Recap: "Spider-Man 3" Part 3: Friend or Foe

And here we are. The final third of the final third.

...

I was going to do a thing where I asked questions like "Will all these people's stories come to their conclusion?" but I already know that they don't. The ending is very disappointing and I'm not going to tease you with hope.

I mean, I'm not cruel.

Peter arrives back home, where Mr. Ditkovitch gives him a bit of a hard time over the rent, causing Peter to snap.

Peter Parker: "You'll get your rent when you fix this damn door!"

He storms inside, leaving Mr. Ditkovitch and his daughter to wonder what happened.

Ursula: "That wasn't cool."

Yeah, there's going to be a lot of Peter not being cool in a bit.

Mr. Ditkovitch: "He is a... good boy. He must be in some kind of trouble."

Once in his room, Peter has a moment of self-realization, blames it on the symbiote costume, and puts it away in a trunk. Then he goes to Aunt May's apartment to tell her that Flint Marko was killed by Spider-Man, which Aunt May finds odd.

Aunt May: "Spider-Man doesn't kill people."

Peter tries to explain what happened, but can't get past Aunt May's reaction.

See, in movies like this, the villains do bad things, then they die, which simultaneously punishes them and wraps up their story. In the first two Spider-Man films, the villains killed themselves, neatly wrapping the films up and allowing our hero to claim that he’s never killed anyone. Even the guy who... "fell out a window."

While movies have apparently implied for a long time that the only way to stop criminals for good is to let them die, Aunt May has a different perspective.

Aunt May: "I don't think it's for us to say whether a person deserves to live or die."
Peter Parker: "But Aunt May, he killed Uncle Ben.”
Aunt May: "Uncle Ben meant the world to us. But he wouldn't want us living one second with revenge in our hearts. It's like a poison. It can... it can take you over. Before you know it, turn us into something ugly."

Ah, "revenge turns us into monsters," the main theme of Batman Forever, another third movie in a series which featured too many villains to adequately tell a story. Odd coincidence.

Over with Mary Jane, she's getting a job at a nightclub as a singer/waitress. She walks alone through the busy streets for a bit before calling up the only person who's been able to make her feel better, Harry Osborn. He's free to hang out later, he's just been painting.

Holy crap, has he been painting.

Harry has Bernard get some food around as Peter tries to call Mary Jane yet again. So Mr. Ditkovitch comes over to offer an orange and some advice to the apologetic Peter.

Mr. Ditkovitch: "If it's a woman you're calling, then you say 'You're a good woman. I am good man.'"
Peter Parker: "...?"
Mr. Ditkovitch: "....Mmhm."

Ursula's shows up to take interest in Peter's life like it was a soap opera.

Ursula: "Are you calling Mary Jane? I think that would be so good...."
Mr. Ditkovitch: "This is none of your business. Go. Go."

Seriously, though, I really like Ursula. She seems to genuinely care about Peter's happiness more than any other character cares about anyone. Apart from Aunt May caring about her nephew. Maybe Mary Jane should just get together with Harry.

Speaking of them, MJ has arrived at Harry's penthouse, unaware that she's about to be met by Harry Osborn's secret weapon. Eggs.

They have a fun time together, dancing and making omlettes. Even when Harry (or possibly James Franco) botches an omlette flip, and the actors appear to ad-lib a response. After dinner, they read the play that Harry wrote all those years ago before sharing a little kiss.

This is what happens with eggs, Harry.
WITH GREAT EGGS COMES GREAT RESPONSIBILITY.

Unlike Peter, MJ doesn't have a crowd to perform for. So when she realizes what she's done, she grabs her things and goes, leaving Harry to get drunk and go nuts. The two are unrelated.

Norman Osborn: "You've taken your eye off the ball."

He talks to his dad in the mirror for a bit after his memories return, and he gets some classic advice on how to deal with Spider-Man.

Norman Osborn: "First, we attack his heart!"

And because Harry wasn't there to hear Norman say that to himself, I can only assume that the mirror is simply evil and is trying to convince the Osborns that they're crazy.

But instead of gearing up and attacking Aunt May, Harry gears up and threatens Mary Jane when she returns to her apartment.

Harry Osborn: "If you want Peter to live, you're gonna do something for me."

The next day, Ursula arrives at Peter's apartment to let him know that there's a call from MJ. They arrange to meet at the bridge at the park to talk, and talk they do. Peter brought flowers, but Mary Jane wants to break up.

