review: SPIDER-MAN NO WAY HOME

 

Even though it was DC Comics that essentially made the concept of a multiverse a corner stone of superhero folk lore, the MCU beats them to the punch cinematicly before The Flash next year, with Spider-Man: No Way Home directed by Jon Watts and starring Tom Holland and Benedict Cumberbatch.

Picking up right where Far From Home left off, Peter and his friends deal with the world knowing Spider-Man's true identity.  With him being looked at by the public as both a celebrity and a menace, he turns to Dr. Strange to cast a spell to make everyone forget his secret identity. As Strange composes the spell, Peter keeps chiming in with exceptions he wants added to the spell, causing Strange to abandon the now corrupted spell. However, a ripple effect causes people from other parallel earths who know Spider-Man's true identity in their own timelines, to end up on the main MCU earth.  Showing up are villains Dr. Octopus, Green Goblin, Electro, Sandman, and the Lizard to cause chaos as they try to destroy this earth's Spider-Man. Peter and Strange hatch a plan to send them back to their own earths, but Peter has second thoughts when he learns he may be sending them to their deaths. To stall for time, he traps Strange in a mirror dimension, and works to figure out a way to spare the villains' lives.  The rogues betray Peter, and Aunt May dies as a consequence. Meanwhile, Ned Leeds discovers he can open portals, and uses that to try to find the grief stricken Peter, only to end up finding the two Parkers from the alternate timelines. Ultimately the three Peter Parkers bond like brothers, and unite to cure the villains of their powers which would, in theory, spare them from death when the spell casts them back to their own worlds. But this brings up all kind of other questions, like the events from the previous franchises are now changed?  Also, a complication caused by Green Goblin causes the multiverse to start to tear, and the only way to stop it is for Strange to add a spell that wipes Peter Parker out of everyone's memory.  Now totally forgotten by everyone who ever knew him, with his whole history seemingly erased from the main MCU timeline, Parker starts his life over, no longer with a Stark Industries tech-suit, but a home made costume.

The first half of the movie plays like a Marvel Team Up of Spider-Man and Dr. Strange, but the second half, when Strange is mostly absent due to being in the mirror dimension, is when the movie does a great job of incorporating the previous Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield franchises, folding them (and presumably all pre-MCU Marvel movies, like The Fantastic Four and X-Men franchises) into it's multiverse.  It's the villains from the older movies, all played by the original actors, who really get the most screen time, while Maguire and Garfield join in only for the last act.  But once they are there, the brotherly bond between the 3 Spider-Men is handled very well. Maguire, who has physically aged the most, comes off as the elder statesman (even a gag referring to him having a bad back, slyly referencing not only his age, but the controversy that almost had him prematurely leave the Spider-Man role).  Garfield plays like the middle brother with self-esteem issues (again slyly referencing that his movies were the least liked by fans), and ironically plays the role better here than he did in his own two Amazing Spider-Man movies. I dare say he almost outshines Maguire.  I wonder if there were efforts to do a scene with Nicholas Hammond. 

One complaint I have, is that if you read my reviews of the previous two MCU Spider-Man movies, Betty Brant, played by Angourie Rice, is my favorite character, but she only has a small cameo in this one.  As with Far From Home, there was a little too much Zendaya, but at least this one didn't have that Disney Channel sit-com tone.  There is a cameo by Matt Murdoch (Daredevil) as Peter's lawyer, and as established in the previous movie's last scene, J.K. Simmons returns as the MCU J. Jonah Jameson, who is more of a Keith Olbermann/Don Lemon type.  However, he does not reprise the version from the Maguire films.

All in all, this movie is a notch above Far From Home, and really excels in the nostalgia factor for the previous franchises, but as a DC guy, it is kind of frustrating to see the MCU again pull the rug from under DC. And don't even get me started on how DC squandered its Crisis on Infinite Earths IP as a poorly made, Greg Berlanti produced TV project.

review: SPIDER-MAN FAR FROM HOME

To cut to the chase, Spider-Man Far From Home is a notch below Homecoming, both directed by Jon Watts.  The first part of the movie has a very similar tone to a 1990s sit-com that has a "very special" multi-part episode where the cast goes to a scenic locale.  Peter and his classmates' summer vacation has a strong Disney Channel sit-com feel to it, mixed with a big budget travelogue. Ned, Flash, and Michelle (aka "MJ") are all back, and Betty Brant, played by Angourie Rice, who I thought was one of the best characters in Homecoming, gets a lot more screen time in this installment.

