#... actually peter kinda does that in homecoming but it's when he's talking to karen

[irondad-defensesquad]

sometimes peter likes resting in his "web bed" (he will make a spot with his webs to just chill for a while).

tony doesn't get it at first. then he decides to join peter when he sees the kid is kinda down.

"... wow. i get it now," tony admits, finding the web bed comfortable.

[theadorablespderman]

Everything to love about Far From Home not in this order:

Literally seeing that opening with all our loved avengers that are no more.

Whitney Houston “I will always love you” made me cry because damnit Tony’s face was right THERE! NOT OK!

The blip footage was pretty damn funny not gonna lie.

Peter’s cute ass plan to tell MJ how he feels.

MJ’s favorite flower being a Black Dalia because of the murder. Literally a girl I can relate too. Murderinos for life sister. Idk but it just made her sooo relatable!

The fact that Brad is a kid grown up from the blip and that made him seem all the weirder for MJ.

Jealous Peter was so freaking amazing! Oh my gosh! That face he’d get. I’m a sucker for jealousy and they did it so good.

Making MJ this awesome character she was before but also obviously has this softer layer where she does have flaws and insecurities and she’s really sweet but also so badass. That was amazing.

The starting relationship between Peter and Beck. It was cute and so I was sad knowing that Beck was somehow going to be the villain.

Also let’s talk about how Beck is basically Syndrom from the incredibles.

That scene with Peter and Brad....the pure terror when he snapped that picture

Also seeing how big of a dick Brad is and how unhealthy jealous he was.

“Nick Fury” getting ghosted, showing up in Venice, tranquilising Ned (don’t touch him you monster) and then promptly highjacking Peters Summer trip.

Showing the emotional trama Peter is going through. The anxiety, the greiving. It was very reminiscent of Iron Man 3 when Tony suffers from PTSD after the battle of New York. I loved that they showed Peter reacting as any kid would, many adults too, which is to just try and forget anything happened but being faced with the reality every day. So well done.

Happy and May’s relationship. Enough said 😂😂

I feel cheated we didn’t see Mr delmore again.

Addressing all the problems the Blip/Snap created. High school aging, school, drinking ages, homelessness and housing issues. That’s just the start of it I’m sure but they covered those pretty well and I love that.

The technology that made Beck into Misterio was so well done. Instead of some frankly, kinda far fetched story that he came from an alternate earth (which I was willing to believe but felt it was a cop out in terms of plot and character) they showed the real world issues that superhero’s can create. The Enemies that have a real deep rooted hatred for hero because they’ve personally been betrayed or wronged by them. Because marvel has always made clear, everyone is not on the hero’s side.

Steeping Misterio’s powers in tech which is classing marvel but again, so brilliantly done in this movie. I loved the development. Because at first glance, half way through, I was thinking “wow this is really kinda weird and unexplained and too witchcraft for what marvel usually brings to the superpower backstory” I know it’s weird to say after everything marvel has done. But it seemed just a tad out there without being too hard to grasp. Which again was brilliantly done because that was the whole point.

The nod to Misterio’s helmet even when Beck was in the hologram suit watching everything play out. I guess it was his screen? But I loved the staple of even without his big over the top suit he still had the trademark helmet. Great costume design.

Peter’s soft gazes towards MJ. Nearly gave me a cavity they were so sweet! Ahhh sooo cute

Mr. Harrington’s marital problems nearly made me pee my pants....we all knew here in the fandom that shit like that would half to happen but my god lol

The opera scene was sooo freakin cute and that one step Peter took when he saw Brad move in was so freaking cute and hot!

MJ running after him and finding the critical peice of information to crack the case wide open. Loved it.

Betty and Ned’s Sicily sweet romance that you knew couldn’t possibly last. They really nailed the realistic high school romance. But I still ship it.

The bus scene was epic. And when Peter knocked Flash out...god it was amazing.

Mj obviously having love eyes towards Peter same as he does for her.

THE FACT THAT HE ACTUALLY BOUGHT THAT NECKLACE FOR HER OH MY GOD! I CANT GET A GUY TO TEXT ME BACJ LET ALONE BUY A NECKLACE LIKE THAT WHICH PROBABALY COST A GOOD CHUNK OF CHANGE IT WAS SO FREAKING AMAZING AND CUTE AND TOUCHING.

All the iron man images got me feeling depressed as hell

“are you being serious because I was only like 67% sure?” That was amazing. Seeing MJ get so excited and trying to keep that hidden was awesome

The fact that she was so pleased with herself but also played it hella cool when Ned walked in and she said she figured it out. Literally that is me.

The shirtless Peter trope that we all wanted and freaking got! So freaking cute how she tried to peak at his abs. Like understandable girl.

The fucking illusions. Turning our sweet trusting Peter into a ball of mess. I was too.

God when he had to tell himself it wasn’t real but it still totally feels like it is.

Him trying to save MJ when she’s “thrown off the Eiffel Tower”

Every traumatizing thing Beck shows and tells him during the illusion. So shitty.

