My Spidey senses are tingling! Did somebody call for a whiny webcrawler?

This is my first update for a while, since my mother just recently passed away. So I saw Spider-Man 3 today. Short review: it was mostly entertaining, but by far the weakest of the trilogy.

Longer review (warning, there may be spoilers):
The film opens with scenes from the first two films playing under the credits, a rather cheesy gimmick that recalls the old days when sequels had to remind audiences what happened in the earlier films. Danny Elfman's theme makes a welcome reappearance, even though the score this time is by Christopher Young (due to Elfman falling out with Sam Raimi on Spider-Man 2).
Like the first two films, it takes its time setting up the plot and characters, making the audience wait a little too long for the first action. All the major characters are introduced early on and comic book fans will be pleased to learn that the black costume Peter Parker acquires is still an alien symbiote (the meteorite landing conveniently close to Peter).
Flint Marko (Thomas Haden Church) is introduced as a sympathetic character forced into crime to pay for his sick daughter's treatment. Of course, while on the run he just happens to fall into some wacky scientific experiment that is never explained, but which turns his atoms into sand. The effects for the Sandman are impressive, even if we've seen them before in The Mummy films.
Meanwhile, Harry Osborne (James Franco, growing nicely into his complex role) still plots revenge on the man he thinks murdered his father, and Peter himself faces competition at work from Eddie Brock (played by Topher Grace as a kind of a bizarro Peter Parker). There's also a new love interest in Gwen Stacy (Bryce Dallas Howard) who seems to exist only to make MJ jealous after Spidey rescues her and gives her one of his famous upside down kisses. Dr. Curt Connors reappears, but we still don't get to see him become the villain The Lizard.
If all of this makes the film sound very crowded, that's because it is. Three villains (Sandman, Venom and the New Goblin), two love interests, plus the regular supporting characters (J.K. Simmons again provides most of the film's laughs as J Jonah Jameson) all make for a film that feels like the writers just threw everything they could think of at a wall and hoped it would stick. Kirsten Dunst even sings (twice) and there's a ridiculous sequence halfway through where Peter Parker struts around like John Travolta to show that the black suit has turned him to the dark side. Even Spider-Man's origin is tweaked (unnecessarily) when it's revealed that the man he let go didn't actually kill his uncle and Ben was shot by accident.
The action scenes are spectacular but that's the least we expect from blockbusters these days. Despite all the money spent (reportedly over $250 million) the best scene in the film is Bruce Campbell's hilarious cameo. Most of the characters are poorly developed (the film has enough ideas for two sequels). Spidey takes his mask off too often and spends more time crying than wisecracking like he should. MJ seems selfish and annoying. Even Stan Lee's obligatory cameo seems forced.
Venom is introduced too late to be really effective. Sandman and the New Goblin are better treated. Harry's turn from villain to hero in the last act is predictable but emotionally satisfying, and the Sandman's final redemption is also quite moving. Raimi seems afraid of letting any villain be pure evil, yet he also kills them off too eagerly.
Ultimately, though, the film ends with a whimper, not a bang. It's worth seeing for diehard fans, but I think that if there are any future Spider-Man films, fresh new talent needs to be brought in and Spidey needs to be allowed to have fun for a change and not be reduced to a soap opera star.