Obviously, she's doing this because Harry told her to, which raises a question or two. Apparently, Mary Jane doesn't believe that Peter can take on Harry in a fight, because she follows Harry's directions to break up with Peter. Alternatively, she's coming to her senses and actually wants to dump him. I mean, there's got to be some reason she doesn't just say "Hey, Harry has his memory back and he's going all Goblin. He's over there. Behind the tree. Beat him up."

Either way, MJ says it's over.

Peter Parker: "We have problems. When people have problems, they- they work it out. They talk to each other."

A little late to be jumping on that particular bus, Peter.

He even whips out the ring to try and convince her, so she tries to break his heart by telling him that she's fallen in love with someone else and walking away.

Harry Osborn: "Bravo."

Later, Peter meets with Harry at a coffee shop to talk about this whole thing. But he doesn't have the conversation he expected.

Harry Osborn: "I'm the other guy."
Peter Parker: "What?"

"No... Don't tell me you..."

"Yes."

"No, you didn't."

"Eggs."

"...You son of a bitch."

Peter angrily leaves without even paying for his drink. Once out the door, Harry grins and continues with his dessert.

Waitress: "How's the pie?"
Harry Osborn: "So good."

Once outside, Peter catches Harry with a big ol' grin as we get an attempt at a "cool" exit that simply seems odd if you think about the blocking.

"Hey, Pete, want to see how fast I can dine and dash?"

[VVVVRRRRRRMMMMMMMMM]

....

"Wow, that was fast."

Peter goes home to mope on his bed in stony silence, looking about as serial-killer-ish as he can. Then he decides to suit up and pay Harry a little visit that night.

I said that it would be hard to ignore Peter if he just showed up like this.
Harry knew he was there even without turning around.
Maybe you should have tried this earlier, Pete.

Peter Parker: "What did you do to her?" 
Harry Osborn: "I did what you failed to do. I was there for her."

That is a point, actually. But the conversation eventually degrades into Harry Osborn creepily talking about how MJ's kissing tastes.

Harry Osborn: "Strawberries."

What, because she’s a redhead?

So the two of them begin beating each other up, complete with light banter for once. The fight ends up spilling into the secret Goblin lair as Peter delivers a #tooreal verbal assault.

Harry Osborn: "You took him from me. He loved me."
Peter Parker: "No. He despised you. You were an embarrassment to him. Aw, look at little Goblin Junior. Gonna cry?"

Harry tries to get up, but Peter knocks him back down. So as Peter leaves, Harry tosses a pumpkin bomb, only for Peter to web it up and whip right back in Harry's face, mirroring the bomb-to-the-face Peter got during the first film.

With that done, Peter heads down the street, discovering that the Daily Bugle has front page pics of Spider-Man robbing a bank. Which is odd, because Peter Parker doesn't remember doing that. So he goes to the Daily Bugle's new staff photographer, Eddie Brock, to ask what's up. Specifically, why the photo looks familiar...

Peter Parker: "Your picture's a fake."

I mean, you might as well have photoshopped Spidey twirling his mustache.

Eddie asks to get a break, but Peter's more in the mood to slam Eddie against the wall.

Peter Parker: "You want forgiveness? Get religion."

As Peter leaves, he hands over his proof that Eddie doctored an old photo to make it look like Spidey robbed a bank.

Peter Parker: "Tell him to check his source next time."

Eddie Brock is summarily fired as J. Jonah Jameson is forced to do something he hates: Admitting he was wrong. A retraction is soon printed, fixing one of the problems in Peter's life.

This is where the film begins its most infamous part.

Peter gets confidence.

Peter gets cocky.

This is Peter's dark side.

Unfortunately... Peter Parker is a goofy goober.

He will always be a goofy goober. He will never not be a goofy goober.

Meaning that his dark side is less "Mr. Hyde" and more "Shadow the Hedgehog wannabe."

While Dr. Connors calls to tell him that the symbiote sample seems to amplify aggression and strength, he ignores him and hits up Ursula for some cookies that, quite frankly, look really good. And Dr. Connors is being fairly boring.

Dr. Connors: "Its chemistry is not unlike the chondritic meteorites of the 70s."

And then he starts dancing down the street. I wonder how many gifs of that I can find....

Quite a few, apparently.