Seeing Tony’s grave, seeing iron man come out. That was awful and we all felt it in the movie because we’ve lost him too. We could FEEL that slap same as Peter.

Beck telling Peter that Tony’s death was his fault. I was abouta hurl myself at the movie screen.

Every illusion done in a way that just when you think it’s over, it’s never stopped. You forget what’s real and you feel trapped in it same as Peter does.

WHEN HE GETS HIT BY THE TRAIN!!!!!!!!!! Nearly had a damn heart attack!!!! My mom had to look over and ask if I was ok because I literally stopped breathing for a solid 30 seconds.

Showing gradually just how insane and evil Misterio was.

HAPPY BEING CONCERNED FOR PETER! LIKE SINCERELY AND HONESTLY CONCERNED! It’s good to know he’s got Happy to take care of him and May but that Peter still has a father type figure he can count on after Tony. Because you know Tony wouldn’t have put up with any of that getting hit by a train shit.

Also where the hell was Karen? We missed her. We got Edith but Karen wouldn’t have let Misterio take her over. WHERE WAS KAREN!!

Peter crying and needing to know Happy was real. Broke me heart

That hug between them was so sweet and you can see the concern on Happy’s face

Happy and Peter opening up to each other was so awesome considering their relationship in Homecoming.

ALL THE TONY and PETER PARRELLS! All of them!!!!!!!!! Not the people saying “Spider-Man’s the next Ironman” no the actual hints and glimpses at how similar him and tony actually are. The hologram gauntlet shot, a straight parallel to Iron Man when Tony is building his first real suit. Obviously “Back in Black” by Led Zeplen (formally known as AC/DC) playing. Another obvious hint toward Tony. The Stark sunglasses. Peter falling with the parachute and it literally looks like Ironman with his jet stream behind him from a distance. There’s so much more I’ll do a whole other post on.

Of course: “I love Led Zeplin!” Hahaha it’s such a kid thing to say! I’ve said it before I knew the big differences between AC/DC and Led Zeplin. It was so freaking perfect.

Peter making his suit and Happy’s face. Bittersweet and I live for the affection he holds for Peter now.

The Netherlands Holding cell...must I say more?

Brad’s downfall and MJs amazing comment about him taking pictures of people in the bathroom. Ep-ic. Even flash was like “bro that’s so weird”

Mr. witchcraft was hilarious and I loved his aside with Brad “I’m gonna be the cool teacher and tell you you can’t do that anymore.”

Flash is definately Gay or Bi and I’m so here for it. That wink he makes to Peter proves it.

All the near death truths in the vault of the tower.

MJ BADDASS COMES SWINGING WITH THE MACE AND IT WAS LEGINDARY OH MY GOD! YES GIRL! She’s my idol I love her so much.

Peter and his “Peter Tingle” And while we’re on the subject the banana he gets to the face while packing.

Important. His amazing skills at the end trusting his instincts (which is great because May says in regards to MJ, but it applies to this too) May tells Peter to trust his instincts and don’t think too much. And that’s what he does when he defeats Beck.

The bad ass “you can’t fool me anymore” after redirecting the gun away from his head at the end. Literally was so intense and well done.

Peter and MJ’s kisses! I loved how awkward it was at first and the slightly less awkward one. They really accurately captured the awkwardness of teenagers in love. Like that’s what it’s like guys.

Show me MJ’s parents you cowards, or show me something. Anything. I just want to know the nature of the situation.

Ned and Betty’s breakup. So funny and honestly not surprising at all. But still I ship them.

The hand hold. So cute.

May and Peter still being the cutest aunt and nephew duo there ever was.

I totally thought Peter was going to end with telling the world he was spiderman....BUT SOME OTHER ASSHOLES DID IT FOR HIM AND MADE HIM INTO A VILLAN AND IM PISSED. LOOKING AT YOU MR JAMESON YOU PEICE OF SHIT.

The movie ended and I have no idea what’s next.

Mid credit of MJ swinging through New York. Home girl doesn’t like and neither do I. Looks full on terrifying we don’t blame you hun.

After credit where the skrulls have been playing Maria and Nick fury for the whole movie. Honestly it made more sense because Nick fury seemed just a bit off. ALSO WHERE IS THE REAL NICK FURY at and I’m so psyched to see where this new movies are gonna go!

Alright that all for now folks!!!! Everything about the movie was great!!! I will have to watch again ad see if anything more pops up. Sorry for any spelling errors I’m on my phone.

[pass-the-bechdel]

Marvel Cinematic Universe: Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)

Does it pass the Bechdel Test?

Yes, twice.

How many female characters (with names and lines) are there?

Eight (34.78% of cast).

How many male characters (with names and lines) are there?

Fifteen.

Positive Content Rating:

Three.

General Film Quality:

Neither characters nor plot are engaging enough to hold strong interest, making the film feel longer than it is, plus there’s one character in particular whose behaviour seriously rankles. It’s not a terrible movie, but it is thoroughly uninspiring.

