I’ve always been all about Spider-Man, ever since I was a kid, and I’m on
record as utterly adoring the MCU/Sony co-production version of the character.
I’m also an incredibly-easy Spider-Man fan who pretty much invariably enjoys
Mysterio, so this new Spider-Man
movie was already gonna be a likely slam dunk for me. But ugghh, I love it so much! Totally biased review ahead (premise
spoilers, which include spoilers for the end of Avengers: Endgame.)
After the resolution of the Snap in Avengers:
Endgame, Peter is trying to get back to his life. In his case, that means
repeating the 10th grade with his friends who got Snapped away and
the former middle-schoolers who aged five years while half the world was stuck
in the Soul Stone. It means planning what to do re: his burgeoning feelings for
MJ, many of which center around his class’s upcoming “science trip” to Europe.
And of course, he’s also busy being Spider-Man, a mantle that’s a lot harder to
carry now that everyone is asking who’s going to the be “the next Iron Man,”
not to mention one that threatens to derail his hopeful-romance plans when Nick
Fury decides to coopt Peter’s class trip for the sake of an international
mission. The mission? Joining forces with one Quentin Beck (who, he explains,
is a hero from a parallel Earth) to fight the Elementals, legendary monsters
who can manipulate the four elements.
That’s kind of an involved synopsis, and to be fair, there’s a lot going
on in this movie. I wouldn’t say it all hangs together in the most logical way
at all times – there are tangents and garden-path moments, and it can be more
than a little overstuffed. But honestly, I don’t care because I kind of just
love it all. The sum of the movie’s parts is awesome, and even if the whole can
get a little messy, it’s still pretty great.
Let’s see – what all do I love? There are the details of the “post-‘blip’”
world (the moment when everyone lost in the Snap suddenly returned five years
later.) There’s the fun high-school-comedy elements from the first movie
transplanted to a European class trip, featuring endearingly-awkward teen
romance. There’s the expansion of MJ’s character, who I thoroughly enjoyed in
the first film but who has much more of an opportunity to be here. There’s Jake Gyllenhaal’s excellent performance as
Mysterio, coupled with a really neat MCU interpretation of the character and
some wicked/trippy illusion scenes. There are some stellar, genuine jaw-drop
moments in the post-credit scenes.
But as always, it’s really about the Spider-Man of it all, and Tom
Holland once again proves how wonderful he is as Peter/Spidey. This is a Peter
who’s been through hell and back since his first film, and eight months after
the end of Endgame, the loss of his
mentor Tony is still raw. While there are plenty of scenes of him being a
delightful kid who happens to be a superhero – concocting dubious plans about
how to woo girls, “ghosting” Nick Fury, flying through the air and showing off
impressive web work – there are also scenes of him struggling with his grief
over his friend/father figure and feeling overwhelmed at the added responsibility
and expectations now placed on his shoulders. Holland is terrific from start to
finish, and his Spider-Man both makes me cheer for his heroism and makes me
prepared to fight anyone who tries to hurt him while he’s down.
Warnings
Comic book violence, drinking references, light suggestiveness, and
thematic elements.
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