Jun 09, 2018
It should be noted that, out of everything that I loved as a child, Spider-Man was one of those. Of course, I'd have to say that it trailed behind the Terminator, X-Men, Batman, TMNT, and Power Rangers of the world. And, really, if I'm being honest, I liked Venom more than Spider-Man. That's why, when Spider-Man 3 (and this is back when Tobey Maguire was still Spider-Man) announced that Venom would be (what I assumed to be) the main villain of the film, the little kid in me was chomping at the bit. Of course, we all know how Spider-Man 3 turned out. It's the worst of the franchise and, I'm sure, to some people, one of the worst major superhero movies of all time. To say that Venom was a disappointment is an understatement, given that his appearance was very limited, like as in only left for the 3rd act instead of having him run roughshod as the main villain, forgetting all the nonsense with Sandman and all the other bullshit in that movie. Regardless, I'd still say that, as a kid, I was a Spider-Man fan. Obviously that fandom has dissipated since I, say, turned 13. But I've always been interested in following the franchise and now that Marvel Studios has reached a deal where they share the film rights to the character with Sony, they can finally introduce him to their larger universe. And, of course, with Civil War and Infinity War, they did just that. Having said all of that, though, and this might be a controversial statement to some, but I feel that Tom Holland is already the best out of the three actors who have played Spider-Man in films, at least since 2002. Tobey Maguire will, probably, always be the most associated with the character and Andrew Garfield, really, probably won't be remembered as well. I'm not saying that Toby and Andrew did a poor job, far from it. Then again, Tobey had some cringe-worthy scenes in the original trilogy. As did Andrew Garfield. But the reason I feel that Tom Holland is already the best Spider-Man is for one reason and one reason only. And that is the fact that he actually feels like a teenager in high-school. Tom is a very young man, he's 22, but he's got a very youthful appearance and his voice definitely helps him. So, to me, he can believably play a teen. And just the way he acts, with the energetic introductory minutes when he's filming his meeting Tony Stark and then filming the airport battle, it just feels far more authentic than Tobey and Andrew's portrayal. The issue with those two, to me, is that they were very clearly actors (both in their late-20s by the time of their first appearance as the character) pretending to be teens. Tom's performance, again, feels more authentic and, therefore, more believable. The thing about Tom, also, is that he's clearly very likable and that lends itself to a character like Spider-Man, where he's a meant to be a bit of a scrawny kid. Scrawny kids everywhere can look at him and relate to him and, maybe, even live vicariously through him. Another positive to me is that the movie isn't an origin story in the slightest. You don't get to see how he became Spider-Man. He's already been Spider-Man for two months at the film's start. There's no Uncle Ben and how he tragically died. Maybe some comic book nerds hate that, but it's a story that has already been told twice. For this second reboot, they needed to do something different. Something that we haven't seen before, from this character at least. The fact that Peter Parker has already been Spider-Man for a couple of months at the start of the film frees up the writers to just get down to the nitty-gritty. If they had done an origin story, who knows how much time that would have taken up and then to establish a villain that feels like an actual threat, I just feel like there wouldn't be enough time to do all of these things and to do them well. The simpler, no-frills approach allows them to hit the ground running. I also like the idea that Peter is on this Stark Internship that's, basically, a series of tests to show Tony Stark that Peter is, in fact, ready to join the Avengers and be part of the team. So, in exchanging the origin story, you still get that part where Peter is still trying to figure out his powers and what exactly to do with them. The entire movie is a learning process for him. And I like that, it's far more believable than just having a few scenes where Tobey's Spidey, as an example, would just tumble around and fall off buildings while learning the truth strength of his powers. This, really, is an entire movie of that. And, in my opinion, that allows you to learn more about the character, given that he's still not in full control of his abilities as a result of the fact that he's still just 15 years old. So, yea, I liked that more grounded approach to the superhero lore. Obviously, there's still the over-the-top action you've come to expect from Spider-Man, where he uses his agility and his web shooters to tie up evildoers up in crazy ways. Having said that, I commend the movie for, again, taking a more grounded and 'believable' approach to the characters. But there's a couple of issues I have with that. Look, I have friends who live in New York, but as a setting for a film, particularly one like this, it's really played out. The reason I say this is that the last Marvel movie I saw (Thor: Ragnarok) took