MORE INFO (and potential spoilers) UNDER THE CUT:

Passing the Bechdel:

Liz manages a brief pass with her mother before the dance. Liz says goodbye to Betty.

Female characters:

Betty Brant.

Liz Toomes.

Michelle.

Marjory.

May Parker.

Karen.

Mrs Toomes.

Pepper Potts.

Male characters:

Adrian Toomes.

Mason.

Peter Parker.

Happy Hogan.

Tony Stark.

Jason Ionelli.

Ned.

Flash.

Abraham.

Mr Delmar.

Gary.

Steve Rogers.

Coach Wilson.

Shocker.

Aaron Davis.

OTHER NOTES:

Ah, here’s Peter’s video log from Civil War, where he has no idea why he’s even there and it’s completely irresponsible and inappropriate for Tony to have brought him in on something catastrophically dangerous with no preparation and none of the knowledge necessary to make an informed decision! I hate it. This makes me extremely hate Tony. I know I mentioned it already when I reviewed Civil War, but it’s super-true and not going to change any time soon. 

See, this thing where Peter is sacrificing academic and social experiences to hang out for Tony’s promised phone call? That’s on Tony. You can’t just rope a kid into your bullshit and then kick him back out into the world with a vague false promise and no follow-up of any kind. That’s not how kids work. It’s not fair to people in general, but it is especially not how kids work.

Peter having to run because he’s in the suburbs and there are no tall buildings is probably the best gag in this movie.

The inclusion of that little detail about the Washington Monument being built by slaves. Mmmhmm.

I find the plotting of this film very dull and predictable, like ‘oh, and now we’ll have another action set piece, now some cutesy highschool stuff’, etc, and as such I feel it drags excessively and I’m just sitting here waiting for each bit to be done with so that we can get to the next, so that it can be over too, because I’m not attached enough to any one or thing that’s happening for the predictable beats to hold internal interest. That said, the Washington Monument piece is pretty good.

The ludicrous ferry accident, not so much.

Tony shows up, lot of shit-talking, blaming Peter for not magically intuiting information which Tony didn’t give him. Urgh. I deeply, deeply hate this version of Tony. 

Toomes reveal is the most inspired choice of the film. Keaton kills it on Toomes’ own revelation of Peter’s identity.

This movie sure does go on.

This ‘screwed the pooch’ joke makes me want to bleach my ears. Also, this whole Avenger/press conference business is still Tony completely failing to appreciate how he’s upended this kid’s life; the right thing to do in this situation is not to lean into it and go ‘ok, but what if I upended it...more?’, just like the right way to deal with it was emphatically not to just kick the kid to the curb to figure things out for himself after that initial upending. I imagine I would have enjoyed this film sooo much more if I were not raging at Tony throughout.

Ok, let me just purge on the Tony thing before I go any further, otherwise I’m never gonna be able to focus properly on the rest of the movie. I hate what they’ve done with Tony. That’s obvious. I really, deeply disagree with it. Tony was a hard character to get to like, but the Iron Man films did really solid, intelligent work at achieving it despite the many and sundry hurdles, and the key to that was the fact that they had Tony, consistently, recognising the ways that his actions hurt others and then making the effort to fix that and fix himself, not just blowing it off, making some flashy gesture or throwing some money at the problem and then breezing on out like everything’s fine and none of it’s on him. The Avengers films - particularly Ultron - did significant work at tarnishing the character development of the Iron Man films, and then Civil War came in and - amidst the many, many sins Tony committed in that movie - handed the introduction of Spider-Man over to Tony in an act of incredibly irresponsible and reckless child endangerment, which this film proceeded to double-down on by having Tony completely fail to be a reasonable, thinking adult at any point. Frankly, I don’t feel that Tony’s initial decision to involve Peter in Civil War is forgivable, there’s no walking that back, but the least he could have done is to recognise that fact and make appropriate amends, which - as above - does not mean ignoring the kid any more than it means pandering to his hero complex. It makes me feel really, really old to be saying it, but Peter is a minor, he doesn’t have a strong perspective on the world yet, but he’s also old enough and wise enough that he can’t just have people throwing rules at him and expecting obedience; he needs to be treated with the respect of having things explained, but he also needs oversight because he isn’t mature enough to make choices without it. He needs guidance. That’s the position which Tony actively puts himself in and then fails to follow through on, and it leaves Peter feeling that he has to prove himself, that he has to further endanger himself in order to win the mentorship that Tony promised. As a character response and an emotional position for Peter, that’s great story fodder and logical follow-on from his introduction, and I can’t fault that. For Tony Stark though, who manages to both start and end this movie without actually learning anything, it makes me infuriated beyond belief.