Mysterio is introduced as a superhero from an alternate earth in the multiverse, who comes here to destroy the Elementals, who destroyed his earth, before they can do the same to this earth. Mysterio takes Peter under his wing.  As with Dr. Octopus in Spider-Man 2 and the Lizard in The Amazing Spider-Man, there is an expected and predicable heel turn. Then the movie finally starts to kick in to high gear. Through the Mysterio character, there are some good natured jabs at the whole CGI dominance in movies, and the ever growing outlandishness of the plots.  Jake Gylanhaal, who ironically was considered as a possible replacement for Toby Maguire in the original Spider-Man films when Maguire injured his back and was uncertain if he could continue in the role, plays Mysterio in a kind of likable, yet sort of phoned in way.  Its as if he figures "this is just a comic book movie, so I won't be using all cylinders of my acting talent".

Tom Holland naturally returns as Peter Parker, and keeps the same light comedic tone he established for his take on the character. Marissa Tomei returns with her radically different take on Aunt May, and Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) is back to keep this version of the Spidey continuity firmly tied to Tony Stark, as well as attempting to get tied to May. Samuel L. Jackson is along for the ride playing Nick Fury.... maybe.

One of the biggest plot flaws in the movie deals with Mysterio gaining control of Tony Stark's EDITH computer program. Once Happy is informed of this by Peter, he should have been able to simply override Mysterio's control of EDITH. But then the movie would be about 45 minutes shorter.  There is a mid-credits scene that changes the status quo of Spidey's life, and re-introduces J. Jonah Jameson to the movies.  Not to mention any names, but the character is played by the same actor who played him in a previous franchise.

Far From Home is above average and very enjoyable, yet also shows signs that Endgame could be pinpointed as the moment the MCU jumped the shark.

movie review: AVENGERS ENDGAME

Avengers Endgame is the concluding chapter to what could be considered volume 1 of the MCU.  It's a 3 hour movie, so I am going to keep this review short as possible.  Despite being 3 hours, it flows fairly well.  There are some moments that drag on, like some of the "kitchen sink drama" scenes, but over all it does not feel as clunky or bloated as the Shazam movie was.   Unlike Infinity War, which wasn't so much a true Avengers movie, but rather a giant MCU crossover, Endgame is a true Avengers movie that keeps the spotlight on the core team plus Ant-Man, who was a founding member in the comics, if not the MCU, and Rocket Racoon. Captain America, who was a minor background character in Infinity War, resumes his leadership role in this one. One of the film's low lights is Carol Danvers, who doesn't get much screen time, but when she is on the screen, she sucks all the energy out. She is without personality, a card board cut out, whose purpose in the film is to be the MCU version of Supergirl (the original Danvers). Thor is kind of reduced to a joke with a beer gut and self-pitying, so that Carol can fill the role that should be Thor's. Hulk likewise has become more of a comedy character as he has balanced Banner and the Hulk into a merged being.

The main thrust of the film is time travel, and even though the characters joke about time travel inconsistencies, the film goes head first into the same dilemmas.  Case in point  - SPOILER ALERT: turn away now if you haven't seen the film-

when Thor is in the past on Asgard and takes his Uru Hammer from the past with him, does that mean Thor now doesn't have his hammer in any events after that point? (Not to mention Captain America later essentially claims the Uru Hammer as his own. Unless when Rogers took the hammer with him when he returned the stones, he also returned the hammer to Asgard at the same point in time.)  Or when Steve Rogers goes back in time to live happily ever after with Peggy Carter, does that mean Captain America no longer existed from Marvel's The Avengers onward? Or does that mean we now have untold tales of Captain America in the 1950s and '60s battling Communists and Socialists?  Or when past Thanos was killed in the present by Iron Man, does that mean the events in Infinity War never happened?

Despite these headache inducing questions, the movie powers on to a grand battle finale that resembles a football game-the infinity gauntlet being the football. The MCU was founded on Iron Man, and here it ends with Iron Man.  Some characters meet their final fate, some go off to live happily ever after, and some move on to the next adventure.  This movie is a must see final chapter, but it also brings up the question, is this the point where the MCU jumps the shark... will the next chapters live up to legacy or will it start to unravel?

movie review: SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING

To start with the bottom line, Spider-Man: Homecoming is the best Spider-Man movie since Spider-Man II.  It is right up there with Captain America: The Winter Soldier as one of the best MCU movies to date. Like the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, it can be accurately described as an action-comedy.  Director Jon Watts wisely skips doing another retelling of Spidey's origin, which made the lackluster The Amazing Spider-Man feel like a rerun. On the contrary, this movie feels very fresh, and keeps much of the Sam Raimi tone and feel.  It can be considered a direct sequel to the first Avengers movie, as well as a follow up to Captain America: Civil War.

