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Spider-Man: Homecoming |OT| MCU's Sweet 16 - SPOILERS

Briarios

Member
I have to be honest, as much as I loved this movie -- I'd take an extended version with an hour of just stuff with the school & Aunt May.
 

border

Member
It was fascinating to see the ground level of the MCU and how it had affected general society.

I think that is certainly an interesting angle. It's just jarring to have all that dumped into a single film, when so many previous Marvel TV/film efforts kinda kept things separate. It's not so much a problem that there is any singlular MCU reference in Homecoming, but that there are so many of them packed into a film that is already governed by Tony Stark. It feels like Sony overcompensating for trying to keep a separate Spidey-verse for the last decade.
 
Not enough people are geeked about the Betty Brandt thing, I still think that was really neat. It didn't really matter that she had no presence in the narrative, just having her in the universe solidified the commitment to giving us a comprehensive Spider-Man portrayal. The film was downright juicy when it came to the Spidey fan-service.
Speaking of the teacher, that bit where he says he couldn't lose a student "...not again" had the audience laughing like crazy.
That killed me - genius physical comedy there with his facial expression and the camera slowly closing in on him, genius bit.
 

Buckle

Member
As bad as Parker Luck is, you got to feel even worse for Liz Allen once she realizes her dad is The Vulture, her brother is going to grow up to be The Molten Man and then she's destined to marry a future Green Goblin.
 

Briarios

Member
lol I just saw this -- Michael Keaton doing some double duty at the Spider-man premiere ... he's awesome:

rs_1024x759-170629041252-1024-Zendaya-MK062917.jpg
 
Flash Thompson was always a joke tho, that was kinda the point, that despite his athletic success and supposed acumen, Peter was always naturally better.
 

Mauddib

Banned
I just got out of the movie. These are my immediate impressions. I'll probably develop my thoughts over the coming days as I chew over the scenes in my mind.

I'm reviewing this movie as a person who would identify as a pretty huge Spider-Man fan. I have over a 700 comics of this character alone and he's easily my favourite fictional character.

Overall I thought it was a great start. It's true to Peter Parker like no other movie before it. In fact it feels so much like a Spider-Man comic (particularly like a Dan Slott issue). Do I think it's as good as Spider-Man 2 as a film? No. But that's not a problem. They are two different takes on Spidey which are both (for the most part) very respectful of the background and origin of the character.

Some things to note:

The Norman Osbourne-ing of Vulture:
What do I mean by this? Well when Norman Osbourne was first revealed to be the Green Goblin, who happened to be Peter's best friend's dad, it was a huge twist, especially for the audience. Raimi decided he didn't really want to go that route with the first Spider-Man film (which is odd), and so the audience knows about Norman's descent before the characters do. In contrast, the Vulture reveal scene was pulled off perfectly. The audience actually gasped - it was probably the first time I've heard a collective surprise reaction from an entire crowd in the cinema. It was pulled off really well, and Keaton's delivery over the next 20 minutes was flawless. Seriously, one of the best super hero villains to date.

Not much of an emotional core:
So this is something that Raimi's films got right. Although Spider-Man comics have always had a light touch to them, at the core they are very melodramatic comics. Right from Amazing Fantasy, Peter was worrying about finances, his aunt, his dating life. And it was always presented dramatically. Stan Lee himself would compare the emotional core of Spider-Man comics to Russian Literature (let's not get into his actual scripting involvement). The point is that, the dramatic components in Spider-Man's life are not presented in a light hearted manner. They're deep conflicts that completely envelope him, even when he was in high school.

Homecoming doesn't really seem to understand that. Everything is really light hearted. Well, until it's not and he has to pick up this thing:

latest


So when it happens, the emotion and struggle doesn't feel entirely earned. The movie doesn't really allow Peter to have quiet moments like Raimi's Peter does. It's so caught up in moving him from comedic scene to set piece to an MCU building scene that I'm not presented with a moment to relate to Peter.

He's kind of awkward, sure. And yes, Liz originally was crushing on him in the comics too, so I can't say that's wrong. But the only real struggle in the entire movie is him not having his costume. Where are the conversations of his Aunt struggling to make money? Or his conscience eating him whole? Where's the guilt?

Uncle Ben..
I would have at the very least liked them to acknowledge him in some way or another. Instead we get a throw away line about May having gone through a whole lot. I'm not very comfortable with Tony Stark taking up the replacement role, if they aren't at least going to mention Ben.

Action Scenes
Not sure if this was intentional, but the action scenes don't at all look as good as they do in all previous Spider-Man films. It was probably to maintain the tone of the movie, so there are no sweeping shots of him web slinging, which is a staple of the character as far as his film history is concerned. I didn't really actually mind the mostly low-key presentation of his acrobatics. I'm sure they'll play this up in subsequent films.

Rejecting Stark
I was really happy with the final decision. Looks like the MCU understands the character a lot more than the brains behind Spidey's involvement in Civil War (Quesada, Millar, Straczynski).
 

sandy1297

Member
During the ferry fight, Peter would punch people flying and catch them with webbing just before they went overboard. Kinda remind me of the insomniac interview where they said that people can't die in the upcoming game
 

Rean

Member
Not sure how I feel about the ending suit Tony showed him. I need to see it in better lighting or a clear picture of it to see if it looked good or not, but the PS4 Spider-Man suit actually looked better than the one in the movie
 

Einchy

semen stains the mountaintops
Not sure how I feel about the ending suit Tony showed him. I need to see it in better lighting or a clear picture of it to see if it looked good or not, but the PS4 Spider-Man suit actually looked better than the one in the movie

I don't think he's actually going to use that one.
 

