Spider-Man 3 - Attack Of The Nerds

I went to the midnight showing of Spider-Man 3 last night. Before I chime in with my two cents let me point out a few other reviews. I didn't read any of them in their entirety before watching the movie, but scanned them to get a general consensus. That consensus? Blind, seething nerd rage.
There is no better example of this than the guy who stood up in our theater, just as the final credits began to roll, to vent his frustration with one of the villain's use of pronouns.

"Venom says 'we', not 'I'!"

He raised his hands to incite the glorious nerd revolution that surely would come, but was met with blank stares and sarcastic jeers (I have to admit I took part in the latter).
Oh, did I mention he was wearing a Venom shirt? Did I also mention that when someone else walked into the theater in a Venom shirt prior to the movie, he bragged to his friends that his was more authentic?

This is the environment in which I watched this movie. And I thoroughly enjoyed the hell out of it. Spider-Man 3 is at least as good as its predecessors. Anyone who says otherwise is suffering from a severe case of Star Wars Syndrome, a brain fluctuation that raises the quality of previous films to such legendary heights that any sequel (or prequel) is doomed to be a let down. My comparison ends there, however, because the Spider-Man movies are far superior to anything in the Star Wars prequels. My point is that many of the fans are walking into this movie with the misconception that the first two were perfect gems. Let's not forget that they were riddled with groan-inducing dialog and (dare I say it?) obvious CGI animation. That didn't stop them from being highly entertaining and engrossing. Because despite their flaws both movies felt like real portrayals of Spider-Man.
Spider-Man 3, to me, is no different. The action is amped up, as is the tension between Peter, MJ, and Harry.

Parts of this movie were astounding to me (mild, obvious spoilers): Harry's betrayal of Peter, Peter's subsequent betrayal of MJ, Peter's dark side, everything with Topher Grace and Venom. There are other, smaller details and scenes that are also very excellent.

Parts of this movie were cheesy and heavy handed: Peter's strutting sequence (which is funny but would have serviced the movie better if it had been cut in half), Harry's fatherly butler providing some much needed exposition that leaves you wondering why the hell he didn't speak up sooner, some mild contrivances. Although, if you can't handle a few contrivances in a movie about a man with spider powers and a giant made out of sand...well, I don't know what to tell you. It also seems that Sam Raimi wants to turn MJ into the next Minmei. And if you don't know what I'm talking about than you are out of your league, young nerdling.

All I can say is, if you liked the first two movies then you'll like this one. Provided you don't go into it with your nerdometer turned up to eleven.

Final comments: Um...nerd.