The film opens on Adrian Toomes eight years ago, just after the events in the first Avengers movie. Toomes' company has been hired to clear the wreckage, but is quickly shut out by Stark Industries who takes over.  Toomes decides to keep some of the alien tech and devises a plan to build and sell weapons. Skip to eight years later, and we see the events featuring Spidey from Captain America: Civil War, but from Spidey's viewpoint. Skip to a few months later, and Spidey is being your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, cleaning up his neighborhood of crime while waiting to be called in for the next Avengers mission while also trying to juggle duties and responsibilities at school. As Toomes' weapons business grows, things escalate.  Unlike the Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield versions, there is a pivotal scene where Spidey needs to literally hold a sinking ferry together to keep it from sinking.  In similar scenes, the Maguire and Garfield versions would have triumphed, but in this version, Spidey is failing and needs to be bailed out by Iron Man.  It is a scene that proves this take on Spider-Man is just a kid sometimes in over his head. To teach Peter a lesson, Stark takes back the tech heavy suit.

Peter then concentrates on his normal life, becoming more concerned with scoring a date with Liz to homecoming, but the Vulture continues to complicate things.  Later, during the big final fight between Spidey and the Vulture, the alien tech Toomes made his wings from is going to explode.  Spidey tries to save Toomes, and when it explodes and Toomes is engulfed in fire, what does Spidey do?  Does he say something morally ambiguous like "I won't kill you, but I don't have to save you"? Does he break Toomes' neck, killing him? Does he stab him multiple times until he's dead?  No, Spidey runs into the fire and saves Toomes' life.  This is the action of a true superhero.

There are also some more blatant potshots at the DCEU, such as Parker's friend and sidekick Ned saying how he wants to be the "guy in the chair", a reference to CW TV show characters like Cisco (The Flash) and Felicity (Arrow), and the Stark designed tech heavy Spider suit going into an attack and kill mode, and into an intimidation mode, which allows Peter to speak in an over the top gravelly voice spoofing Christian Bale's Batman. Unlike Wonder Woman's amateurish CGI, the CGI in Homecoming is first rate and stellar.

Tom Holland is truly amazing as Peter Parker, and brings youth and energy and humor to the role. Although, for all the hype the film makers have made about setting the film in Queens, NY, Holland, who is British, does not speak with a Queens accent, instead using a generic, mid-Western non-accent. Actually, none of the previous Spidey actors really spoke with any kind of New York accent.  His costume is faithful to the early Steve Ditko artwork, and we for the first time ever outside of the comics, we get to see the webbing under Spidey's arms. Robert Downey Jr's Tony Stark mentors Peter, assisted by Happy Hogan (Jon Favereau, who gets more screen time than Stark despite how the trailers made it look), and there is a cameo by Chris Evans as Captain America, wearing his old costume from the first Avengers movie (but not "The First Avenger"), in a series of cheesy PSA's that were intended to be several years old and outdated.

Jacob Batalon does a good job as Ned, seeing how the film makers probably didn't want to reboot Harry Osborne again, but I thought his role could have been just a bit smaller. Tony Revolori's Flash Thompson re-envisions the character as an intellectual bully. Disney Channel actress Zendaya plays Peter's classmate Michelle, in a typically over-acted Disney Channel sit-com style, that thankfully isn't too big, but hints at a larger presence in upcoming movies (indeed, there seems to be some "bait and switch" regarding character names).  A much better performance is given by Laura Harrier as Peter's crush Liz, and perhaps the best of Peter's classmates is Angourie Rice as Betty Brant.

Michael Keaton turns in perhaps the best performance of a villain in an MCU movie.  With the exception of Loki, the MCU villains are mostly lackluster and seem like afterthoughts. Keaton shatters that mold, giving Toomes relatability, sympathy, and a cold as ice evil streak. The one big mistake was he didn't say the line "Pussy! Batman would never cry!".  Although to be fair, I think this is the first Spider-Man movie where Peter doesn't cry.  But those who hated Spider-Man III, be warned, Peter does try to dance in this one. Aunt May played by Marissa Tomei (who does have a natural NY accent), is probably the character altered the most from the comics. There is a running gag that has everyone hitting on her.  Unbelievably, this is the third Spider-Man movie in a row with no sign of J Jonah Jameson. A big plus is the classic Spider-Man cartoon theme song was revived. After the two awful Andrew Garfield misfires, it's great to see Spider-Man be amazing again.

movie review: CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR

As a DC guy, I hate admitting it, but Captain America: Civil War is everything Batman v Superman could have and should have been. From a well written and coherent script, to spectacular and flawless action sequences, to character development, it outshines BvS. The one area where BvS trumps Civil War is in the visual presentation. BvS looked like a live action comic book, where Civil War, like the Nolan Batman movies, has a real world tone, but otherwise directors Joe and Anthony Russo have blown away Zack Snyder.