DeathPeak

Member
I loved it but it just felt like it was missing a bit too much to make it truly feel like a Spider-Man/Peter Parker movie. Almost felt more like Miles Morales with a Peter Parker skin to me (not necessarily a complaint). I don't think it tops Spider-Man 2 for me. It was indeed the funniest Spider-Man movie yet. The car scene with Toomes was the best scene in the movie. As others have said, Vulture is a great villain. The first villain in recent years that felt like a real threat to the hero.
 
Just came back and loved it. They nailed Peter Parker and I was laughing throughout. Plus the villain "reveal" was awesome; I was on the edge of my seat during the entire car ride.

One question though.
The exploding device that the buddy had, that detonated in the Washington Monument and destroyed an elevator. How come nobody, you know, died from the blast?
They might've explained it but I didn't catch it
 

Zen Aku

Member
call me a prude but I wasn't a fan of this line
PRUDE. Come on, that's exactly the kind of dumb excuse a high school kid would say when he's back into a corner.
The principal
was played by/the son of the Asian Howling Commando

The teacher was played by Kenneth Choi, who also played one of the Howling Commandos, and he even had an old timey picture of him in his office.
It has to be his father. Good catch. That was a great easter egg. Yeah I thought he look vaguely familiar too.
 
Just came back and loved it. They nailed Peter Parker and I was laughing throughout. Plus the villain "reveal" was awesome; I was on the edge of my seat during the entire car ride.

One question though.
The exploding device that the buddy had, that detonated in the Washington Monument and destroyed an elevator. How come nobody, you know, died from the blast?
They might've explained it but I didn't catch it

The purple thingie doesn't seem to explode traditionally, but rather let out bursts of concentrated blast in one direction. You could see that when it's about to burst in Ned's bag it emits pillars of light heading upwards, and afterwards only the roof of the elevator seem to be damaged.
 

dcelw540

Junior Member
Love that scorpion is played by the villain in far cry 3 and character from orphan black. He's an awesome actor!
 
I mean, prude would only apply if you were thinking, "That's not funny, porn is immoral and evil."

Not if you just didn't think it was funny lol

I don't think it's immoral or evil necessarily but people are way too comfortable with it these days .. idk it kinda bothers me

i was sitting next to a little kid whose mom had to explain the joke to him it was kind of weird
 
The purple thingie doesn't seem to explode traditionally, but rather let out bursts of concentrated blast in one direction. You could see that when it's about to burst in Ned's bag it emits pillars of light heading upwards, and afterwards only the roof of the elevator seem to be damaged.
Talk about the luckiest kids in the world lol
 
Oh and whilst I still enjoyed the twists and turns, the trailer still showed way too much. Made me quite angry at trailer culture as a whole honestly. Seriously think I'll skip MCU trailers from now on, hard to do when they play before every popular film though ;/
 

Certinty

Member
So we got to see Betty and MJ. Which makes me wonder which other potential romances we'll get to see down the line.

Personally I really hope we get Felicia (obviously utilised as Black Cat this time), that's the main one I want. Not too sure about Gwen though, given how recent TASM movies were maybe it's best leaving that one alone?
 

ultracal31

You don't get to bring friends.
Fun movie

Love the crowds reaction with the reveal of Adrian/Vultures family and then the car scenes.
 

Salamando

Member
Awww man, just realized we'll never have Jessica Jones telling Peter that she used to have a crush on him. Awkward enough thing to say in front of your fiance, triply awkward with the new age difference.
 

Mauddib

Banned
Oh God, Flash Thompson was so bad. Why couldn't they just make him like he's always been portrayed in every medium he's been in?
 

Cuburt

Member
The purple thingie doesn't seem to explode traditionally, but rather let out bursts of concentrated blast in one direction. You could see that when it's about to burst in Ned's bag it emits pillars of light heading upwards, and afterwards only the roof of the elevator seem to be damaged.

You see the behavior of the exploding thingie as well when Spidey gets the weapon from Toomes and it's starts malfunctioning and splits the ferry. It does the same directional beams.

Oh and whilst I still enjoyed the twists and turns, the trailer still showed way too much. Made me quite angry at trailer culture as a whole honestly. Seriously think I'll skip MCU trailers from now on, hard to do when they play before every popular film though ;/
The blame goes mainly on Sony for that since they are handling (and paying) for the marketing.

It didn't ruin the movie for me since there was lots of good moments still in the film, but it spoils every set piece with key moments given away, many gags, the film by Peter was released prior to the film, and just a good amount of the outline of the film made it into the film unfortunately. Marvel has gotten pretty good at saving a lot for the film, but even the normal trailers gave away a bit too much here.
 
I really, really, like this movie I don't know if it tops Guardians and Wonder Woman but in a vacuum this movie is really fucking good. I think though that the closer you are to high school the more you're going to enjoy it. This movie clearly relishes in the high school experience and that's clearly who they're trying to appeal to. But it works though.
 
Sure. You get all kinds of kids in every school. Just talk to any teacher about type diversity.
You're not getting a 50s-era jock bully in a Bronx High School of Science-style school.

What exactly does the movie gain from having Flash be a stereotypical bully?
 

Zen Aku

Member
Oh God, Flash Thompson was so bad. Why couldn't they just make him like he's always been portrayed in every medium he's been in?
It's a high school famous for it's tech and academic. I'm glad they portrayed Flash who is still a jock but it's actually somewhat intelligent as well. Not just some dumb idiot, all muscles and no brain that has been beaten to death.

There is actually a high school growing up in my area that was famous for mostly having students with very high IQs and/or having academic success in tech/math related fields.
 
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