Now, Sam Raimi has gone on record stating that he wasn't a fan of Venom. As I mentioned in the Intro to this Recap, Venom was a studio mandate. So I wouldn't be surprised if Sam Raimi is sticking it to the original symbiote storyline by intentionally making Peter's dark side into a dork side.

I mean, Sam Raimi has to be aware of how dorky Evil Peter is. Look at the expressions Raimi must have directed these extras to make as they walk by Peter.

Evil Peter Parker is supposed to be a dork. Exhibit A.

And you know what? This makes sense. Like I said, this Peter Parker is awkward and shy.

Peter Parker doesn't become an edgy, tortured soul... he becomes what he thinks an edgy, tortured soul looks like.

After all, Dr. Connors just said that the symbiote amplifies the traits of its host. "Dorkiness" is definitely one of Peter Parker's traits.

So is creepiness, which explains his interactions with Betty.

Peter Parker: "I'd love to shoot you sometime."

Sorry, Peter, she's dating Batman. Or possibly Star-Lord.

Jameson: "Miss Brant! That's not the position I hired you for."

Peter hands over some pictures which, quite frankly, look faker than the one Eddie Brock doctored up.

Actually, can I see that earlier comparison again?

Even the picture Eddie started with looks faker than the one he created!

JJJ offers the usual rate for Peter's picture, but he demands that staff job instead.

Peter Parker: "Double the money."

And, near as I can tell, he gets it. Because we cut to Peter with his feet on JJJ's desk.

"Why are your feet where my blood pressure meds should be?"

And Peter finishes up his little dance routine. Now have a gif.

You are welcome.

But that night, the Sandman returns from the watery depths. Because much like Dr. Manhattan, putting his body back together was the first trick he'd learned.

Elsewhere, Peter is taking Gwen Stacy out for a nice night. The scene was deleted, but she broke up with Eddie after he lost his job at the Daily Bugle. So now all he can do is watch them from the other side of the street as they head inside the jazz club that Mary Jane works at now.

Peter slips a waitress a 20 to get a nice table, and Gwen spots Mary Jane as they sit down. She asks if Peter wants to leave, but he says he'll be fine. MJ gets invited onstage to sing a number, but Peter suddenly appears on the piano before she can begin.

No caption I can provide can add to that expression.

A lot of people criticize his sudden piano skills, but this series has established that Aunt May gave piano lessons.

Judging by the Spider-Man theme, I can only imagine this is one of the things a spider can do.

Then he starts dancing in a way that blatantly incorporates Spider-Man moves... which is like something I would have tried to pull at a middle school dance. Again ,this has been criticized, but I think it makes sense for Peter to be dancing like this. Not only do Spider-Man poses come naturally to him (for obvious reasons), but dorky ol' Peter Parker probably thinks they make him look like a badass because he's an edgy goober now.

What does not make sense is the fact that Peter barged his way onstage, played piano, swung around on the chandelier, stole someone's drink, and got in the way of the waitresses that were just trying to do their job while he danced... and the band just went along with it. I think the management is going to have a little conversation with the house band after this little incident.

A lot of people say this scene comes out of nowhere, but I think the scene works. It's the medium that's wrong. If Spider-Man were a weekly TV show, then this scene would be easy to justify. But when you only have around two hours to tell a self-contained story, then this elaborate sequence (the second dance sequence in a row, no less) is a waste of time that only serve to make Gwen Stacy into a plot device to make Mary Jane jealous.

In fact, Gwen Stacy herself suddenly realizes this after the dance number.

Gwen Stacy: "That was all for her?"

And so, she exits both the jazz club and the film.

Peter tries to talk to Mary Jane afterward, but MJ doesn't want to talk. The manager tries to have Peter bounced for being belligerent when he comes over to intervene, but this results in a fight. When Mary Jane tries to pull Peter off the bouncer, she gets smacked in the face before Peter realizes who she is.

You know what sucks? I'd love to say "At least Harry Osborn never hit Mary Jane," but he's currently doing that whole blackmail/torment thing to her. I bet John Jameson's looking like a real catch right about now. Of course, with MJ's recent luck, he's probably under a lycanthropic curse caused by a magic gem he found on the moon.

...Comics are weird.

Anyway, Peter heads outside to mull over what a monster he's become and soon finds himself in costume, in the rain, on a church gargoyle. And any comic fan knows what's coming next. Probably the most-famous scene in Spider-Man history, apart from Gwen Stacy falling off a bridge.

The church scene, taking place at night here rather than the daylight event from the original comics because night makes things dramatic.

