Spider-man: Homecoming is the Star Wars: The Force Awakens of the MCU/Spider-man movies. And that's fine. For the quick review: If you're curious about the movie, go see it. It's an enjoyable summer blockbuster for which a big audience will greatly help.
As for a more extended spoiler-free review...
The fast pacing/editing of the film helps it become Marvel's funniest movie yet, easily glossing over a number of conveniences in the story, but sadly ruining any dramatic moments. There were a number of what should have been great dramatic character moments that were undercut by poor setup, the previously mentioned fast pacing or just awkward editing. Indeed, subsequent scenes progress as if nothing happened.
Regarding acting, Tom Holland is an excellent Peter Parker / Spider-man. He exudes a natural intelligence and charisma, creating two distinct personalities for the two personas (the awkward Peter and confident Spider-man). While it was great seeing Michael Keaton on screen, particularly as a villain, I found his character to lack real motivation - it felt more contrived for the story Marvel / Sony wanted to tell than actually fitting of the character - why did he have such a grudge / the motivation he had? Better writing would have helped him greatly. At least Marvel tried to do a villain justice with this one, though.
The supporting character were lots of fun (Ned, Liz, Michelle, Flash), but ultimately created in service of Peter - I look forward to seeing them fleshed out. Aunt May was a particular victim of this. While Marisa Tomei is fun in the role, Aunt May was mostly around to be sexualized, providing Peter very little of the dramatic character motivation (and reminder of Uncle Ben) that's such an integral part of Spider-man.
As for the core MCU characters, Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) and his assistant/friend Happy (Jon Favreau) did fine, but felt largely unnecessary. However, Chris Evans as Captain America stole every one of his cameos.
As a hybrid installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, along with Sony's own Spider-man franchise, there are a TON of fun Easter Eggs and cameos that make the film a treat to watch, though also more of a Marvel movie than Spider-man, per se. Unlike with the Amazing Spider-man movies, I look forward to the pending "Spider-man Cinematic Universe" - it's been set-up nicely so far.
For music, following in the footsteps of Danny Elfman, Christopher Young, James Horner and Hans Zimmer, Michael Giacchino's score was underwhelming and ancillary - it nicely helped accentuate what was happening on-screen, but ultimately unmemorable. It kept teasing the retro theme used in the Marvel logo, but never built to it in the film. On a side note, of the pantheon of Spider-man composers, Christopher Young is my favorite of the bunch for his work on Spider-man 3 and contributions to Spider-man 2.
All of the above said, Spider-man: Homecoming is definitely RECOMMENDED. It's a fun time, but more of an intro chapter/return-to-form than proper Spider-man movie. Regardless, I'm looking forward to more Spider-man.
No comments:
Post a Comment