Film chat

[Jassassino]

I went into the new Spider-Man with incredibly low expectations. MCU generally has been plateauing since phase 521, the trailers from this film were super vague and it overall felt like they were shitting out a new Spider-Man movie because Spider-Man is popular and guaranteed to make money.

So imagine my surprise when this turned out to actually be very good. Might actually be the best Tom Holland Spider-Man film so far, which admittedly isn't a very high bar. I don't think people view NWH as favourably any more now that the novelty of Maguire/Garfield/Dafoe has worn off.

Seeing it this evening and actually pretty excited. I've had my expectations  on the floor for this film since it's been announced until about a month ago, when it's gradually been rising higher and higher lol.

I look forward to hearing your thoughts. The more I think about it, the more I actually think it's a pretty excellent film. Genuinely think it's a top tier Spider-Man film, alongside the two Spiderverse films and Spider-Man 2 of course.

Back from seeing it last night, I had a lot of thoughts - the vast majority positive. There's honestly only a few things I would've liked to either see more of or slightly different. I think this is undoubtedly the best of Tom Holland's saga, finally giving us some character-driven action drama instead of just what felt like an MCU Cookie Cutter experience with a Spider-Man coat of paint.

The things I wanted to see more of were:

Spoiler:

Jean's character, as a person before her vengeance spree for her sister, either in backstory flashbacks or as a present, dialogue driven scene (I think deliberately keeping her role a mystery maybe prevented this) and more body horror with Peter's arachnid transformation. They could've done something small, like the how Toby in Spider-Man 1 sees spiked and barbed hairs protruding from his finger tips, or even a more grotesque, dreamlike transformation sequence into a spider - something they kind of teased with the documentary playing in the background.

Spider-Man 2 remains the GOAT, which is to be expected really, but this is the first of Tom Holland's films where I can actually see myself wanting to rewatch it down the line, to see and revisit certain beats again where it's a story you really empathise with.

My Letterboxd Review, spoilers inside:

Let's be real: it's no Spider-Man 2, but it does a great job trying to learn and interpolate the lessons it provides and give a fresh spin on it, so much so that a lot of the dramatic narrative beats and scenes feel like a retelling. It's probably the best of Tom Holland's Spider-Man saga, and it really gives you a sense that it's trying to reflect the inner turmoil and sadness of Peter Parker (who has had to spend 3 years of his life as an outsider to his closest friends) with horrific elements through Peter's body transforming and evolving. The film could have benefitted, in my opinion, from going a step further with that - bringing in some true elements of body horror in his transformation.

Sadie Sink's character was good, but again - could have done with another scene to provide more emotional context (part of the problem with current Marvel's reintroduction of characters seems to be that they want you to assume they're the same as they previously were - but this is a totally different iteration, give us a wholly realised reason to love and sympathise with a character like this - it so nearly did!)

I really welcome a Tom Holland Spider-Man film which is character driven, and love how stylised this film is - it feels so much more like a comic book film than so much of the MCU, and I think that's in part due to how referential it is to other Spider-Man media and iconography. I'm keen to see the next one keep it up, and hopefully evolve it too.

The story as it evolves lets Peter find himself and reckon with his identity in a way where the crisis feels believable - he seeks help, he yearns, he rejects the simple yet hard truth multiple times and relies on Spider-Man to remedy the issues of Peter Parker, and with it feels like a promised return to the set-up provided by No Way Home. That was great.

Also, Jon Bernthal and Tom Holland are my new favourite onscreen duo. Frank Castle added a great element of personality clashing comic relief to this film alongside a somewhat emotional beat in the two becoming friends as Frank and Peter, instead of Punisher and Spider-Man.

In conclusion: love Spider-Man. It's not as good as Into The Spider-Verse(s) and Spider-Man 2, and will never top the GOAT which is TAS. Friendship is magic.

Will probably add to this as I think more about it and maybe organise my thoughts, but maybe not.