"We always have the choice to do the right thing,"

Says Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) in Spider-Man 3.

We took the kids to see Spider-Man 3 last night.

I loved this movie.

I've seen a few reviews that basically panned it (see here and here for starters), but I probably liked it for the reasons it got panned.

I love movies with strong themes about good and evil and, most importantly, the choices we make between the two. Spider-man 3 does a good job of showing us how negative emotions like revenge and anger can eat away at our souls if we allow them to.

In this third installment, Peter Parker is as happy as can be. Spider-man is well loved, he's got his girl M.J. (Kirsten Dunst), and the world is basically his oyster. But Peter suffers from hubris and, just as in the Greek tragedies, it leads to his downfall. His insensitivity and self-centeredness drive M.J. away into the arms of his friend-cum enemy Harry (James Franco). The pain and anger Peter feels from M.J.'s rejection turn him to his dark side...and the black Spider-man suit which is made from alien goo.

The alien goo brings out aggressiveness in whoever it touches, and Peter is no exception. While some panned Peter's malevolent cockiness (his John Travolta-esque dance, his humiliation of M.J.), I thought they went well with his lovable geek character. We wouldn't really expect Peter to suddenly start assaulting old ladies on the street or flipping his tyrannical boss (J.K. Simmons) the bird, but gleefully destroying the career and personal life of a rival photographer (Topher Grace) is certainly believable.

There were various moments I liked about this movie: the racy feeling of Spider-man swinging through the city, the action sequences, the curious creation of Sandman (Thomas Haden Church), and especially the shot of the American flag, which evidently made a few tea-sippers get the vapors.

But I wanted to clap for glee when Tobey Maguire said that we always have the choice to do the right thing. It's so rare for a movie to actually take a conservative view.

He's right. We always have the choice to do the right thing, whether it is in our personal lives or in our national ones. It's too bad more liberals don't recognize that "doing the right thing" is always an option, even if your circumstances aren't ideal.

Cross-posted at Common Sense Political Thought.