THAT SAID, let’s segue to the natural place: to Peter. The good news is, if this film gets only one thing right, it’s that very precise balance of Peter’s age, with all its accompanying tumult; Peter is mature enough to feel like he’s in control of his life and choices and capable of taking on new, big, adult things, but not mature enough to realise the limitations that come with his age in terms of experience and worldview. He has that ‘teenagers think they know everything’ factor, but without it being conveyed as either too arrogant or too whiny to be palatable. It’s a tough ask for teen characters, generally, as the creative forces behind them are almost invariably adults (and usually have been for quite some time), and it’s hard to recapture the mentality of a teen once you’ve grown beyond that mentality yourself. When Peter declares that school doesn’t matter anymore because he’s ‘probably never coming back’, he’s gonna become an Avenger and that’s his whole life plan right now, no real details, no clarity in what exactly that means for his day-to-day life or where he gets his income or how things might go in the long term, that’s a classic teen moment for him: his future is a concept, all of its parts internally encompassed, and it’s not just that he dismisses the questions, logistics, and concerns that an adult would know to raise, it’s that these things don’t even occur to him in the first place. Peter is in this middle-position, the transition from child to adult, and he’s not as far through that transition as he thinks he is (teenagers never are). Altogether, I may not be enamoured by this film, nor am I especially compelled by Tom Holland’s take on this character (he’s not bad, he’s just...not that enthralling, either), but the particular pitch of Peter’s mentality is spot-on without being, in itself, just another tromp through dull and overwrought teen-angst cliches.

The rest of the movie, on the other hand...I feel kinda bad about spending that over-long first paragraph railing against a certain billionaire who could have done us all a favour and not been in this film (or at least, not as prominently), giving Peter more of a chance to explore his spider-self and what it means to his life on his own terms, instead of being so heavily influenced by how he fits into the wider universe, and then maybe we could have fleshed out more of Peter’s normal life in order to make all the extraneous pieces of this story more meaningful, and less, y’know, extraneous. As-is, I don’t feel like I’ve got a lot to say about it, it’s fairly generic and unremarkable, and while there are some good set-up pieces - Toomes’ whole descent-to-criminal-enterprise-due-to-economic-pressures thing has great narrative potential and scope for reflection upon capitalism in the real world - the story never explores any of those pieces enough to even half-ass a real analysis of the idea. Toomes is rendered a mostly stock villain, the same as Liz gets little to make her more than a bland Love Interest, May is an interchangeable maternal figure, and Ned - while fun and easily a highlight in a cast that’s hardly vying for the title - is also a bit of a heavy-handed stereotype sitting in the comic relief/sidekick chair (the fact that he essentially references this in-story, fourth-wall-denting style, does not make it less uninspired). And I’m not sure how we’re supposed to see Zendaya’s MJ as anything other than a gimmick at this point, kinda seems like she was literally only there so that her preferred name could be used as a weightless ‘reveal’ at the end. Like I said up in the notes, I found the movie to be excessively predictable in a bad way, bringing me out of the viewing experience to count off the minutes and story beats, and as such, even though this is not the worst film Marvel has churned out to date, it is one of my least favourites. I know there are a lot of people who loved it, who love Tom Holland’s version of Peter Parker and found this movie light and fun, and it’s not that I can’t see where they’re coming from with that...I guess it’s just that whatever parts of the story are self-contained are so recycled from so many other films of this ilk, I can’t find anything to attach to, and then the rest of the story which could have been spent making something a little more interesting from those basic, predictable bones, instead is wasted on an over-emphasis on placing this movie into the MCU’s larger framework (an ironic waste of resources since you can easily skip this film without getting confused watching the next MCU movies with Spider-Man in them, Infinity War and Endgame). Anyway. I fear I’m just gonna start repeating myself for lack of anything else to say; I don’t care for this movie, it had at least a good little piece of heart in it but it wasted too much time on things which did not enhance this story or the wider universe anyway, I hate Tony Stark now. The end.

[brakken]

On Homecoming

Here’s my stream of consciousness about Spider-Man: Homecoming.

Strap in, there are spoilers and a lot of words ahead.

Right out the gate, I gotta say this:

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is my favourite Spidey film. 

I know it isn’t perfect - I have my own criticisms toward it, but I feel a lot of the hate it gets is undeserved, and I believe my reasons for liking it are valid. I also don’t consider my regard for it to be blind love for anything Spidey-related. I’m not a fan of Raimi’s Spider-Man 3, and I find ASM1 has huge problems. I think Raimi’s Spider-Man 2 is an incredibly well-made movie, and having re-watched it recently, it’s easy to understand why most people (myself included) consider it one of the greatest superhero films ever made. However - I don’t consider it the greatest Spidey film. That title is held by Marc Webb & Co.’s 2014 underperformer, with a current rating of 52% on Rotten Tomatoes. There is an inherent feel in that movie, which for me captures the magic and identity of what I see in Spidey as a character. But, this isn’t about ASM2.

I mention it, because I want to express how difficult it was - how scary - to go into the cinema and watch Homecoming. For most audiences, this was potentially the first good Spidey film since Raimi’s 2. For me, it was following a film that I hold very close to my heart. And it took me two viewings to fully come to terms with my opinion on it:

Spider-Man: Homecoming is pretty good.

It’s not as good as Raimi’s 2, nor ASM2 (for me), but I’ve realised it’s not entirely fair to compare it to the second instalments of those series. Up against Spider-Man 1 and ASM1? It holds its own quite well. It’s pretty good. And if its first go can be pretty good, then the sequel has every opportunity to be pretty great.