The plot deals with Captain America's loyalty to his buddy Bucky Barnes, aka The Winter Soldier, to the point it divides the Avengers. The United Nations, after reviewing the collateral damage and political repercussions the Avengers have caused on various missions, want the team to answer and report to a committee. Tony Stark, on a guilt trip, agrees big government is the answer.  Steve Rogers says screw that bureaucratic red tape, the best government is a tiny government.  When Bucky is set up to take the fall for bombing a UN meeting, rifts begin with the Avengers picking sides between Iron Man and Captain America. Eventually, after roller-coaster rides of action sequences, Tony learns Cap was right, Bucky was framed, but then the film's "villain", Baron Zemo,  although "mastermind" might be a more appropriate word, reveals a dark secret to Stark about his parents' deaths.

Unlike BvS, there is a legitimate reason for the heroes turning against each other, unlike Batman's random and often unascertained hate for Superman.  And unlike BvS, there is no ridiculous "hey our moms have the same first name, let's be best friends" resolution. In fact, there is no true resolution to the divide among heroes. It is something that will need to be resolved in subsequent films. Marvel knows how to build these things, where DC seems trying way too hard to play catch up.

The introduction of Spider-Man into this universe is just one of the film's highlights, although the sight of Tony Stark flirting with a very MILFy Aunt May is something I never thought I would ever see. After the dismal Andrew Garfield Spider-Man movies, the Russos have brought Spidey back on track in a stellar introduction. Add to this the introduction of Black Panther, and the introduction of Wonder Woman which was one of the best parts of BvS, perhaps even the MVP of that film, begins to look a little lightweight by comparison. The Russos were also able to balance drama, fun, humor, and action, again besting Snyder.

Going in, I thought this would be an Avengers movie mistitled as a Captain America movie.  Various Avengers do get moments to shine (the previously mentioned Spider-Man, Bucky, Scarlet Witch, and Ant-Man top the list, as does agent Sharon Carter, and the always dependable Black Widow), and in some spots Cap does seem to get lost in the shuffle. There's lots of Tony Stark, but very little of him suited up as Iron Man.  At the end, it does seem like Cap's show. As far as MCU movies go, Civil War doesn't quite top The Winter Soldier, but it comes in a strong second place on the list.  Ten years ago, who would ever have though Captain America would have the two best movies in the MCU?

movie review: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2

When I wrote my review of The Amazing Spider-Man, my main complaint was that it felt like watching a rerun.  While there is still a "been there, done that" feel to the sequel, it is better than its predecessor. First the pros. The script had some good moments. Some big action sequences, although not as masterful as either The Dark Knight or Captain America: The Winter Soldier, but not nearly as sloppy and overbearing as Man Of Steel.  The scenes with Electro are great visuals, with lightning bolts striking all over.  It confirms how great a Shazam movie could be. Actually, there is very little action in the first part of the movie, as it plays more like a teen drama, concentrating on the Peter-Gwen relationship.  Last time, I felt the humor fell flat, but this time Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone really get the humorus moments down, and director Mark Webb also includes a lot of inspired physical comedy. Webb introduces Felicia Hardy (Felicity Jones), soon to be the Black Cat. The death of Gwen Stacy plays out well, altered slightly from the comic book source material.

The cons: the foreshadowing of Gwen's death is about as subtle as sledge hammer to the head.  From Gwen's graduation speech, to bits of dialogue by both Gwen and Peter, to the most outlandish, random shots of Gwen's dead father (played again by the lubberly Dennis Leary) as a ghostly image shaking his head at Peter.  Jamie Foxx's Max Dillon seems like the part was a cut and paste from the Edward Nygma role from the Batman Forever screenplay. One of my other gripes about the first movie was how they embellished the Parker parents, into making them more important to the Spidey origin than they traditionally were.  That continues in this movie, and those moments drag the movie down, most notably the lackluster opening sequence.  Thankfully this storyline seems to have been wrapped up in this movie.

