#idk i'm. pleasently surprised with it in many ways even if it's far from perfect

[welcometogrouchland]

penny for your spiderman thoughts? was it good?

"was it good?" what an excellent question! i know it elicited a sense of baffling joy from me. i tried drafting a full review with like a list and everything but tbh most of what i can say about it is that it surprised me with how much effort was put in to making it more than marvel's big gimmick movie. it still is that on some fundamental level but somebody in the writers room clearly wanted to make it more than just a 2 and a half hour marketing stunt. spoilers ahead but:

there is still the usual mcu problems there that i'd be remiss not to metion:

i really don't like the portrayal of elektro in this movie as sassy black comic relief. it rubs me the wrong way- there's a lot more you could be doing with that iteration of the character that the movie barely scratches the surface of. and while i appreciate Ned getting a bit more to do plot-wise he was treated as a joke a bit too often for me AND giving the character you're pigeonholing as spiderman's asian sidekick the mystical doctor strange powers (which have their own nasty layer of Orientalism to their potrayal) is. not good! especially with so little build up.

there is...also a very complicated moral debate that lies at the centre of this movie's plot that it does NOT want to give a lot of time and thought to, and which uses some...deeply uncomfortable language to me. also the shield on the statue of liberty is dumb as shit

but there's like. 50% less billionaire bootlicking here and also some. interesting course correction w/ spiderman that i wanna talk about in a sec so put a pin in that

the main thing that stands out to me is that the characters from the old movies feel like characters and not gratuitous cameos. Andrew Garfield gets a nice little moment that wraps up some stuff in his arc and both spidermen feel like significant mentors to peter. shits low-key kinda heartwarming ngl. the villains do what good villains do, making peter a more interesting and well rounded character, with some newfound pathos to boot.

speaking of the course correction done in this movie is interesting??? some it feels like a response to people's complaints which, yeah that's technically pandering, but it doesn't make the movie worse off i think. the big one is obviously addressing the choice to leave out uncle ben by uncle ben-ing aunt may (say that 5 times fast). tbh it might constitute fridging but i don't care because it's almost an improvement on the uncle ben thing like. we knew may! we were attached to her as a character! it's honestly really impactful this way and marvel actually committed to the bit and didn't bring her back or anything. nice. on a slightly smaller note is giving an acknowledgment that peter's broke and having his status quo by the end being that he's poor and on his own was. genuinely reassuring and refreshing. also the bright, homemade costume at the end!!!

speaking of colours. THE MOVIE ACTUALLY LOOKS LIKE A MOVIE???? like the camera work and cinematography (THE CINEMATOGRAPHY) and production design and mise-en-scene serve the story and look good??? i mean. most of the villains got a costume downgrade (goblin and elektro...) but besides that the lighting and composition of shots didn't look like garbage?? i'm guessing some behind the scenes shifts in gear being used caused this like what happened with guardians volume two and that's why the movie actually has things like saturated colours and effective uses of rack focus. also the action was really engaging and tbh? the whole sinister six pseudo-horror sequence in the apartment buildings was like. really fucking good lmao

also, in the words of alexander j newall in the tma season 5 QnA, you really can't go wrong with a highstakes personal choice for an ending. it was a really bittersweet feel and i can imagine a lot of ppl are upset about it but. i don't care it was good character growth for peter and was very in line with spidey as a character like. not 2 drop a controversial take but uh. i think this might be like. a better version of the infamous one day more storyline in some ways??? ending wise at least.

ANYWAY. as far as movies go?? pretty alright. some wink wink nudge nudge humour, some problematic portrayals that hold me back from responsibly recommending it, some really good moments, a really well structured story, even if it felt more like a beginning than an end.

but as far as MCU movies go????? this is THEE most motion picture ever