It was pretty darn awesome. I've read a number of reviews, both good and bad. Both make excellent points which I'll distill here.

Thomas Haden Church as Flint Marko/The Sandman is awesome. He makes what would have been otherwise a two-dimensional villain into someone very sympathetic. Had he been the only villain I would have regretted that, because we already got a lot of that in the second film with Doc Ock. Thankfully we were given Venom and the "New Goblin" who were gleeful in their evil.

The women in Parker's life were all great. I love Aunt May. I don't get the hate/dislike that gets ladled on Kirsten Dunst as MJ. Her singing wasn't great, but she plays the part well and I've always thought she had the appropriate level of hotness. Adding Gwen Stacy as a sort of fan service thing was a good idea and I liked her as a character. I came into the Spider-man comic late I guess and don't remember her, but it could be that I've just always had a thing for redheads.

The retcon (a new word to me) concerning Uncle Ben worked out much better than I thought it would. I LOVED emo-Parker. I loved Gobby's new toys. I loved Bruce Campbell's cameo. Off the top of my head I can't think of any major problems I had with any of it. There was a moment or two of dragginess. I suppose the only thing that really bugged me was the fact that they seem to find it necessary to continue to kill off the bad guys.

The whole movie had revenge as a major theme. Parker wanted Marko. Brock wanted Parker. Osborn wanted Parker. Ultimately Peter arguably "does the right thing" as does Harry. Another thing that really jumped out at me (okay it was kind of hammered home) was the idea of whether or not you could chose to do the right thing. Marko blamed his lot in life on a series of circumstances. His mantra was "I didn't choose this." Peter closes the movie with the optimistic idea that one can indeed chose.

I'm not so sure that I can agree with that though, even within the framework of the movie. Evil is insidious. If you go down the wrong path it is usually in such a way that you don't realize it even as it's happening. So perhaps in a way both men are right. Marko didn't choose to become a killer. He was trying to get help for his daughter the only way he knew how, a series of bad, though arguably not evil, choices. Unfortunately it ended in tragedy. Peter didn't choose to become the evil emo-Parker, or did he? Even if he hadn't been infected by the symbiote, he had already decided to find Marko. He already painted the picture in his mind as to how ruthless the man was. In spite of his words to MJ the seeds of vengeance had already sprouted into something ugly. The symbiote just amplified what was already there as it did with Brock.

Deep down we are all very flawed creatures. Under pressure we crack in ways that follow that nature. Unless we have something very strong holding us together, those cracks will lead us to ultimately fall apart. In Peter's case that was a combination of his deep love for Mary Jane and his even deeper sense of obligation. Strictly speaking neither of those was a matter of choice either. Harry had the love for and of his friends to redeem him. Brock had nothing but a love of evil and that love led to his destruction. With Marko we have a bit of unfinished business. Perhaps we'll see in the next movie whether or not his love for his daughter will overcome the forces at work there.

All of this philosophical rambling aside, this is a movie that you need to see. And here's hoping for number four!