Sin, Mercy and Love

Peter Forgives Sandman - Spider-Man 3 (2007) Movie CLIP HD

Peter Parker's conflict in Spider-Man 3.

Sandman: “I didn’t want this… But I had no choice.”

Spiderman: “We always have a choice. You had a choice when you killed my uncle!”

Sandman: “My daughter was dying. I needed money. I was scared. I told your uncle all I wanted was the car. He said to me, ‘Why don’t you just put down the gun, and go home?’ I realize now he was just trying to help me. Then I saw my partner running over with the cash, and the gun was in my hand. *audible gunshot* I did a terrible thing to you. I’ve 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.”

Spiderman: “I’ve done terrible things too.”

Sandman: “I didn’t choose to be this. The only thing left of me now… is my daughter.”

Spiderman: “I forgive you.”

* * *

Seriously! The older I get, the better Tobey Maguire’s Spiderman movies become.

Every time I’ve watched them in the past 5 or so years, parts of them stand out more prominently than they ever had before.

Take, for example, this incredibly moving scene from Spider-Man 3, where Sandman makes his heavy, heart-wrenching confession of murder and robbery to Spiderman and Spiderman, in turns, forgives him for killing his Uncle Ben. (Like wow! Cinematic gold!)

Spider-Man 3 always used to be my least favorite movie of the trilogy, considering it had basically 2 (sometimes 3) villains in it, with barely any hope for the heroes to reunite and get back on their A-game to ultimately win the victory… (Plus! Harry dies :( It is tragic!)

But a few months ago, I was home alone one day and decided to put in the disc for Spider-Man 3. I mean- why not? We had already re-watched the other two in the days before then, so I figured I’d finish off re-watching the whole trilogy. No movie left behind after all! (Except when it’s perhaps, say… Star Wars? Hah!)

Anyways.

You know how they say taste buds change as you get older?

Well, I think in some cases, movie preferences change as well.

Because I LITERALLY FELL IN LOVE with Spider-Man 3 that day!

The whole movie is such a struggle, and it’s horrible and yet beautiful all at the same time. Throughout the film, the scenes and events show in detailed images what it’s like in the life of a hero who walks on the very brink of good and evil. (I don’t mean to say Spiderman is “on the fence” about good and evil, but that he is literally the force in New York City that is trying so hard to keep the two powers separate and distinct, which additionally and consequently means he must also be the bridge between the city’s order and disorder, crime and peace. On top of it all, he has to deal with being a vigilante in that law’s eyes, a hero in the citizens eyes, and a mess in his own perspective.)

It’s a great movie, really!

(Shout-out to those who haven’t seen it in a while- here’s your sign! *wink, wink* ;)

But! To get to my point.

I want to specifically zero-in on this momentous part towards the end- not just with Sandman, but with the whole gang: Venom, Sandman, Mary Jane, Harry and Spiderman as they all stand together in this final scene of the movie. (It is absolutely *chef’s kiss*)

Let’s get right into it, shall we?

* * *

For the sake of keeping this blog post short (Pfft, yeah right!), I’ll start us off right around the time where Harry comes to the rescue.

This is already such a development in the plot, because Harry and Peter have been at odds and fighting majorly over the duration of the whole movie prior to this point. This is mostly due to Peter’s identity being revealed as Spiderman to Harry, which is a big deal because Harry believes it was Spiderman who killed father, the Green Goblin. We won’t get into ALL of the juicy details at this time, but it’s good stuff!

So anyways. Harry makes his grand entrance by firing a bomb directly into the side of giant Sandman’s face just as he is smashing the helpless Spiderman to a pulp.

“You came,” Peter chokes through all the sand and his potential lung failure.

Harry extends his hand to him in a gesture of reconciliation, and says, “Looks like just in the nick of time.”

“A couple of minutes ago wouldn't have been so bad either,” Peter says and smiles at him, somewhat sheepishly.

“What are you gonna do?” Harry shrugs apologetically and smirks.

