Things are going pretty well for the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man aka Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire). The criminals in New York City aren’t coming out in force anymore, the citizens all adore him as their protector and the love of his life Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst) is about to open in a starring role in her first Broadway production. Things are so great, in fact, Peter is going to ask MJ to marry him, Aunt May (Rosemary Harris) even giving him her wedding ring to do so.

But all isn’t going to go quite as planned. First, best friend Harry Osborne (James Franco) has discovered his late father’s arsenal and taken up the mantel of Goblin in order to exact revenge. Next, a new villain nicknamed Sandman (Thomas Haden Church) has come to town looking to cause a little havoc. Third, egocentric journalist Eddie Brock (Topher Grace) is doing all he can to take Peter’s place at The Daily Bugle and steal a staff position. Fourth, Mary Jane isn’t happy about being pushed aside all the time by her beau every time Spider-Man is needed for a photo op, putting Parker’s wedding plans in serious jeopardy.

More horrific than all of this, however, is the appearance of a mysterious black Spidey Suit that the wall-crawler starts to wear. This new outfit enhances his abilities and gives Peter more power than he’s ever imagined. But the suit has a downside, the alien life form within feeding off its wearer’s pride, egotism and vengefulness, and the longer Parker wears it the closer he comes to losing himself – and Spider-Man – to its awesome power forever.

The most intriguing and eagerly anticipated aspect of Spider-Man 3 for longtime fans of the character has to be the birth of Venom and how the web-spinning superhero faces him. The other facets of this tale and the loose ends left by the previous chapters are nothing compared to this storyline, this battle between ultimate good and evil, this war between yin and yang, the thing above all others I (and so many others) couldn’t wait to see get played out upon the cinema screen.

Unfortunately, this time around director Sam Raimi has disappointingly dropped the ball. This third go-around for Stan Lee and Steve Ditko’s legendary character is a shockingly inert bore. It is a simpleminded video game passing as entertainment, a tiredly routine wannabe summer thrill ride almost entirely devoid of the inherent charm, spunk, energy and excitement which made previous installments of this series such a fantastical joy.

What’s most startling about all this is a how little interest Raimi now has with the material. Recent comments about making another sequel notwithstanding, based on what’s on display here I can’t help but think this cult filmmaker is more then ready to move on to other projects. Parts of this are just ludicrous. There are two full-blown musical numbers, a segment that looks like it was lifted from Dancing with Stars and a bizarrely idiotic sequence feeling like a surreal homage to, of all things, Saturday Night Fever.

Yet, what is most shocking about this isn’t Raimi’s goofing off (he’s always been a bit of joker within the confines of his pictures), it is instead how little weight or worth he gives to the Venom/Spider-Man plotline. The black suit doesn’t even appear until over an hour in, while the vicious and brutal arch-villain doesn’t throw his first piece of webbing until the movie’s last half hour. Venom is an afterthought, and considering he is the most intriguing part of this story the fact he is such a bore is nearly a downright disaster.

In all fairness, calling Spider-Man 3 a disaster would be more than a little bit harsh. It isn’t, not by a long shot, moments of this as exhilarating and stupendous as anything I’m likely to see this summer. But, then, that’s also part of the problem. Who cares if an opening action sequence between Spider-Man and the new Goblin is a magnificent marvel of character, CGI technology and eye-popping action if the remainder of the film is an out and out bore?

Still, I love the fact Raimi and company does actually wrap up the Parker/Osborne melodrama with moving sensitivity. The love-hate thing going on between them is complex and multifaceted, the filmmakers not skimping on this fact allowing this friendship to bob and weave in ways I almost wasn’t expecting. In fact, this is the best Franco has been in the series, his scenes in particular stealing my heart to a far greater extent than I’d ever have anticipated.

I just wish it was enough. Dunst is wasted for the third time, relegated once more to scream-and-puppy-dog-eyes duty and really nothing more. Adding in a new love interest, dim-witted blonde bombshell Gwen Stacy (Bryce Dallas Howard), certainly doesn’t help matters, just overstuffing a story bursting at the seams with too many characters as it is. In all actuality, none of the new actors manage to make much of an impression, all of them stranded with characters so thin and one dimensional they might as well be made out of cardboard.

All of this added together just makes Spider-Man 3 the summer’s first bona fide disappointment. Raimi and company haven’t spun a web worthy of the previous two chapters, this colossally sad state of affairs (and, at a reported $300-million, massively expensive enterprise) more misguided than anything I ever could have foresaw even in my worst nightmares. I didn’t like it, and for a long-time fan (of both the character and the movies) that’s about as sad a statement as there probably is.