One rather nagging plot hole from Spider-Man 3

[thatcrazycajun]

So the Songbird and I finally went to see Spider-Man 3 yesterday. And it was okay—kinda like the Empire Strikes Back of the Spidey trilogy—but one thing bothers me...

Toward film's end, the Osborn family butler comes to Harry Osborn and claims to have firsthand factual evidence that Spider-Man did not, in fact, kill Harry's father Norman, as Harry has insisted on believing till now, but that Norman accidentally killed himself. And he's held onto that information, not telling Harry, until right after Spider-Man is called out by Venom and the Sandman. This revelation instantly wipes out Harry's lust for Pete's blood and convinces him to go help Pete fight off the baddies and save Mary Jane Watson's life.

So lemme see if I got this straight...This faithful retainer kept his yap shut about this stuff for years now. Why didn't he tell Harry this right after it happened? Or at least sooner than this, say about a year ago when Harry was secretly training himself to use his daddy's Green Goblin gadgets to wreak violent vengeance upon Peter Parker, AKA Spidey (don't you dare try and tell me Jeeves-or-whatsisname didn't notice)? Seems to me this butler could have saved Harry, Peter, MJ and a whole lot of other people a big fat mess of unnecessary grief and carnage by coming forward sooner with what he knew.

But that's just me and my aversion to pat plot-resolution contrivances, I guess.

Comments

[stevemb.livejournal.com]

Agreed. They couldn't simply have Harry come to his senses enough to decide that saving MJ was more important than getting his revenge on Pete/Spidey?

[thatcrazycajun.livejournal.com]

My thoughts exactly; when Harry said "You don't deserve my help," I kept waiting for Pete to respond, "Maybe not, but she does" or some such thing...and was surprised he didn't.

Great minds think alike

[banjoplayinnerd.livejournal.com]

Or perhaps fools seldom differ. I had the same thought. Now that you mention it, it comes across as an exercise in lazy writing. It would have been just as easy for Peter to cut a deal with Harry: "OK, look, I know you think I killed your father, I know you hate me, and I can't change your mind about that in thirty seconds, and that's about all the time we have to save Mary Jane. Help me rescue her, and we can settle this later." Or words to that effect. You don't have to kill Harry off, you set yourself up for Spider-Man IV, and maybe you have a little extra tension during the big climactic battle. Will Harry swoop in to save Spidey or just let him fall?

Of course I suppose it's possible that James Franco could have wanted out of the series, or wanted to go out in a spectacular fashion, or something. Hard to say.

[callibr8]

The movie was entertaining but there were enough plot holes and "deus ex machina" moments to drive trucks through. Sigh.

[thatcrazycajun.livejournal.com]

"Trucks"?! Hell, there were plot holes big enough to throw Galactus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galactus) through!

Well, it's a comic book on film

[banjoplayinnerd.livejournal.com]

so you expect some of that, but really, this film wasn't as much about characterization and good writing as it was about spectacular sf/x. Too bad too, because it could have had both.