Spider-Man: Far From Home *NO SPOILERS*

30 Jul 2019 Leave a comment

by Debra Manskey in Movie Review, Writing Tags: , , , , ,

Spider-Man: Far From Home

Directed by Jon Watts

A quick review tonight. We’re in the midst of flu season here in Tasmania and this is the first chance I’ve had to get to a cinema to see this movie.

This was always going to be a difficult film, coming after the high drama of Infinity War (2018) and Endgame (2019) but for the most part this is a fun, surprisingly frothy romp around Europe with Peter Parker and his school friends. While I’m definitely not in the target demographic for this, I really related to the awkward teen moments of Peter, MJ and co.

As one would expect this far into the franchise, Marvel’s visual effects are up to their usual high standard and the production values generally are what I’ve come to really appreciate. But I felt there were issues with how the narrative works and particularly the motivations of the villain not being plausible. In Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) Vulture was a fully realised bad guy, with very believable reasons for his actions, but here I couldn’t find the same rationale.

There’s an old maxim in writing that says you can never have a really satisfying protagonist without a fully formed antagonist. Without heading into spoiler territory, our main villain and his happy band of hench-people just didn’t ring true to me. That amount of maniacal, mad scientist level vitriol and egotism was something I’d expect to see in the 70s cartoons, not the urbane, hip, 21st century MCU.

Nevertheless, this is still a solid entry, with a great central performance from Tom Holland who balances the awkward teen who just wants to be a normal kid and the smart, heroic action hero. He is undoubtedly now my favourite Spider-Man. The rest of the cast are just as strong, and it was lovely to see Jon Favreau and Marissa Tomei having a ton of fun as Happy Hogan and Aunt May. The final set piece is really very satisfying and though this isn’t my favourite film in the franchise, it’s still a rollicking good ride.

Do stay for the very end, the two cut scenes are not only very funny but also nod to future directions for the MCU Phase 4.

Spider-Man: Homecoming

22 Jul 2017 1 Comment

by Debra Manskey in Movie Review, Writing Tags: , , , ,

Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) Columbia Pictures/Marvel Studios. Directed by Jon Watts.

It’s Saturday night and I’ve just got home from the movies. I wanted to see Edgar Wright’s latest release, Baby Driver and probably should’ve seen Wonder Woman (yes I know, it’s shameful I haven’t seen it yet!) but I’m really pleased I saw Spider-Man: Homecoming!

From the opening credits that riffed the Avengers theme music around the old Spiderman TV series theme, this was fun! Tom Holland is really excellent as Peter Parker/Spider-Man, and at 21 can just about pass for a geeky, awkward 15 year old high school student who’s discovered he has superpowers. And I think that’s what I really found charming about this film, it was as much a coming of age story as a superhero film. The scenes that involved the young cast were really well done, and although not aimed at a middle aged audiences like me, I really found myself caring about those kids. My standouts were Ned, beautifully played by Jacob Batalon as Peter’s best friend and Zendaya (playing against type) as the mouthy and happily dysfunctional Michelle.

Among the grown ups present, Michael Keaton made a wonderful villain as Adrian Toomes/Vulture, Marisa Tomei was sympathetic and lovely as Aunt May and of course, Robert Downey Jr. ate up every scene he was in. I was really pleased to see Jon Favreau reprising his role as Happy Hogan too.

A lot has been said about the necessity for yet another reworking of this franchise for the big screen, but I think the Marvel makeover was warranted and definitely a success. I do think it owes a great deal to the Sam Rami 2002 Spider-Man – especially the school scenes. I still think Rami’s take on the material was excellent for two of his three films and today, somewhat underrated. But this is Marvel, so the set pieces are well choreographed, intense and the CG is for the most part very well done. Unlike some of their more recent efforts, the final battle didn’t overstay its welcome and like most of the MCU features, this film made great use of music. The scene with Spidey swinging around New York to The Ramones’ “Blitzkrieg Pop” was fabulous.

Perhaps above all, this movie made me laugh out loud more than once, and I left the cinema with a smile on my face – a fun popcorn movie 😀