He jumps down into the bell tower as Eddie Brock enters below to dip his fingers in the holy water and make the sign of the cross. Because if you want church imagery in a movie, you go whole hog and Catholic the heck out of it.

Instead of going into the confessional to seek absolution for the sin of bearing false witness, he passionately makes a different plea to the man upstairs himself.

Eddie Brock: "I want you to kill Peter Parker."

Ah, you're looking for the Old Testament God. Got some bad news for you, Eddie.

The god of this world is on Spider-Man's side.

Of course, little does he know that Peter is upstairs, struggling to take his clothes off. It seems as though while he's done wearing the costume, the costume's not done wearing him.

You know, the fact that he's completely naked under there just raises questions as to whether or not he goes commando in the red-and-blues. So there's only a thin layer of spandex separating "Little Spidey" from the rest of the world as he secretes all over the place? Peter Parker is disgusting.

In his struggles, he bonks into the bell, which seems to anger his costume into screaming momentarily. This gets Eddie's attention, so he heads over to the tower and looks up. He hears the ringing of the church bell coupled with the anguished screams of one man...

Eddie Brock: "Parker...."

...and probably starts cursing himself.

"Dammit! I should have prayed for cash to rain down.""

The only thing falling today, however, is the black goo from Peter's body. The ringing of the bell seems to weaken it enough to let Peter rip it off and let it ooze from the tower to latch onto a brand new host. One that shares its hatred of Spider-Man.

But instead of rising up to attack the naked, exhausted Peter Parker that the two of them both know is up there, the new gestalt entity decides to lunge at the camera instead.

And so, we cut to Peter Parker showering in his apartment. Personally, I like to think he simply swung home naked, although he probably still had his clothes from the jazz club.

With his shower completed, Peter has nothing to do but ruminate on how he royally screwed up his life. That's when Aunt May comes over. Peter admits he didn't propose to Mary Jane because he realized he can't put his wife before himself. Namely, his love of simply being Spider-Man, though that goes unsaid.

Peter Parker: "I hurt her, Aunt May. I don't know what to do."

All things considered, domestic violence is a serious issue that... well, there's no point in talking about it here. I'm not a domestic violence counselor, and I'm not qualified to talk about it with any level of authority.

Aunt May: "Well, you start by doing the hardest thing. You forgive yourself."

Except... Nope, never mind. I'm not getting into this. I'm not a therapist, I'm just some schmuck with a blog who just wants to talk about Spider-Man. Moving on.

Aunt May tells Peter that she trusts him to put it all right in time before leaving.

Elsewhere in the city, a black figure swings along before getting randomly attacked by the Sandman in an alleyway. Sandman quickly figures out that this... thing isn't Spidey.

Something gave it away.

Eddie Brock: "I want him dead, too, Flint."

He knows all about Flint's struggles to find money for his daughter and offers a deal. They'll do a villain team-up, kill Spider-Man, rob some banks to pay for Flint's daughter, and go their separate ways. And Flint agrees.

Peter Parker finds his way to the streets below Mary Jane's apartment, but doesn't go up because he doesn't know what to say and because Hallmark doesn't make a card for what he did to her. If they did, you can bet that Hank Pym would be first in line.

But Mary Jane comes down to catch a cab, only to run into a nasty surprise in the front seat.

Eddie Brock: "So, where to?"

I was going to make a joke about this being what Topher Grace was doing after this film, but it seemed a little too real.

We then cut to a WMNY news broadcast, where Hal Fishman is breaking the news that a giant "Sandman" and some kind of Spidey-Monster are holding Mary Jane Watson hostage in a webbed-up taxi at the top of a partially-completed building.

"According to preliminary reports, this is, in fact, the third time she has been held prisoner by super-criminals.
Simple bad luck? Editorial at 11."

Sadly, this is the product of rewrites and reshoots. Mary Jane was not going to be the damsel in distress again. Rather, it would be Gwen Stacy, demonstrating that Eddie's so far gone that he's threatening his ex-girlfriend simply to draw out Spider-Man.  But many of Gwen's meaningful scenes with Eddie were cut, so they went with Mary Jane again just because the audience is more invested in her than Gwen, who is simply "the other woman" at this point.

Peter watches the report in a shop window before rushing home to don the red-and-blues. But he's never faced two villains at once before, so he goes to find help as Eddie's webs make an ultimatum.

The 90s Spider-Man font. Cute.

