Let’s dive right into it, shall we?
I LOVED it! It met all of my expectations (which were quite high) and gave me the Spider-Man movie I had been waiting for. Was it perfect? No. But it was extremely good. I have had some grievances with the past two interpretations of Spider-Man on the big screen (whether it be the character himself, the plot, the villains, minor characters, etc.). But this version, I feel, got the most right out of all of them.
I’ll start with the plot: brilliant! It took a new POV on the Spider-Man story that we haven’t really explored that much. It’s not an origin story and it picks up several months after Peter got these powers as he tries to deal with his two lives. However, the film does it SO well and in a different, non-cliched way. It’s interesting because it’s not Spider-Man getting in the way of Peter Parker’s life (so much), it’s more of Peter Parker getting in the way of Spider-Man’s life. Because why would you want to be some loser in high school when you can be Spider-Man? The plot really focuses on the difficulties of being a teenager (with the added pressures of being a superhero). I remember the director saying something about being a teenager that “a Spanish test is just as stressful as talking to a girl which is just as stressful as taking down a supervillain.” That entire essence is totally captured in this film.
The entire plot had me sucked in though, whether it was Peter’s struggle with his high school life or his superhero life. All the stuff with the villains was great.
Speaking of villains, can I just talk about Michael Keaton as the Vulture? *slow claps* He was great! (But I mean, hey, it’s Michael Keaton). I loved his costume design; it was awesome, yet practical. I loved the fur on his jacket (like a homage to the original design of the Vulture). He was really intimidating when he had to be. Like, wow! I won’t go into spoilers, but there’s this one scene where he’s talking to Peter just so calmly about what he’s going to do and the tension is so high, and ooh, you just get the chills.
And on the topic of great acting... Tom Holland as Peter Parker/Spider-Man. He was so fantastic in Civil War and it just carried over into this movie. He held up this movie all on his own! His Peter Parker is just a funny, awkward, charming, sweet teenager trying to figure himself out. He was a very good balance between Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield. He’s not a complete geek who becomes a total boss like Tobey Maguire nor is he a snarky goofball like Andrew Garfield. His overzealousness, excitement, and slight immaturity makes him a bit awkward and unconventional as a superhero. He is very funny as Spider-Man, but he doesn’t intentionally say goofy and sarcastic things like Garfield, he just kind of says them.
There’s also a good deal of focus on how smart he is. I liked that. I’ll be interested to see how that plays into future movies when he interacts with other Avengers (like Banner and Stark who are also smart).
Sort of unrelated, but I really liked how much wall crawling there was in this movie. In all previous movies, most of the action focuses on Spider-Man swinging on his webs and he barely crawls on walls at all. It always bothered me a little because 1) Spiders are known more for crawling on walls, 2) Just because it’s more impressive/showy to always have Spider-Man swinging around doesn’t mean you need to, wall crawling is just as iconic when it comes to Spider-Man.
Tom Holland portrays it all perfectly. His goofy side and the dramatic side are on point!
All the lesser characters are awesome! They just all fit in their environment. Tony Stark’s presence was perfect and it worked much better than I expected. He fit right into the mentor role. That’s all I really have to say about that.
As for the comedy, there is a lot and it’s all great. I’m pretty sure I laughed at all the jokes. This is a very lighthearted and quirky film.
There are some dramatic moments though. There is one scene in particular near the end that really hit me in the gut because it was so emotional. Going back to Tom Holland’s performance, he was so freakin’ amazing in that scene. He just blew me away (until the special effects team kind of ruined it right at the end... but I looked past it).
Onto my criticisms, speaking of that:
The special effects were overall good. The line between CGI and practical effects were pretty seamless. However, some of their effects (even the practical ones) were pretty lame. That one scene I mentioned earlier (that I won’t go into detail about) in particular stood out. It was just SO fake! It really bothered me because it’s a big moment in the movie.
The action was a little shaky at parts and sometimes difficult to follow. The one stand out scene was when Spider-Man first faced off against the Vulture. I was pretty lost and it kind of hurt my eyes. I think maybe it could have been edited better? I’m not sure how it could have been improved. It wasn’t terrible, just not top notch.
My biggest criticism though has to do with Spider-Man himself: he was WAY to indestructible. I mean, I know he’s supposed to be pretty indestructible (like he’s got his extra strength and you can throw him through a brick wall and he’s fine and whatever), but in this film, he had some crazy stuff happen to him and he always walked away without a scratch. Literally! Not even a scratch! No black eye or nothing! (Except for one point at the end, he had a cut on his cheek... but that’s it!) You could probably drop an entire building on him and he’d be fine. It was pretty bothersome. He definitely should have had some broken bones or something (even on Spider-Man level tolerance) after all the stuff that happened to him, much less a bloody nose or split lip or something. Even his costume was always perfectly in tact. I know it was Stark Tech so I guess I can let that one slide because who knows what Tony did to that suit, but even when Peter wore his crappy old one, it didn’t tear or burn or anything.
The writers had better beware because this kind of thing is entering Superman territory. Lots of people don’t like Superman because he’s too indestructible. Peter’s only weakness with his powers (in appears) is that sometimes he has to refill his web cartridges. But that happens rarely.
Anyways, it was an overall really good movie. I found myself actually gasping with surprise, joy, and excitement at numerous parts. I was literally on the edge of my seat at others. Then I was laughing through the rest. I think it deserves an 8.5/10.
TRAILER
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