Then, just like that, they are thrown back into the heat of the fight. All around them is swirling tons of sand, the constant threat of Venom lurking behind in every shadow, and the passing of impending doom as Mary Jane precariously hangs in a black web.

When it seems Harry has momentarily brought Sandman crashing and tumbling down, he and Peter both go to the immediate rescue of Mary Jane, who is falling to her demise yet again. (Ya gotta love a good ol’ fashioned damsel in distress, am I right? :) After catching her, Peter (safely) drops her off on one of the building’s stable stories.

“You okay?” He asks quickly.

And it takes her a few seconds to reply before she says, “Yeah.”

“Good,” Peter responds, before he returns in haste to help Harry.

It’s a tense moment between Peter and MJ, but it is oh so wonderful!

Following this, Spiderman and Harry work together briefly against Sandman (who isn’t quite defeated), until Spiderman is once more confronted by Venom.

They duel it out briefly but Venom soon overpowers Spiderman and webs his wrists down so he cannot move.

“Never wound… what you can’t kill.” Venom hisses.

They then have a brief discourse where Peter talks about how he knows what it feels like to have the symbiote control and give unnatural power to his body, but he warns that the alien will quickly take over the very person Eddie is.

Venom, of course, doesn’t care and is about to stab Spiderman through the heart, when out of nowhere Harry comes to his rescue again!

In a blur of crazed adrenaline and action, Venom fearfully dodges to the side as Harry flies in and is knocked off his glider by a black web. A handful of hollow, metal tubes come crashing down all around Harry’s fallen body, and the symbiote Venom starts to go crazy with the resounding noise. In a flash, Peter remembers his own struggle with the Venom in the bell tower of the church and it clicks in his brain that the alien hates sound. But before he can free himself from the sticky webs Eddie spun around his wrists, Venom picks up Harry’s glider and goes to stab him again.

But just as he is about to thrust the twin blades, Harry jumps in front of it and saves his best friend’s life. Venom throws his body aside and Peter screams, “HARRY!”

A moment of silence for Harry, please. :’(

In an outburst of courage, strength and lots of rage, Peter breaks himself free and whacks venom into the circle of metal tubes. After hitting two of them together to distract the monster, he forms a circle (almost like a chime) around Venom. This causes the creature to break apart and Eddie is visible. Peter yanks him out and throws one of Harry’s bombs into the ring, but Eddie jumps in at the last second and dies alongside the Venom.

Spiderman stands there in shock.

* * *

Then, from the shadows you hear Sandman’s voice,

“I didn’t want this.”

Didn’t want what? Viewers want to ask. Did you not want all the bloodshed, all the pain, all the suffering? Or did you not want to be involved?

“...But I had no choice,” he finishes, gritting his teeth.

Peter narrows his eyes towards his enemy and almost sneers, “We always have a choice. You had a choice when you killed my uncle!”

Sandman’s eyes flicker with the memory of the old man, and then he goes on to tell his story of the night it happened, explaining that he only wanted Uncle Ben’s car, but the man told him to go home instead. As he was listening to Ben, his partner came running up behind him and hit him in the back, causing him to fire his gun on accident.

“I did a terrible thing to you,” Sandman tells Peter in the present, “I’ve 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.”

Peter’s eyes well with tears. Not only because of the realization of what happened to his dear Uncle Ben, but also because he knows he has been a terrible person over the last few weeks and has done some terrible things to those he loves most.

“I’ve done terrible things too,” he confesses with his voice breaking slightly.

Sandman’s expression softens a bit and he turns to go. “I didn’t choose to be this. The only thing left of me now is my daughter.”

In a moment of total silence, Peter’s bottom lip wobbles with emotion and then he opens his mouth to speak. At first, no words come forth, but then… softly he says,

“I forgive you.”

Sandman nods and gives a tiny grimace of sorrow, before he dissipates into a cloud of sand into the horizon.

* * *

The scene skips forward to Harry, who is dying rapidly in the arms of Mary Jane, some stories below Peter’s fight with Venom raging only minutes before.