While Homecoming has plenty of fun moments - of genuinely good moments… there simply aren’t enough memorable moments. As the sixth Spidey film, and as another episode in the MCU, it doesn’t hold enough of its own iconography to stand above its predecessors and peers. It’s clearly shooting for that ‘neighborhood’ feeling, and succeeds in that – but in doing so sacrifices opportunities for spectacle. And when it does step out into the big time, it’s all too similar to what we’ve seen already. Catching the elevator harkens right back to Raimi’s Spidey 1, with a bit of Gwen’s fall from ASM2 in the mix. When Spidey holds the ferry together, I couldn’t help but be reminded of the train sequence from Raimi 2 (plus Cap w/ the helicopter from Civil War). Nothing about how Spidey moved was overly unique or noteworthy to this iteration.

I have issues with the suit having such advanced tech - and to illustrate my problem I want to lay out the foundations of a general storyline involving the Symbiote: Spidey receives a new suit, it gives him enhanced strength, speed, and stamina. It increases the versatility of his web-shooting and makes his spider-sense react even faster. Beyond even that, the suit can talk to him - offering its own guidance and insight into his life. He begins to rely more and more on it. Becomes addicted to it. Until, he is able to realise it’s doing more harm than good, and ultimately abandons it - returning to his classic costume with a newfound understanding of his own strengths.

 Now, imagine after all that, he puts the black suit on again. And the story ends there. This is Homecoming. Sure, the suit isn’t directly affecting his biology or personality, but it represents newfound ability from a source not his own that he begins to rely too much on. Once it’s taken away from him, he’s back to basics - faced with the reality of hard decisions. He defeats the villain with his own strength, and having reached further clarity, turns down the Avengers position - happy with who he is, and comfortable with where he is. Then Tony gives him the suit back. Yes, he has fulfilled his character arc, and may very well use the suit responsibly in the future. But the suit in this case - is symbolic of him getting in over his head. A return of the suit equates to a return of that trait.

There’s a bit of a ‘wait and see’ that goes along with that (one of the track names on the OST suggests that Tony returned the suit without all the gadgets), but to cap off a movie which took efforts to showcase that relying on the bells and whistles is a bad thing, and handling the costume downgrade in the finale so well, it seems entirely backwards to me to then conclude with ‘yay! the bells and whistles are back!’

Karen presents an additional problem. She is, like J.A.R.V.I.S. in Iron Man 1, a non-character. An implement to give the protagonist and audience information when otherwise we’d be left confused or it would seem contrived to have our hero break into monologue. However, unlike J.A.R.V.I.S., she gives advice to Peter. She compliments him and gives insight into his personal life. To attribute this role to what is naught but a natural language UI is damaging to the actual active players in Peter’s life. It robs opportunity from Aunt May and Peter’s school friends to do the same, people with actual stake in interacting with him and who can experience the good and bad consequences of it.

To be clear, I get all this is purposeful in the context of the story. But it feels like the plot to a second film, mixing things up once we’ve established the characters in the first. Instead, we focus on them only long enough so they can fulfil certain trope moments before Karen, Happy Hogan, and Tony take centre stage in Peter’s life.

The suit’s design itself… I almost love. There are a few small things that bug me when I think of this as his standard get-up, but it has definitely grown on me since Civil War. Vulture’s suit, on the other hand, effing rocks and is the best thing ever and I love it. It’s everything I could have hoped for from a live-action Vulture.

Let’s talk about the opening Civil War vlog. Small inconsistencies in movies are easily forgiven, and it can be considered nit-picking to point them out as flaws or plot-holes of the movie. But the little things can go a long way to keep the audience from asking the wrong questions at the wrong time. Questions like:

Why was Peter shown as only having older tech in Civil War but in the opening vlog of Homecoming he has a modern smartphone? Why does he say ‘Holy shit!’ in Civil War when reacting to Giant-Man but in the opening vlog he says ‘he’s big now, gotta go’? Why does he have a bruise over his eye in the Civil War post-credits scene but looks unwounded in Homecoming while in Tony’s car (a scene which takes place presumably minutes earlier)?

All these questions can be answered. With ‘oh Tony gave him the phone’ or ‘He said “Holy shit” after the camera cut away’ but I think it’s a shame that what should have been a fairly easy and smooth lead-in to this movie is riddled with these little questions.

 On the note of lead-ins, I know we’re meant to be sick of origin stories at this point - particularly Spider-Man’s. Even so, I can’t help but feel like we’ve missed out on seeing this Peter’s beginnings. If the MCU is going to be Spidey’s home for the foreseeable future, I really want it to be the most secure - and having no solid concept of his backstory puts that on shaky ground. There isn’t that much to it. Bitten by spider, yep. Uncle’s dead, probably. But there’s still a lot you can explore surrounding that - so why not give us a bit more insight into how this one is unique? I knew they weren’t going to do an origin, but in doing so it’s created an odd-one-out within the MCU, wherein every titular character has had some level of on-screen genesis. I’m not very keen on prequels and flashbacks, so at least for me, they’ve kinda missed their chance. And that feels unfair.

