The latest instalment in the all-powerful media overlord that is the MCU “swung” into cinemas on the 19th of December.
The film itself was surrounded by a thick sea of hype, after its record-breaking trailer and massive advertisement campaign so, as a comic fan, I naturally went to see it. My thoughts and opinions are slightly biased as a Spider-Man fan, but I will try to make this a review of a film, rather than of a superhero story.
The flick itself is the culmination of 20 years of movies featuring the wall-crawler, the spiritual sequel to Sam Raimi and Tobey Maguires’ campy yet deeply emotional trilogy, Marc Webb and Andrew Garfields’ dark and gritty motion picture (and sequel) and the latest MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe), big-budget duo of films, starring Tom Holland and directed by Jon Watts. After Peter Parker’s identity is revealed to the world which leads to a botched spell to make it so it never was, the new story presents villains from all 3 reboots, brought in to the MCU (Tom Holland’s reality) by the gone wrong unspecified magical forces, and the two other titular heroes (Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield) are also conjured in to help defeat the various bad guys.
Despite the complicated premise, the flick manages to maintain a well-paced posture and the fan-service presented is perfectly nostalgic, referencing certain lines and featuring certain characters, while not really hindering the plot. The first half of the film is riddled with the charm but blandness of most Marvel movies including the last two Spidey films. This is mostly due to brilliant writers and directors being hired but put to no good use, so all of the effort shows in the dialogue and chemistry and, although I don’t mind the “breezy” teen movie vibe, there is no emotional investment or consequences as a side effect to the use of this theme.
Mid-way through the story however, Peter loses his mentor and mother-figure, Aunt May, and realizes that the tragedy is his fault. At first he is inconsolable and reverts to the child-like feeling of just wanting it to all go away, but after a heart-felt talk with the (somewhat) mature, older, wiser Spider-men, he resolves to cure the villains of their curses/powers (i.e., one possesses super-human strength, but has an evil dual-personality) resulting in one of the most epic fight sequences of the web-heads versus 19 years’ worth of anti-arachnid villains. After a handy bit of character development involving Holland’s Peter not killing the man responsible for his aunt’s death, instead helping him regain his sanity, Spider-man has to make the ultimate sacrifice, in allowing everyone to forget about him to save the universe. (The magic here is ridiculously vague) This is all very emotional, as he will be forgotten by his best friend and girlfriend, but it finally reveals his true selflessness.
In Holland’s previous films, his character has been upbeat and fun, but you get the idea that he is way off the deep end, and his heroics are all just to win approval, so when he decides to essentially disappear into a world where he is unloved and lonely, but still continue to help others, show that he is matured as a superhero.
As he trudges into a crappy old apartment and then ventures out into the night, donning a newly crafted suit, a newly crafted identity, the film is no longer a big budget MCU tie-in, but, finally, a Spider-Man story.
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