Review of "Spider-Man 3" by

The Web-Slinger is back for a third installment of the series. Young Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) decides to ask Mary Jane (Kirsten Dunst) to marry him, but there's trouble when the police inform Peter and his Aunt that they believe they know who really killed his uncle. In the meantime, Mary Jane's fledgling career on Broadway is crashing, and there's a new villain in town who can morph himself into various shapes of sand. On top of that, Spidey's new black costume boosts his powers, but it comes at a cost of his good nature (shades of The Dark Side!).

Like its predecessors, Spider-Man 3 is a rollicking special-effects bonanza. The story isn't very cohesive, but fans of the series won't mind a bit as Tobey Maguire manages to keep the human side of Spider-Man at the core of the character. Thomas Haden Church has a great outing as the sand villain whose criminal background is at the center of the story of Peter's quest for his uncle's killer. Just great fun!