place in a beautifully vibrant and exciting world. Guardians of the Galaxy takes place in strange planets as well. Doctor Strange has incredibly crazy and surreal visuals. And that's not even talking about movies that I haven't seen like Black Panther and Infinity War. Who knows where those films go, visually speaking at least. So, with everything that you've seen out of Marvel and the craziness attached to how they approach their world design, just New York City as a setting is, honestly, a little bland. I'm not saying that NYC, as a whole, is bland, since that city is full of personality and life. But, again, this is in comparison to what I've seen of late from Marvel Studios' own movies. There are also still the same issues with the villains in the MCU being more like 'villains of the week' instead of being actually memorable characters. I don't know how Vulture plays out in the comics and if he's one of Spidey's most memorable villains, but the character just does nothing for me here. I mean, as far as motivations go, he's probably got some of the best. The rich (ie: Tony Stark) screwed him out of a contract to pick up salvage from the Battle of New York from the original Avengers, I'm assuming, by the Stark corporation. So, to ge back at Stark, Vulture proceeds to become sort of an advanced weapons dealer using the Chitauri technology that he and his crew already salvaged. That's all fine and good, but I feel that there's nothing to Vulture as a character, other than him being the father of Peter's crush, Liz. Michael Keaton is great, as always, but the character definitely needed a lot of work and, from what I understand, he's coming back for the sequel. And it'll be interesting where they pick things up with him, given how everything ended here between himself and Peter. But, back to the positives, while I wouldn't call the film hilarious, I do like the lighter tone. It doesn't take itself as seriously as one might have expected and it's to the benefit of this film. Because, in my opinion, this ends up feeling like an 80s teen comedy (ala John Hughes) mixed in with a superhero flick. And, honestly, that's not something that I thought I'd ever see. I'll be honest, in spite of all the positives I've mentioned about this flick, I felt that there was something honestly missing. I never felt that it was anything more than good. Even after Tony took Peter's enhanced suit away and Peter was forced to, really, become his own man (so to speak) for the first time and take care of matters himself with his own shitty, DIY costume. I thought that was good character progression, since you got to see Peter mature. But, and I suppose this is what the beginning of every franchise is, but this felt like a glorified starting point for bigger and, hopefully, better things. This was a way to reintroduce the character into the wider and larger MCU. Of course, they did so in a way where you don't have to have followed the larger arc to enjoy this movie. But, really, this was just a reintroduction of the character. And, really, it's kinda hard to see that, in my opinion, as a great movie. I don't think this is a great movie nor do I think it was even ever meant to be. It was meant to be a solid popcorn movie, but it's also very obviously the starting point for bigger things. I realize that might sound stupid, but, again, I never felt like this was meant to be a great movie. This sets the stage for the sequel where they will, then, pull out all the stops. I also like the little hints of chemistry between Michelle and Peter, setting up a potential romance in the sequels, given that she's this Spidey's version of Mary Jane. She goes by the initials of MJ, but she's not Mary Jane. As far as building up a sequel, there's a minor post-credit scene where Vulture seems like he's gonna be gunning for Peter if he gets out. There's also a hint of a Sinister Six-like team that could also be gunning or Peter in one of the sequels. So they've set the stage, now all that's left is to follow through. The post-credit scene with Captain America is also pretty funny, given the expectations people now have of Marvel Studios films always having some sort of post-credits scene where something is set-up for the future. People will sit through minutes and minutes and minutes of insufferable credits only to catch a glimpse of what's coming next. Well, this post-credits scene pokes fun at that and I liked it. Definitely very meta, but it was pretty funny. While there's a lot that I liked about this movie, there was nothing about it that I loved. Well, I mean, Tom Holland is pretty great. I'm not saying that there's nothing to see here, since you probably need to see this if you're gonna be invested in the sequels, but I don't feel that there's anything here that's gonna blow anyone away. Again, it provides an enjoyable and good summer blockbuster. It's nothing more than that. So while I would give it a thumbs up, I can't really give it a glowing recommendation. I watched this because I had a Starz free trial on Amazon Prime, so if you have that, then give this a shot. If not, then just wait to see if a friend has the DVD and borrow it from then. I don't feel that there's any reason to actually spend money on this. Still, good enough movie. Looking forward to what the sequels bring to the table.
Verified