I want to briefly touch on the scene-to-scene presentation. In my experience, scenes in stories should typically serve two purposes. The first is the subtext; to establish elements of the overarching theme or foreshadow future events. While the second purpose is the literal; to deliver a short yet satisfying arc within the scene itself, masking the subtext with smaller pieces of story. Here’s an example using the pizza delivery scene from Raimi’s Spider-Man 2:

Subtext: Peter struggles with managing his double life. His misfortunes are increasing in severity until finally he quits being Spider-Man.

Literal: Peter fails to deliver the pizza in time, and as a result, is fired from his job.

Compared to the deli scene from Homecoming:

Subtext: Establish the deli and its owner in the story so that when it’s destroyed, both Peter and the audience can witness the danger of the weapons Toomes is making, and witness Peter’s naivety and inexperience as a hero.

Literal: Peter buys a sandwich and pets a cat.

 That’s it. That’s the scene. Yes, he has some playful banter with the deli owner, but it doesn’t affect anything by scene’s end. It’s leaning mostly, if not completely on its overarching purpose, leaving the specifics of the scene in relative unimportance. My immediate reaction after the scene finished was ‘wait, why did we need to see that’? My reaction once I got home was ‘how did this scene end up in a Spider-Man movie’?

The film is rife with these one-track moments. At times, it avoids this, and I feel that’s where it’s at its best. The scene with Aaron Davis is a notable favourite of mine because it succeeds in delivering strongly on both the short and long term. The opening scene beneath Avengers Tower is also a fairly solid miniature arc while setting up the villain’s motivation for the remainder of the movie.

This one-track feeling bleeds into the characters at times, too. Particularly that of Michelle, who as far as the film is concerned is only there to say a witty remark before vanishing from the scene entirely… and then later, be MJ. (note: I actually don’t mind this change. It’s just a weird start for her and an unnecessary twist, that only leads to an unpolished character with the promise of more, rather than someone memorable and important from the get-go. She’s on the poster for gosh sake. I’m open to liking her, there’s just nothing to go on yet. I sure liked the way she… tilted her head up and squinted occasionally?)

I don’t think this makes any of these parts of the film bad. Only, less complete - less functioning as parts of a whole.

A scene that I do consider bad, though, is the death of the first Shocker. It’s a somewhat tropey scene - lackey steps out of line, head villain disposes of him out of spite and necessity, establishing that he can and will commit murder to achieve his goal. But, it doesn’t end there. After Toomes fries Shocker to a crisp with one of the pieces of alien weaponry, he looks surprised, saying ‘I thought this was the anti-gravity gun’. This is played for laughs, but at the expense of a cheap joke, they’ve thrown Toomes’ conviction into question. If he thought it was the anti-grav gun, did he not plan on killing his lackey? Does that mean his threats against Peter later are empty? Or was the plan always to kill the lackey, it’s just that he wanted to use the anti-grav gun to do it? But then why during the climax when he has Spidey defeated, does he go for the cargo instead of finishing him off? I can’t answer any of these questions because his conviction is made unclear, all from a simple, throwaway line. It’s a real shame, because I love pretty much every other scene with Vulture.

 That includes the familial twist. On the outside, it’s a little cheap. But the groundwork is laid from the very first moment of the movie. I wish it had been more original insofar as a villain’s personal connection to Spidey, instead of ‘oh it’s the dad again’ – however, it’s so well-implemented and revealed at just the right time to force Peter into a power/responsibility moment that I can’t help but enjoy it. Toomes driving Peter and Liz to the dance is wonderfully tense (possibly my favourite scene, and it’s just a car ride).

There are some genuinely great scenes beyond that. I actually teared up when Peter tells May he lost the internship, which is a first for me in a Spidey film (yes, even with ASM2 as my favourite in the series, I didn’t tear up at Gwen’s fall). Racing to the top of the monument has excellent pacing and presentation. Being trapped beneath the rubble and finally breaking free was an incredible performance from Tom Holland. As earlier mentioned, interrogating Aaron Davis has plenty of charm.

The score is good. Sometimes, it’s damn good. There are some really stand-out tracks. It just… isn’t on par overall with Elfman’s or Zimmer’s stuff. Raimi’s films and ASM2 come out strong from the beginning with their themes, and continue to play off them in new and interesting ways to cater to the moods of the scenes. Homecoming starts with the 60’s cartoon theme, and proceeds to never use it again. Giacchino’s original theme never steps up to be as memorable, and was only at its best when it wasn’t trying to be the theme. Vulture’s music rocks and is good forever – though I craved more variation to it. It seemed like every time he showed up we were hit with bahhh bwa-bah bah-BWAHHHH. It leaves something to be desired when compared to Electro’s music from ASM2 -  which is a constant in his scenes but always escalating to reflect his development. So, I guess as a character with only a little development, Vulture’s music is acceptable? I dunno, I might have just talked myself around on that one, haha. Nice to have some memorable MCU villain music, anyway. I love it a lot – just wish they’d played around with it more.

