Spider-Man (Tobey Maguire, right) puts a hole through Sandman (Thomas Haden Church) in Spider-Man 3. - Contributed

LOS ANGELES (AP):

Forgiveness is on the minds of many characters in Spider-Man 3.

In that spirit, audiences may also need to forgive director and co-writer Sam Raimi for creating a bloated, uneven behemoth with his third instalment in the hugely successful comic-book franchise.

Spidey the Third feels like an even greater letdown following Spidey Part Deux, which was the rare sequel that surpassed the original.

More plot lines

Here, Raimi overloads us with more - more villains, more supporting characters and more plot lines - spread out across more time. People and threats come and go and the narrative feels scattered.

Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) must battle not only human foes Flint Marko (Thomas Haden Church) and Eddie Brock (Topher Grace), but also thei egos, the Sandman and Venom.

He is still at odds with old best pal, Harry (James Franco), as well as Harry'ssouped-up super self, the New Goblin.

And Peter, as Spider-Man, must fight his own dark urges when a pesky black goop from outer space attaches itself on to him of all people. It spreads across his body in place of his trademark red-and-blue suit, bringing out prideful, arrogant tendencies he never knew he had.

It is amusing, however, that even as dark Spidey, Peter's nerdy nature still shines sweetly through.

His idea of being bad consists of displaying Denny Terrio-style disco dance moves while swaggering down the sidewalks of New York, and demanding milk and cookies from the adoring girl, who lives next door.

Peter's also juggling two love interests - Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst), the long-time girl of his dreams, who now knows he's Spider-Man and is cool with it; and Gwen Stacy (Bryce Dallas Howard, one of many new cast members), a college classmate with a crush on Peter ,who provides plenty of opportunities for Spidey to swoop to the rescue.

So yes, there is too much going on in this US$258-million extravaganza. But when you spend that much money making a film, theoretically you are going to offer some spectacular visuals. Spider-Man 3 does - sometimes.

Eye-popping moments

The opening sequence, with Goblin chasing Spidey through the skyscrapers and alleyways of Manhattan at night, looks too fake and cartoony, like something out of a video game. Other moments are eye-popping - notably, when escaped prisoner Flint Marko falls into the middle of a scientific test site and finds himself molecularly deconstructed and reborn as a mass of sand.

By the time Spider-Man 'ends' countless tears have been shed, story lines have wrapped up and minutes have dragged by - and the potential for Spider-Man 4 has been clearly established. It all could end right here, though, and it should.