Peter rushes to his comrade’s side, and Mary Jane’s tear-filled eyes meet his own.

“Hey pal,” Peter manages to say, “How ya doing?”

“I’ve been better.” Harry replies.

“We’ll get you through this.”

“No.” Harry whispers and gently shakes his head.

A moment of heartbreak ensues for Peter and MJ.

“I should never have hurt you. Or said those things,” Peter mumbles, regretfully.

“None of that matters, Peter. You’re my friend.” Harry says, peacefully and certainly.

Shaking his head and holding in sobs, Peter confirms him by murmuring, “Best friend.”

Harry rests his gaze on Peter a few more seconds before he blinks and turns towards the warm, comforting arms of Mary Jane and Death.

Peter completely breaks down in a moment of tender vulnerability and whispers, painfully, “Harry.”

Then. It closes with Peter and MJ mourning on opposite sides of their dear friend, as the orange and pink sunset brings the scene to its end.

Dear Reader,

These breathtaking scenes from Spider-Man 3 give us three tremendous insights to the nature of sin, mercy and love.

…

With the Venom and his attachment to Eddie (or, I guess I could say Eddie’s attachment to Venom), we witness something utterly grotesque about how sin manifests itself. Like a deadly-poisonous weed, evil latches itself onto a human host. The key difference between the Venom with Spiderman and Eddie is that Eddie allowed the symbiote to consume ALL of him, and this is symbolized by the fact that Venom seeped into his mouth. Jesus said that out of the mouth, the heart speaks. By letting Venom percolate into the inner flesh of his being, he is giving him an entrance into the entirety of who he is.

“I like being bad,” he later tells Spiderman, “It makes me happy.”

Sin is a parasite, folks. And it’s not a “healthy” animalistic relationship where sin gets something out of us and we get something out of it. Sin is an ALL-CONSUMING, ALL-LECHEROUS, ALL-DEADLY bloodsucker of everything we hold dear. And even if everything we hold dear is only ourselves, sin LOVES destroying YOU the most.

I think Venom most especially finds a likeness with addiction in our lives.

Think about it.

At the beginning of an addiction, a person unknowingly allows something to enter their bodies, manipulate them and/or control their happiness. As the enslavement continues along the line, the host of the addiction finds themselves a shell of who they are, serving only their main purpose to get their next “fix” or “kill” (in Venom’s case). This desperation consumes their thoughts, motivations and intent.

My Reader:

Do not let evil get a foothold in your life. You can scoff at me when I say that IT WILL ALWAYS AND ASSUREDLY DESTROY YOU, but it’s a price I have to pay to tell the truth. Venom is the embodiment of sin and evil itself. Be Spiderman, not Venom!

Be cool, stay in school. (I’m just kidding… That has no correlation to what I’m saying. :)

…

While some could care less about Flint Marco and Sandman, I think there is something worth delving into about his story- especially his confession at the end.

“I didn’t want this.” He starts off by saying to Spiderman right after Venom is killed.

What exactly didn’t he want? Did he not want to be a criminal? Did he not want to be turned into sand? Did he not want to work with Venom to kill Spiderman? Did he not want to be the villain of the story?

It is quite possible he meant all of these at once.

“But I didn’t have a choice.” He continues.

Ah, how many times I’ve fallen into the lie of believing I have no choice in my own life.

When colossal tragedies happen to us, do we still believe we have a choice?

Do we give up the fight when we see the enemy bring out the Big-Daddy cannon?

Do we let someone (or something) else determine what choice we make?

Do we continue to be good, even when bad happens to us?

Or do we succumb to the badness itself…?

“We always have a choice!” Peter reminds his foe, “You had a choice when you killed my uncle!”

Sandman barely blinks at the mention of the past event.

He remembers yet another mistake he’s made, yet another pothole in his road of life.

“I did a terrible thing to you,” he mutters, “I’ve spent a lot of nights wishing I could take it back.”