Harry Osborn turns off the news in his penthouse when Spider-Man arrives to find that not everything he's done to his friends can be fixed.

Gonna admit, I wasn't expecting Two-Face to show up. Although that does make another similarity to Batman Forever.

Harry Osborn: "You don't deserve my help." 
Peter Parker: "Harry... she needs us."
Harry Osborn: "Get out."

Spider-Man leaves Harry alone in the wreckage of his evil lair, which is when Bernard decides to pipe up.

Bernard: "I've seen things in this house... I've never spoken of."

"Don't get me started on that time your dad was talking to a mirror while I cleaned the china."

Bernard: "The night your father died, I cleaned his wound. The blade that pierced his body... came from his glider."

First of all, Spider-Man could have killed Norman with his glider.

Second of all... why wait until now, Bernard? Instead of giving Harry sass in the last movie with "Your father only obsessed over his work," all you had to do was say "Norman died by his own hand. I know. I cleaned his wound."

It's possible that Bernard wanted Harry to live thinking that his dad wasn't a supervillain... but that still led Harry down a self-destructive path during the second film. Bernard basically ruined everything.

Bernard: "I loved your father. As I have loved you, Harry. As your friends love you."

And then he simply buttles off, leaving Harry in silence.

Over at the scene of the crime, Mary Jane's suspended taxi falls for a bit, making her recycle some screams from Spider-Man 2. I must have watched that movie at least five times in the process of recapping it, so I know what those screams sound like, too. Apparently, not making her record new screams this was one of the ways they tried to make it up to her when this scene was changed to include her.

Luckily for her, her taxi gets caught in more webbing as Spider-Man comes along.

Pausing only to get in front of a flag.

Gotta cram in that flag somehow, even though the post-9/11 super-patriotism was wearing off at this point.

Barring certain individuals.

This isn't a Captain America movie. You don't have to cram the flag in at this point.

Spider-Man swings in to save the day as...

Reporter: "He seems to have come out of nowhere to answer the prayers of the city, just when all hope seemed to be lost."

Show, don't tell, movie.

Spider-Man goes to save MJ, only to get ambushed by Eddie. Yes, I should probably be calling him "Venom" by this point, but the movie won't. So why should I? For a film series that usually has funny scenes of J. Jonah Jameson naming the new villain, they never say “Venom” or “New Goblin,” and “Sandman” is only said once.

Anyway, Eddie gets to grab Mary Jane and make creepy ad libs.

Eddie Brock: "Ooooh, my spider-sense is tingling. If you know what I'm talking about."

Still not as creepy as some of his other ad libs, apparently, which included "I've upgraded from a vanilla to a strawberry.” Which, again, outright states that Mary Jane tastes like strawberry.

“Told ya.”

Spider-Man gets webbed down and Eddie pulls his mask off as the two dweebiest characters in the movie try to have a confrontation.

Peter Parker: "We can find a way to settle this."
Eddie Brock: "You're so right. I'm thinking... humiliation. Kinda like how you humiliated me."

I don't know what's worse, his puppy dog pout or the fact that his fangs are clearly hurting his mouth as he attempts to act. And that's a fact; he bruised his gums with those teeth.

Eddie continues to taunt Peter as Mary Jane gets to participate in a battle for once. She drops a wayward cinderblock on Eddie's head, distracting him long enough for Peter to free his fist and punch Eddie.

The two end up fighting in free fall, with Eddie swinging away while Peter smacks into the sand below. Mary Jane finds herself forced to abandon the webbed-up taxi when a webbed-up dump truck fall into it, but Spider-Man can't exactly save her right now, what with the Stay-Puft Sandman trying to kill him.

Let this be a lesson, kids. Teamwork gets results.

Eddie manages to web Peter down as Sandman begins smashing him with a gigantic sandy fist, but suddenly....

Reporter: "It's hard to believe what's happening."

Oh, you're back.

Reporter: "The brutality of it."

Are you payed to report by the word?

Reporter: "I don't know how he can take any more."

As the news continues, Spider-Man gets some help from an unexpected pumpkin bomb in Sandman's giant face. Harry comes down to smack Eddie away, suited up as the Two-Faced Goblin. With a bro-handshake, the team-up is official. And they work together to do a couple combo moves against the Sinister Two. As the fight continues, the film cuts to JJJ in the streets below, sans photographers. So he asks Sam Raimi's daughter for her camera.

Jameson: "Alright, how much for the camera?"
Girl: "One hundred bucks."

