- There will be spoilers!
- Well, with very little fanfare, and not much forethought, I've decided that this shall be my last Marvel review. I still like these movies, and I'm going to continue seeing each new one as they're released (in the theatre as much as possible), but the act of writing about Marvel movies has started to feel less satisfying for me, especially after the end of the Infinity Saga, and I'll talk more about that at the end of this review. At this point it feels like there are only so many ways I can say "I had fun, there was some good action and there were some funny moments." And now, with that out of the way, let's get into the review
- I had fun, there was some good action and there were some funny moments. Good night, everybody!
- Just kidding (kinda). I know everyone's loving this movie, and I feel like I might be damning it with faint praise, but I was expecting to like it more
- OK, last warning, spoilers below
- First, the good stuff
- It's a genuinely delightful concept for a movie, effectively evoking our nostalgia while still telling a new story
- It's been a while since I've seen the first Tobey Maguire Spider-Man, but I don't remember Willem Dafoe being as much fun in that one as he was in this. He cackled, capered and cavorted like an absolute maniac, and I feel like we got to see more of that deranged face in this movie than we did in Spider-Man, when the Green Goblin was wearing his mask/helmet most of the time
- Speaking of whom, "You know, I'm something of a scientist myself." Love it!
- Just like in his own movie, I loved the Doctor Strange special effects and fight logistics. When he's fighting Peter and uses portals to make Peter web his own foot? Brilliant!
- I loved watching the three Spider-Men (Spider-Mans?) meet and interact. I have a lot of affection for Tobey Maguire as Spider-Man, and I remember his movies fondly, even the third one. And I haven't even seen either of the Andrew Garfield movies, but he's a charismatic guy and I still liked getting to meet his version of Peter Parker. When Peter Maguire and Peter Garfield joined the scene, that gave the movie a jolt I was looking for. Which brings us to...
- I kinda feel like the movie before that point was a little flabby, a little poorly paced, and I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that not all Spider-Man villains are created equal. Like I mentioned, I thought Willem Dafoe was great fun as the Green Goblin, so it was appropriate that he was the main bad guy, but the rest elicited varying shades of indifference. In Spider-Man 2, Doctor Octopus was indeed one of the best bad guys in all of superhero cinema, but his powers were neutralized almost immediately in this movie, and furthermore he was cured of his villainy, turning him into a good guy! Sure, maybe it's a good arc for the character, but doesn't the fun of seeing these villains return hinge on the expectation that they'll act like villains? And like I mentioned, I hadn't seen either of the Amazing Spider-Man movies, so especially without any sort of backstory to draw from, Lizard and Electro were duds, although Jamie Foxx was still fun to watch but that's more just because he's charismatic ol' Jamie Foxx. And finally, I don't know if it was just how the character was used or if Thomas Haden Church's voice acting really wasn't cutting it, but Sandman was a big old nothing
- And then, I know this is a little nitpicky, but what was the movie's internal logic for which villains would be drawn into this universe and from what point in their lives? It was established that Green Goblin, Doc Ock and Electro were pulled from their universes immediately before dying. But...Sandman and Lizard don't die in their movies (I looked up the synopsis for The Amazing Spider-Man). Am I interrogating this too harshly? Maybe, but if the whole idea was for Peter to cure the villains in order to prevent their deaths, that loses a lot of poignancy when it comes to the villains who, as far as we know, don't die at the hands of Spider-Man
- Anyway, I certainly understand the impulse to include a villain from each separate movie, just like I understand the draw of including all three Spider-Man actors. And if you have to pull villains from (what I understand to be) mediocre movies, there's a fair bet you'll end up with mediocre villains, especially in comparison to some of the others. Maybe it would have been better if we skipped a couple of them? A team-up between Green Goblin, Doc Ock and Electro would have packed more of a punch, I'd say, without needing to cede attention to the also-rans
- Ultimately, though, I think this was a brilliant concept, and I thought parts of the whole really stuck the landing. If you loved this movie entirely, I'm not going to question that reaction. For me, though, I'd say it was just on the verge of greatness and still needed a bit of tweaking to get there
- And finally, Mark's Movie Reviews shall shed a small tear and say farewell to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In 2019 when I decided to do a full watch of the MCU, the idea of simultaneously starting a review series made a lot of sense. It was a movie franchise with a huge backlog of movies I hadn't seen, the movies were all linked to each other in varying levels of significance, and when I decided to start that project there was an endpoint (an Endgame, if you will). Watching the Infinity Saga really was a fun experience, getting to know the characters over the course of multiple movies and many hours, and I thought Endgame was a supremely effective capper to that story. But then, to the surprise of no one, after Endgame wrapped things up in a bow and we came to terms with never seeing some of these fantastic characters in movies ever again, the movies kept coming out. And I wasn't upset about it! I was still excited to see more from some of these characters, meet some new ones, and see what Marvel had planned for us after the somewhat self-contained nature of the Infinity Saga had concluded. But at this point as I type this, without any big Avengers-style team-ups to look forward to, without really knowing where Phase Four is heading, and with no clear indication that we'll know where it's heading anytime soon, I'm finding it hard to gather the same excitement for the individual movies as they're released. I do still like these movies, I plan on watching them as they come out, and I'm prepared to eat my words depending on what Marvel might still have in store for us in the future. But for now I shall say thanks for the good times, Marvel Cinematic Universe, thanks to anyone out there who has enjoyed reading my reviews, and remember, part of the journey is the end
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