Some may be panic buying incase the UK sees another Lockdown; I am panic culturing and getting in all the movies, plays and art galleries whilst I can travel. Spiderman is one of those...Beware some spoilers ahead.
It is an enjoyable, fun action film, but mixed in terms of characterisation, motivation and plot. Not sure why Shang-Chi and Katy were there shovelling snow, but they did! Magic gone wrong apparently...
Tired of being papped, Spiderman asks Dr Strange (aka Benedict Cumberbatch) to make a spell to cause everyone to forget about him - only as the spell is being cast, Spiderman keeps on inserting exemption clauses, which messes everything up. It all goes a bit Inception for a while (only less slick), mirror world where Dr Strange is in control?
Then everyone remembers that they are school kids, and not in Inception, and have futures to sort - Spiderman pursues the person with clout in their taxi to try to get his friend's futures reversed. There is a thrilling attack on a bridge (unless you're in the taxi) by one of Spiderman's former enemies from another movie (but not this Spiderman!) - Dr Octopus. More and more curiously others from other movies start to turn up too. Dr Strange has a way of dealing with all the mayhem - zap them, contain them, send them back. Spiderman has an alternative solution - cure and rehabilitation and reintegration into society. To implement his therapeutic path, he zaps Dr Strange who knows where and starts 'curing'. This is all very 2021 with shots, cures, viruses and whether bad deeds are nature or nurture...
***Spoilers ahead*** Only he hadn't reckoned on previous Spiderman turning up too - hellooo Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire cos of opening the multiverses or summat. This is where the conceit of the film gets going - Spiderman (Tom Holland) has to learn to work together with his other selves and provide some encouragement for Spiderman (Andrew Garfield). Then they all turn scientists and set up a lab and a trap to forcibly cure the wrong doers and send them back where they belong. Again very 2021 - forcible vaccinations or not, and who should be part of society... Hidden political comment on immigration and jabs aside, this part is a lot of fun.
What doesn't work so well is why Aunt May died - one moment she seemed to be fine, the next moment something happened and she's gone....Less well developed is why the villains want to stay villains and ruin the world, given that they have the chance to return to their own worlds and perhaps not die? Hinted at, but again not really explored, is the whole area of eugenics, psychotherapy, cures - who gets to cure whom and why? (Even our very vaccination focused world and the idea of forced 'cures' for the greater good). Who knows why the Green Goblin wants to stay green? We very strongly know why Jamie Foxx wants to stay fully charged. Another theme hinted at, but not explored is redemption. If you were offered the chance of life and lasting change, of completely changing yourself and your way of life by something outside and then being returned to your current world to continue to live out your life well would you do it? What would it cost?
Willem Dafoe and Alfred Molina are brilliant, even though Willem Dafoe is given feeble motivations and little to do beyond sad or cackling. Alfred Molina's character is the most fully developed as he seizes the chance to change, to be a different version of himself and to work co-operatively.
Most heinous of all is the waste of Zendaya - as in Dune, she is given little to do beyond being the love interest. I like the fact that she's set up as herself, not a typical girlfriend. Also that she and Spiderman have a respectful relationship - they aren't sexting, leaping into bed or snogging the faces off each other, nor is she there just to be in peril, letched over and rescued. In this way, she is given more to do and is incredibly normal when deposited on very high scaffolding!!! But seriously, more lines...Let the woman act for crying out loud. Hippyish Aunt May had some hilarious moments - take note for Zendaya.
It is a lot of fun, but not in the same league as Black Panther, Wonder Woman, Shang-Chi or even the previous Spidermen. Storyline is flabby and takes a long time to get going, characters are introduced for little to no purpose and there seem to be a lot of effects just for effects. It also ends oddly as Peter Parker (Tom Holland) is now not known by his friends and seems like an overfamiliar, creepy, stalky guy seeking coffee in the cafe where MJ works. Ewww. There was also unnecessary and unfunny swearing for what is meant to be a tweenager friendly film - Dr Strange needs to learn that swearing for swearing's sake does not a joke make - (but tumbleweed runways!)
Goodness and Rhys Ifans as a dinosaur - yes there are dinosaur-lizard gags - I liked them! He was unrecognisable though....Unlike the Statue of Liberty - no historic moments were harmed in the making of this multiverse, (though the supervillains had a good go!)
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