How many times have you tossed and turned in your bed in the middle of the night, reminiscing bitterly about that horrible mistake you made years ago?

How many times have you lied awake in the darkness, mulling over the hurt facial expressions you caused, the voices breaking because of you, the anger in someone’s eyes?

Every single one of us can relate to Sandman in this distressing scene.

And then, (the saddest part, in my opinion) Sandman says, “I’m not asking you to forgive me. I just want you to understand.”

This poor, wretched, wayward soul has not even enough dignity anymore to ask for forgiveness! Mercy is not something tangible to him.

How often do we refrain from asking someone to forgive us? Instead, how often do we simply explain our sorrow and ask only for understanding (knowing that at least someone could try to understand)?

What’s so beautiful about this scene is Spiderman’s reaction, and when I rewatched this movie a few months ago, I started to weep the moment he spoke.

He gazes at Sandman with- yes- understanding of the truth about what happened to his beloved uncle. But then his eyes are cast downwards as he thinks about how many terrible mistakes and wounds he’s made recently in the hearts of those around him.

He thinks about telling Aunt May how he let a robber slip through his fingers in spite.

He thinks about humiliating and hurting MJ.

He thinks about blowing up the side of Harry’s face.

He thinks about harassing Eddie.

He thinks about using Gwen.

“I’ve done terrible things too.” he admits.

And there are tears in his eyes.

THIS is what empathy is about. This is what mercy is.

Mercy is simply about looking at our friend, our parents, our spouse, our boyfriend, our enemy with all of their mistakes and flaws and tragedies, and realizing that we are just as terrible as we perceive them to be.

Any amount of ridicule we could throw at them, could be thrown directly back at us.

Any amount of scorn, hate or disdain we could sneer at them, might as well be us sneering in a mirror.

“I didn’t choose to be this. The only thing left of me now.. is my daughter.” Sandman says, quietly.

Peter Parker, Spiderman, the hero of the movie, looks at his enemy and opens his mouth to speak.

He hesitates.

But only for a second before he whispers, “I forgive you.”

My Reader:

Do not let someone else’s shortcomings blind you to your own. When you are tempted to condemn a loved one for their mistakes, take a moment to remember how many times you have failed. We are all villains in a sense. We have all committed terrible crimes and said unspeakable things. But the only reason a hero is a hero, is because he forgives his enemies.

Just like Christ did.

Just like He still does every time He forgives US.

A hero is a hero because he extends the same mercy he has received but doesn't deserve to those around him, though they don’t deserve it either.

No one deserves Mercy.

But everyone can share it.

…

“Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13, Douay Rheims).

Harry Osborne was a character who lived in the shadow of others, even though he had amazing qualities and a personality of gold.

He didn’t have strange powers like Peter.

He didn’t have brains like Peter or his father.

Basically all he had was what he inherited materialistically after his father died.

He had all of his money, his house, his technology, his Green Goblin legacy.

But in the end, Harry cast it all aside and put it to use for the good of his friends.

If Harry hadn’t come to save Peter from Sandman pounding him to death, all would’ve been lost.

If Harry hadn’t jumped in front of his own glider’s blade as Venom thrust it towards Spiderman, all would’ve been lost.

The courage of a friend is truly what saved New York City that night.

The death of a friend saved a friend.

“I should never have hurt you,” Peter tells Harry softly as the life is fading from his body, “Or said those things..”

Harry tilts his scorched head ever so slightly and gazes at his friend, “None of that matters, Peter. You’re my friend.”

“Best friend,” Spiderman replies, his bottom lip trembling.

My Reader:

Take heart! We see from Harry’s heroic death that even if sin (like Venom) manifests itself for a time in our lives, and even if we make terrible mistakes (like Sandman), we can still find the courage in our hearts to fight for what we know is still good and true and beautiful.

We can still love our loved ones.

We can still save the day.

We can still be a hero.

~ K.k.W.

August 28, 2023; 12:33 p.m.