Let’s start from the beginning. I liked the movie, but to be honest, I expected it to be better given all the hype and the expectations surrounding it.
First, the positives. Tom Holland genuinely delivers the best performance of his MCU career, both as Spider-Man and as Peter Parker. The directing is excellent, and so are the choreography and action sequences. It’s clear that this director knows how to handle superhero films, as he already proved with Shang-Chi. The cinematography and color palette are also outstanding. This feels like Spider-Man straight out of the comics, swinging through New York City. Overall, it feels like we’re finally getting a Spider-Man trilogy that stands on its own, rather than one where he is simply Iron Man’s sidekick. I also had some doubts about bringing MJ and Ned back, but I think they handled their return reasonably well.
On the other hand, there are quite a few negatives for me. The story is nothing special and feels like something we’ve seen a thousand times before. Hulk and Scorpion were complete misses in my opinion. I’m starting to think Marvel keeps using Mark Ruffalo simply because they have him under contract and don’t really know what to do with him anymore. As for Michael Mando, it feels like they heard fans complaining that they had teased him in a post-credit scene and simply needed to close that loose end. Making Punisher comic relief was unbelievable. I won’t even comment further on that.
The character played by Sadie Sink (I won’t reveal who she is) is another issue for me. While her performance is excellent, I genuinely don’t understand why this particular character needed to be introduced in a Spider-Man movie. Also, Marvel has been overusing Damage Control. I’m honestly tired of seeing them everywhere in the MCU.
Overall, as I said, I liked the movie. I just hope future Spider-Man films become more self-contained and independent. Marvel needs to stop stumbling into questionable writing choices and move away from the MCU’s obsession with serving the franchise first instead of the story itself.
My rating: 7/10.
