At times this is really good, emotive and features great fight scenes. But then it's a bit corny and unbelievable. As an example, why would the villain not listen in on communications rather than crush it? There is definitely more drama here than the other Police Story films. It's flawed but I still enjoyed it. 3-3.5/5
I used to love Spider-Man as a youngster. I watched the cartoons, read the comics, wanted my own Spider-man costume. How things have changed, mainly due to the films. The first 40 minutes or so of this is bad! It slowly improves, but there isn't one memorable moment. The girl with two first names, Gwen Stacy, dying is perhaps the biggest shock of this but it's the kind of film you come away from with little. In terms of the plot, it's all over the place. The subplot about Peter finding out about what happened to his parents doesn't go as deep as you'd think it would. After not liking McGuire and Garfield as the lead, I'm starting to think it's the character. In the cartoons, I remember him being cocky but proud and still likeable. He hasn't been in the films. He comes off as like Clark Kent and more awkward than he should be. The corny jokes in this are too much and the shiny suit they've put Parker in looks more computerised than usual as well.
I didn't go in expecting a lot, but even so, this left me disappointed. Some of the lengths of time between an action scene are too long, some of the scenes aren't action-packed enough, some of the scenes going for comedy didn't work - a lot of Cudi's - and to a lesser extent the stupid stripping scene. There are aspects that are extremely farfetched - Cudi getting all of those aircrafts somehow, Julia getting a laptop with wireless connection in a public hospital in the states, (really?), Benny asking for and receiving an iPad while behind bars.... just ridiculous! The cars are nice, some of the scenery superb, and dramatic moments okay, but overall the characters are very cliched as is much of the plot.
Has its moments, including an eye-catching ending, but a lot of it comes across as really heavy and kind of forced. I have never been to a college in the '90s in America so I'm not the best person to say this, but it seems ridiculously over the top. Michael Rapaport's character seems to be a smart kid who so quickly gets turned into a white supremacist ready to off someone which is another problem I had with it. There are a number of parts of the plot that seem to begin but go nowhere as well. Nothing really seems to have come from the sports subplot. What happened to the students who couldn't pay their fees at the beginning of the film? This is never shown to be resolved. And what happened with Kristy Swanson's whole sexual experimenting? She enjoyed both, but then what? Looking at IMDb, apparently, much of this was cut... 2.5-2/5
As bad or as untrue to the video game series as people make out? I'm not sure it is. I think they tried to do more than a number of filmmakers have to use aspects of the video games they are adapting. It's neo-noir, has the story of Max's wife and baby getting murdered and has slo-mo Max Payne like action.
In saying that, the thing they missed most was Wahlberg who should've put on the deep, voice filled with pain from the Payne we see in the games. The plot of the video games is also more interesting, as many top video games feature these days. Overall I didn't find it bad just not very involving. 2-2.5/5