Dane DeHaan as Harry Osborn.  The advance reviews said he was the best part of the movie, giving a near Health Ledger performance.  Wrong.  He played the part rather mediocre, the most notable thing about his performance being that he looked like he just stepped out of a German nightclub in 1962. As the Green Goblin, he overacts. As with The Dark Knight focusing so much of the movie on Harvey Dent, only to shoehorn Two-Face's entire career into the last 10 minutes, this movie does the same with Harry, then shoves in the Green Goblin after you think the movie has ended.

Mary Jane Watson was to be introduced in this movie, but the role was cut at the last minute after the scenes were already filmed.  My guess is, the MJ scenes would have appeared after Gwen's funeral, in place of the montage of Peter at Gwen's grave through changing seasons in the final edit.

One of the most mystifying things in the movie is the mid-credits scene.  It's about the X-Men.  20th Century Fox is setting up an alternate Marvel cinematic universe grounded in their X-Men continuity to include the rebooted Fantastic Four.  Doe this scene mean they also cut a deal with Sony to include this Spidey franchise into the competing Marvel universe?

While this movie may be worth seeing in the theatres, at the end of the day, all three Sam Raimi Spider-Man movies are still better.

movie review: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN

Going in to see The Amazing Spider-Man, I wanted to avoid comparing it to Sam Raimi's Spider-Man. But that is going to be hard to do, since the new movie is kind of like watching a rerun. After only a decade, we get to see the origin of Spider-Man again, but this time its on a somewhat smaller scale.  The Amazing Spider-Man lacks some of the epic nature of Raimi's version. The story takes place over a couple weeks, where the Raimi original covered a couple years.  The new movie veers off from the comic books, into a made-for-cinema direction, where Raimi was very loyal (with the exception of mechanical webshooters) to the comics, even taking great care to duplicate many classic Spidey poses into live action.  The new director, Marc Webb, only does this a couple times, most notably in the final slow motion shot of Spidey. The movie has some good moments, while also seeming a little redundant by retelling the origin.  There are some scenes of Peter's childhood and a background for his father as a trailblazer in human-animal mutation that slows the film down. You get the hint the plan may be to reveal in the sequel Peter's father experimented on an infant Peter with some mutant spider gene, which is why the spider bite activated Peter's spider powers. Marc Webb could have easily made a full-fledged Spider-Man 4 which would have made a much better film.  Especially when you consider Raimi introduced Gwen Stacy and set the stage for the Lizard in Spider-Man 3.

Andrew Garfield, who takes over the title role from Toby Maguire, turned out to be a very good choice.  Maguire was a little more likable as the character, and had the Spidey poses down better than Garfield, but Garfield conveys a gloominess Maguire did not have, and focuses his portrayal on Peter's intelligence (opposed to Maguire, who took more of a dorky nerd approach).  Garfield's Peter is more of a loner, missing the friendship of Harry Osborn. Unfortunately, Garfield also lacked Maguire's comedic timing. The attempts at humor in the new movie seem forced and fall flat.  The movie's only genuinely funny moment is Stan Lee's cameo. 

Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy (replacing Bryce Dallas Howard) is more likable in the role than Howard was, but in this movie, Gwen is supposed to be more intelligent than Peter (as she teases him for being second best).  But Stone exhibits too much of an airhead personality to make it believable Gwen is so intelligent.

Martin Sheen as Uncle Ben is all right, but phones his performance in. Literally, at the end of the movie, where Peter plays Uncle Ben's final voice mail, it sounds like Sheen is reading it cold from a script with no emotion or feeling at all. Sally Field is kind of forgettable as Aunt May.  Then there is Dennis Leary as Captain Stacy.  Imagine if washed up racist comedian Michael Richards was cast as Commissioner Gordon in the Batman movies.  While Leary isn't quite that bad, the role would have been better served by an actual actor rather than a smug stand up comic.

Rhys Ifans is good as Dr Curt Conners, but The Lizard suffers from looking a little fake.  OK, admittedly it would be very hard to do a character like The Lizard without looking a little fake. However, many aspects of this version of Conners/The Lizard seem to be a carbon copy of Alfred Molina's portrayal of Dr Octopus from Spider-Man 2.  Its the same dynamic, where he becomes a mentor of sorts to Peter, then becomes the villain, only to have a redemption in the end.

The action sequences are very good, but its the script that kind of drags the movie down.  Overall, if you are not a major Spidey fan and are debating whether to see this movie, I'd advise you just wait until it airs on cable.