You always have a choice. That’s the lesson we learn in the latest adventures of everyone’s favorite wall-crawler. We are not hapless victims of circumstance; whether we choose for good or for ill, we always have a choice.

Now that you know this, it’s time to put that knowledge to use as you decide whether or not you want to see Spider-Man 3. Yes it’s one of the biggest films of the summer. Yes it the third (but not necessarily final) chapter in one of the most successful and perhaps greatest film franchises of all time. But none of that means that you have to go see this movie. Remember, you always have a choice.

Now you may be wondering why I would even suggest that perhaps you wouldn’t want to see Spider-Man 3. Don’t get me wrong; it’s a good movie. I had fun and was entertained, and at the end of the day, that’s what movies are for. However, the one word that really describes Spider-Man 3 is “disjointed.” This is perfunctory, mechanical, “going through the motions of making another sequel to continue a franchise as long as it’s financially lucrative” filmmaking. Again, that doesn’t make the movie bad, but it also means that Spider-Man 3 isn’t nearly all it could have been.

In truth, this could really be called The Peter Parker Movie. The marquee title’s headliner—Spidey himself—makes very few appearances, and even when he does, he once again seems to think the whole concept of wearing a mask to conceal one’s secret identity is a fairly optional fashion choice. Most of the movie centers on the life of Peter Parker, and surprisingly enough, this is where the movie is at its best. We finally see a (surprising) resolution to the simmering relationship of Peter and Harry Osborne, we see how Peter handles finally having MJ on his arm as his girlfriend, and we even see Peter deal with himself and some of things deep within him that would have been better left unleashed.

As for Spider-Man, well, although he does have some exciting sequences, he really seems to be missing from this movie. Even when he’s there, it’s like the filmmakers remembered, “Oh yeah, this is a Spider-Man film, we’d better put him in somewhere.”

Still, I love the fact that in a society that’s constantly telling us nothing we do is our fault—especially if we do bad things, it’s really due to our environment, or culture, or upbringing, or whatever—that Hollywood, of all places, would release a movie that tells us we always have a choice.

Peter Parker gets taken over by an alien “symbiote” that helps Peter unleash his dark side. (On a side note, I really liked how they handled “evil” Peter, instead of making him the typical brooding, moody, raspy-voiced Batman archetype for whenever a hero goes dark.) Despite the fact that an “alien made him do it,” Peter realizes that he always had a choice as to whether or not he would embrace and follow his darker impulses.

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