, possibly final flick. And…they didn’t quite do it. Not quite.

“Spider-Man 3” is a decent flick. There’s about an hour of it that’s actually quite good. But as I feared watching the countless trailers, there’s simply way too much going on here. The major plot lines include:

-Peter and Mary Jane’s romance, which reaches new highs and lows

-Mary Jane’s stage career, which reaches new highs and lows

-Peter’s photog job at the Daily Bugle, which reaches new highs and lows

-Peter’s relationship with Aunt May, which…remains largely unchanged, but goes through a couple critical changes

-The introduction of Flint Marko, an escaped con who’s far more connected to Peter Parker’s life than either of them know (and, frankly, too much for my personal taste)

-The transformation of Marko into the silicon-based Sandman, who contributes some of the movies flashiest special effects sequences

-The ongoing rivalry between Peter/Spidey and Harry Osborne, who fully embraces his father’s identity as the new Goblin (although with a truly generic costume; at least his toys are cool)

-The introduction of Gwen Stacy, a second love interest for Peter and substitute damsel in distress (in case Kirsten Dunst decides not to come back for the proposed fourth film, she can slip right in)

-The introduction of Eddie Brock, a smarmy wannabe photographer gunning for Peter’s gig at the Bugle

-The introduction of the alien symbiote, which inexplicably falls from space, coincidentally lands near Peter, and later grafts itself onto Peter

-The birth of Venom, the anti-Spider-Man

And those are just the plot lines that are set up! It says nothing of what happens when they develop, intersect, and spin-off into different directions.

Almost all of those individual plot points are handled well, and the arcs developed quite nicely. But that is a LOT to fill into one film, and while director Sam Raimi deserves credit for pulling it off as well as he does, I’m unconvinced that he needed to go through all the trouble.

Specifically, the movie could have existed quite nicely without the Sandman at all. The film could have been about an hour shorter and much tighter if he didn’t exist, and Thomas Haden Church brings almost nothing to the part except sad puppydog eyes. As I mentioned earlier, he makes for some pretty cool-looking scenes. But in terms of character development and his place in the overall narrative, he’s unnecessary. His actions indirectly prompt Peter to make some emotional choices, but there’s no reason that couldn’t have been set off by the Harry conflict.

Speaking of which, I was dreading the Harry stuff going into this movie. Knowing how Harry’s story ends in the comics --- it was a huge disaster --- I couldn’t imagine it would be remotely interesting. I was wrong. The Harry parts were actually some of the best scenes in the movie. I didn’t like how his arc is resolved, but all in all James Franco impressed me. Which is funny, since he was easily the least interesting parts of the first two flicks.

Topher Grace from “That 70s Show” plays Eddie Brock, and he definitely ratcheted up the smarm. He made a believable Eddie, but a less believable Venom. And I’m not sure what the costume department was thinking giving him those ridiculous fangs. It doesn’t make logical sense that he’d be physically transformed, and they really hampered his line delivery.

The effects on Venom overall were somewhat disappointing. Most of the effects in the movie look amazing, but Venom looks somewhat cheap at times. And while it makes sense to bring him into the films given that he’s the only modern Spidey villain of note, he’s also an awfully complicated, awfully scary character to put into what’s ostensibly a family flick. I refuse to let my 6-year-old nephew see it because I know the Venom stuff would be far too intense for him.

Ultimately, it’s a decent flick. Easily the worst of the three, and deeply flawed in ways I frankly wasn’t expecting. But what do you think? Agree? Disagree? Post your comments below.