Spidey wrecked a lot of stuff in this movie, and it gives me some cause for concern that the filmmakers are going down the ‘everything is his fault’ route. I’ve talked a bit about this before, but I’m not a huge supporter of this concept. I’m fonder of a Spider-Man that takes responsibility, rather than one who’s responsible for everything, if that makes sense. If they’re going more for the ‘clumsy teenager’ route, that’s something I can get behind. But there is a limit. It was effective in the early parts of the film and the high-tension ferry sequence because of what it was saying about Peter and the effect he’s having as Spidey. But the chase through the suburbs, where he smashes or trips over everything he touches, was a little excessive. The last straw for me was when he wrecks Flash’s car. By this point we should start seeing character changes coming into effect, but they insist on presenting him as unable to face a new obstacle without breaking something.

I suppose I could go on and on, but I gotta call it at some point, right? So, I want to round all this off by just talking about some things I really liked.

Making Adrian’s whole deal that he’s a scavenger is such a cool way to get across the ‘vulture’ vibe and a great tie-in to the established MCU framework. The Shocker switcheroo was a fun subversion of expectations. Practical wall-crawling is just getting better and better. Stopping the bike thief and then not knowing where to return it is so ‘Spidey’. May helping Peter get ready for Homecoming is exactly what I could have asked for. The diversity of the cast in an MCU film was surprising and refreshing. Seeing Peter make his web fluid, and change his web cartridges mid-battle is something I’ve hoped to see for a while. Everyone in the cinema was having a great time and it was fun being a part of that.

So, that’s where I’m at. I’m at ‘pretty good’. At first it was hard to accept that. Hard to accept not being absolutely blown away by new Spidey content. But after a second viewing, I’ve come away satisfied, while still a bit sad about ASM2′s undeserved legacy.

If anyone has any thoughts of their own, or different viewpoints on the aspects I talked about, I’m very happy to hear them. I would love to love this film.

[absolutelybifurious]

homecoming feelings inc (spoilers: most of them will look something like i love tony stark i LOVE tony stark i loVE TONY STARK I LOVE ad nauseum) 

peters video recording of civil war what an absolute babe

“thats not a hug im reaching for the door” (yeah right tony we all know you crave human contact)

why does peter know spanish?

peter taking time to pet the cat *_*

peter desperately looking for ways to help and giving that lady directions,,,, my son

“why did i mention the churro”

peter saving the cat and handing it back to the shop owner LIKE OH MYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY GODDDDDDDDDDDDD I LOVE HIM 

michelle doing situps with her book

no one will convince me flash doesnt have a massive gay crush on peter parker yall, i mean cmon?? HE MAKES EVERYTHING ABOUT HIM CLASSIC CRUSH SIGNS,,, hes legitimately obsessed with him, like i’m not kidding i can’t remember the specifics but several times i was like ok this is just kinda coded like hes into peter actually?

“you’re here too” “am i?” truly the best scene in the film michelle is a gift and zendaya is our glorious goddess who has bestowed this wonder on us

god the van scene, i immediately loved donald glover but that could be bc hes cute. but the thing is, this movie did such a Job of making peter immature. like i was continuously frustrated with him bc he was so markedly different and less mature than any of the other heroes. he screwed up again and again and again and the kidness of him was so well done. like it infuriated me half the time. but damn it was well done

TONY INSTALLED A HEATER IN PETERS SUIT

TONY WAS PAYING SO MUCH ATTENTION TO PETER THAT HE NOTICED WHEN THINGS WENT POORLY

TONY LISTENED TO THE PROBABLY HUNDREDS OF REPORTS PETER SENT AND REMEMBERS THE FUCKING CHURRO

tony wants to talk to peter about his college plans

tony stark is the best dad ever, and really in general he is the best person ever and no one will ever tell me that there is a person with a better heart in the MCU BECAUSE THERE IS FUCKING NOT 

TONY STARK IS TOO GOOD FOR ALL OF US WE DO NOT DESERVE HIM

poor ned :( “that hats not working” i was really mad at peter for the way he kept ditching all hsi real life friends

kinda glad vulture killed that guy what a disrespectful douche

“i thought that was the anti gravity gun” “wHAT NO” hmMmMmMm I LOVE

also he treats his other ppl with a lot of respect and later the ppl still think they can leave and like, thats cool

michelle noticing what peters quit already

i have a hot date with black widow later

that is false

another long one: i didnt super buy peters crush on liz. it felt really faked because he never really made choices for her, and i get that he was more into spiderman but i never felt the significance of the crush... i think that was played over a little bit too much

also i dont think ive been this impressed with a villain in the marvel franchise since loki. vulture was so compellingly realistic. i know they tried that shit with whats his face from civil war but he was so irrelevant i didnt care. vulture was relevant, scary, but also emotionally compelling

fucking taser web

you jumped off the sign and landed on your face

i love karen

i read a post about tony coding an AI thats emotionally encouraging and invested in peters life bc tony is invested in peters life and like iw ant to die

i just dont want to celebrate something built by slaves

THE GUARDS LIKE PREACH

michelle is a gift

“kiss her peter”