And in his desperation, he obliges. Too bad the camera's empty.

Girl: "Film's extra."

Clever girl.

Anyway, back in the plot, Harry and Spider-Man work together to reach Mary Jane and save her. Spider-Man deposits her on a floor of the building shortly before Harry calls for his help to defeat the bug guy. The fight continues, and Harry actually manage to defeat Sandman all by himself using some convenient missiles. So much for needing Spider-Man's help.

The fight continues as Eddie ambushes Peter and smacks him around for a bit with a metal pole. Peter tries to tell Eddie about the suit's corruption, but he doesn't care.

Eddie Brock: "I like being bad. It makes me happy."

Well, then your performance here should make you positively ecstatic.

Luckily, Harry returns to help, only to get smacked away. He bonks his head on a steel beam, which can't be good for that head injury. But all the falling metal poles clatter and clang, driving the symbiote nuts. Peter figures out that the symbiote is weak against sound, but Eddie tries to stab him with the spikes on Harry's glider. So like father, like son, Harry gets in the way to save his friend.

Peter musters the strength to break free from his bond and start banging poles together to weaken the symbiote. He makes a makeshift ring out of metallic poles and hits them until the vibrations...

Oh, geez, his spiel to Mary Jane about acoustics at the beginning of the movie was supposed to be foreshadowing, wasn't it?

Anyway, he weakens the symbiote and drags Eddie out of it, leaving behind an abomination of goo. So Peter tosses in a pumpkin bomb to finish it off. At the last second, Eddie jumps in to try and save the symbiote, getting caught in the blast.

When this film first came out, Sony was working on developing a Venom spin-off that slowly floundered until the series was rebooted by The Amazing Spider-Man. For years, I saw people swear up and down that the Venom movie was going to continue from Spider-Man 3 because Eddie’s remains are nowhere to be seen.

Well, I've got some bad news for you Venom fans who may have been harboring hope for the past decade that they might follow up directly from the events of this film.

There's his skeleton. Right there. If he doesn’t return as a naked blue man, I don’t think he’s coming back.

With the final boss defeated, Mary Jane heads over to a dying Harry Osborn while Flint tries to explain what happened all those years ago.

Flint Marko: "My daughter was dying."

"I see. So naturally, you shot my uncle."

He explains that he needed money badly, so he teamed up to rob the wrestling place. Flint's job was to steal the getaway car. Ben tried to convince Flint to just walk away and go home. And he probably would have, had his partner not come running in with the stolen cash. In his shock, Flint accidentally pulled the trigger and shot Ben Parker to death.

Flint Marko: "Did a terrible thing to you... and I spent a lot of nights wishing I could take it back. I'm not asking you to forgive me. I just want you to understand."

But Peter learns the film's lesson. Every person has the capacity to be driven to do bad things. And that doesn't make them a bad person. With that knowledge, Peter lets Sandman blow away in peace.

Peter Parker: "I forgive you."

Peter joins Mary Jane in Harry's final moments and apologizes for everything.

Harry Osborn: "None of that matters, Peter. You're my friend."
Peter Parker: "Best friend."

Harry Osborn dies as the sun rises.

Everybody shows up to his funeral.

Peter.

May.

Mary Jane.

Gwen.

Even Flash Thompson.

Peter Parker (Voice Over): "Whatever come our way, whatever battle we have raging inside us, we always have a choice. My friend Harry taught me that. He chose to be the best of himself. It's the choices that make us who we are, and we can always choose to do whats right."

Sometime later, Mary Jane sings "I'm Through With Love" at the jazz club as Peter Parker is allowed back to the club for some reason.

They lock eyes.

She stops singing.

They dance.

Fade out.

...
...

...

So...

MJ's career? Unresolved.

Their relationship? Unresolved.

Their possible marriage? Unresolved.

Flint Marko's daughter? Unresolved.

Except that last one was going to be resolved with the arrival of his daughter where she told her dad that she was incurable and no matter what he did, he wouldn't be able to save her. And all she wanted before she died was for her dad to remain a good man. And I guess it can be assumed that she died in the film as-is, since we never really see Flint pay for a cure.

But in the end, the only things that were actually resolved were Harry's revenge and the whole Venom thing.

I mean, I get that they wanted to make a Spider-Man 4 (and from what I've read, 5 and 6 were on the table, too), but this ending just feels empty and bleak.

So, uh... let's review.