My amateurish review here:
Movie was, in a word, fun. It was pretty lighthearted & funny, and had an overall enjoyable factor higher than other CBMs this year. Tom put in a great performance as both Peter & Spider-Man here, and Keaton was the perfect foil. Both hero and villain were, IMO, the best part of the movie (their confrontation starting from when Peter comes to pick up Liz, up to their final battle was without a doubt the best section of the movie. Very tense, great dialogue & convincing performances from both). As everyone probably already knows, Stark wasn't in it for long, but when he was he delivered. The extended confrontation between him and Peter that was shown in the trailer was another great moment. Also, it was nice to see Peter get disillusioned by Stark/Avengers life and focus more on his responsibilities as a hero.
Peter here is a genius introvert, with his heart in the right place (and a bit of a smart mouth, there's a scene where he's in a shop with a Spanish owner who comments on May's attractiveness in Spanish thinking Peter won't understand him, but Peter asks him how his daughter is in Spanish in reply. Pretty funny moment). As Spider-Man he's eager to prove to Stark & Happy he's good enough for the big time, & as the movie goes on it becomes less about proving himself and more about stopping Toomes with or without Stark's knowledge or approval.
Toomes is definitely a sympathetic villain here. The opening scene has him being inadvertently screwed over by Stark implementating damage control, and you kinda feel for him. There's also the moment when he explaines to Peter why he does what he does and he remarks about how rich guys like Stark don't care for the everyman like them, and he gives a good argument. The supporting cast was good.
Liz was a likeable character in her own right, even aside from being a love interest. Flash, despite the character changes implemented served as a serviceable antagonist to Peter & with more Screentime and development could turn out to be one of the better cast members. Ned had the potential to be a funny but likeable & well meaning best friend, but wound up more on the irritating side. Jacob Batalon definitely is a good actor, with great comedic timing and played well off Tom's Peter but Ned's actions throughout leave him as more of an annoyance. Zendaya's Michelle was, different. She got out a couple of laughs at the screening until she mentioned her friends call her MJ, at which point there was a (well deserved) collective groan throughout the cinema. Pretty pointless change, she already proved popular enough amongst the movie goers until that moment. May was definitely not the doting, motherly May we know her to be traditionally. She was more of the younger, hip Aunt who's attractiveness is used as a bit of a joke (at a restaurant, a waiter gives her food on the house, a shop clerk Peter visits describes her as an 'attractive Italian woman' & Ned seems to have a bit of a crush on her).
Overall, the tone of the movie & the writing was pretty good. While the numerous Avengers references served to remind you it's a Marvel movie, it had a self contained feel to it. And it wasn't a formulaic MCU movie (too many unnecessary jokes, forgettable villain, huge third act etc). Watts mentioned in an interview that he wanted to make a good superhero about Spider-Man, and a good teen comedy about Peter Parker. And he definitely succeeds. Despite the less than stellar tone of the trailers, it definitely feels like a classic teen coming of age movie. And it was a pretty good superhero movie too, with a great villain and one of my favorite final fights in any MCU movie. The action itself was lacking (so was the CGI), but the more small scale, contained direction was definitely a winning choice by Marvel & Co.
Currently, I'd give it a 7.5-8/10, I'll probably need to see it a second time before making a final Choice on that, but I'd say it's definitely worth the money (just don't waste your time paying for 3D, isn't worth that). I'd say it's right below Iron Man as my favorite first solo MCU movie, and 5th overall MCU movie (Winter Soldier 1st 9/10, Iron Man 2nd 8.5/10 3rd GotG 8/10, 4th Civil War 8/10 for comparison)
Movie was, in a word, fun. It was pretty lighthearted & funny, and had an overall enjoyable factor higher than other CBMs this year. Tom put in a great performance as both Peter & Spider-Man here, and Keaton was the perfect foil. Both hero and villain were, IMO, the best part of the movie (their confrontation starting from when Peter comes to pick up Liz, up to their final battle was without a doubt the best section of the movie. Very tense, great dialogue & convincing performances from both). As everyone probably already knows, Stark wasn't in it for long, but when he was he delivered. The extended confrontation between him and Peter that was shown in the trailer was another great moment. Also, it was nice to see Peter get disillusioned by Stark/Avengers life and focus more on his responsibilities as a hero.
Peter here is a genius introvert, with his heart in the right place (and a bit of a smart mouth, there's a scene where he's in a shop with a Spanish owner who comments on May's attractiveness in Spanish thinking Peter won't understand him, but Peter asks him how his daughter is in Spanish in reply. Pretty funny moment). As Spider-Man he's eager to prove to Stark & Happy he's good enough for the big time, & as the movie goes on it becomes less about proving himself and more about stopping Toomes with or without Stark's knowledge or approval.
Toomes is definitely a sympathetic villain here. The opening scene has him being inadvertently screwed over by Stark implementating damage control, and you kinda feel for him. There's also the moment when he explaines to Peter why he does what he does and he remarks about how rich guys like Stark don't care for the everyman like them, and he gives a good argument. The supporting cast was good.
Liz was a likeable character in her own right, even aside from being a love interest. Flash, despite the character changes implemented served as a serviceable antagonist to Peter & with more Screentime and development could turn out to be one of the better cast members. Ned had the potential to be a funny but likeable & well meaning best friend, but wound up more on the irritating side. Jacob Batalon definitely is a good actor, with great comedic timing and played well off Tom's Peter but Ned's actions throughout leave him as more of an annoyance. Zendaya's Michelle was, different. She got out a couple of laughs at the screening until she mentioned her friends call her MJ, at which point there was a (well deserved) collective groan throughout the cinema. Pretty pointless change, she already proved popular enough amongst the movie goers until that moment. May was definitely not the doting, motherly May we know her to be traditionally. She was more of the younger, hip Aunt who's attractiveness is used as a bit of a joke (at a restaurant, a waiter gives her food on the house, a shop clerk Peter visits describes her as an 'attractive Italian woman' & Ned seems to have a bit of a crush on her).
Overall, the tone of the movie & the writing was pretty good. While the numerous Avengers references served to remind you it's a Marvel movie, it had a self contained feel to it. And it wasn't a formulaic MCU movie (too many unnecessary jokes, forgettable villain, huge third act etc). Watts mentioned in an interview that he wanted to make a good superhero about Spider-Man, and a good teen comedy about Peter Parker. And he definitely succeeds. Despite the less than stellar tone of the trailers, it definitely feels like a classic teen coming of age movie. And it was a pretty good superhero movie too, with a great villain and one of my favorite final fights in any MCU movie. The action itself was lacking (so was the CGI), but the more small scale, contained direction was definitely a winning choice by Marvel & Co.
Currently, I'd give it a 7.5-8/10, I'll probably need to see it a second time before making a final Choice on that, but I'd say it's definitely worth the money (just don't waste your time paying for 3D, isn't worth that). I'd say it's right below Iron Man as my favorite first solo MCU movie, and 5th overall MCU movie (Winter Soldier 1st 9/10, Iron Man 2nd 8.5/10 3rd GotG 8/10, 4th Civil War 8/10 for comparison)