“thank you”

donald glover I HAVE A NEPHEW YEEEEEEEEEE BOY GIVE ME MILES I DESERVE IT

the whole interrogation scene was golden,,,, “NEVER DO THAT AGAIN KAREN” 

you’re a criminal!!! you deserve it!!!!!!!!!!!!! bye!! criminal!! i love peter so much

TONY STARK CALLING TO TELL PETER WHAT A GOOD JOB HE DID IN DC TONY STARK BEING A SUPPORTIVE, GOOD PARENT AND WANTING TO MAKE SURE PETER KNOWS HE IS PAYING ATTENTION 

peter just keeps causing disaster after disaster 

that whole ferry scene had me cringing

but he tried so hard to help everyone!!

tonys anger after it was totally warranted. i dont blame him for taknig the suit. 

MY FAVORITE LINE: if you really cared you’d be here AND TONY MOTHERFUCKING STEPS OUT OF THE SUIT

and god rdj brings the fuCKING PAIN you can see how panicked he is how muc hhe doesnt want to hurt peter but how SCARED he is bc peter isnt listening to him and god!!! what if something happened to peter!! you can hear the self loathing and the pain that hes carrying from all the other movies all he wants to do is make sure nothing happens to peter or anyone else

tony listened to peter to try and stop the vulture, tony takes him seriously!!!!!!!!!!! tony is such a good dad and such a good person and HOLY SHIT!! TONY STARK!!!!!!!!!

hes hurting so much in that scene he doesnt wanna be like howard HE DROPPED EVERYTHING TO GO HELP PETER IM UNDONE

also look how well peter got back on track after he lost the suit

still ??? at the liz scene tho?? i just didnt feel that relationship much at all, there wasnt anything there

PLOT TWIST PLOT TWIST PLOT TWIST 

MMMM THATS SOME GOOOOOOD SHIT 

and once again vulture is incredibly compelling bc that brings a whole new context to why his face changed re: dc and why he didnt try to kill peter on the ferry

michelle doing the casual flip-off, god i love her so much??

holy shit peter in the wreckage, tom holland go off that acting tore my heart in half AND THEN HE REMEMEBRED TONY WORDS

CMON SPIDERMAN I AM SOBBING

FLASH ASKING DO YOU REALLY KNOW PETER PARKER HES IN LOVE

vultures desperation in this final scene is,,,wow, you fucking feel it, it makes sense. hes such a compelling villain.

peter saving vulture what a fucking babe

liz really is a sweet girl i wish i’d believed the crush more bc she deserves all the love

my friends call me mj YISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS gimme that michelle/peter RN

michelle acting like she doesnt care and then THAT LOOK THAT LOOOOK OMG ZENDAYA KILLED ME HOW DID SHE CONVEY SO MUCH ACTUAL LOVE AND COMPASSION AND CRUSH 101 IN A 2 SECOND CLIP YALL

happy in the bathroom. goodbye to me.

can we talk about tony? being so ecstatic that peter did all this? tony saying thatw as the tough love moment you needed and being so convinced that it wasnt and so convinced by his own acting that he could never actulally ahve inspired anything like that so hes just going to blaze ahead and not even acknowledge that yes!! it was actually!!!!!!!! he was a great father figurei n that moment and in this whole movie 

but he doesn’t believe that so he’s just going to keep being sarcastic to cover up for the fact that he doesnt think any of this had almost anything to do with him and everthing to do with peter

bc he has no concept of his own self-worth and yet to contrast that he directly inflates it and is so used to ppl disregarding it and accusing him of having an ego that even in this moment when he does something really amazing he makes it about his fake-ass ego and doesn’t let anyone actually give him credit for anything bc he is too busy giving himself fake-credit that he uses as an excuse in every other scene to call himself a piece of shit,,, that other ppl use to call him that bc ppl cant see through it bc he doesnt actually WANT anyone looking too closely, and yet, in this scene, he seems to be using it to exempt peter from actually acknowledging what he did was good bc hahaha im a self-congratulatory egomaniac

anyway hahahaha i love tony stark

also he is sad, he wants peter to stay with him, but he lets it go bc he recognizes it was the mature choice (and probably not the one he’d ahve made) 

hes so proud of peter i want to die

PEPPER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THE RING!!

they’re both so confused about happy and the ring i love it

PEPPER!!!!!!!!! THEY’RE BACK!!!!!!!!! THANK FUCKING JESUS BC IF SOMEONE DIDNT LOVE TONY STARK IN THIS DARK TIME THEN IW OULD HAVE FOUND A WAY TO BREAK INTO THIS FICTIONAL REALM AND DO IT MYSELF

that little kiss was everything she lvoes him i love them

ugh

this movie was gr8 a++++

i love my son tony stark and his son peter parker and his future wife michelle