Let's be honest. Sony has not had a great track record with handling Spider-man. The best spider-man movie I've seen in a decade was when Sony gave up control and let Marvel Studios do it.
On top of that, the whole premise is ripe for running purely on reference gags and nostalgia. Too many films have fallen to depending entirely on nostalgia-factor and in-jokes as a substitute for actual writing.
This film has plenty of references and gags, but it doesn't depend on that. It is ultimately about a kid learning to be spider-man - but in a slightly different take on the story, he at least has a few spider-heroes to look up to and mentor him. The focus on character, as well as the distinctive familiar-yet-unique identities of each spiderman keep them memorable enough.
The story is mostly simple enough, which lets us focus more on the characters. Miles is, in fact, just a kid who's thrust into a very dangerous situation before he's ready. When he wants to fit in, he's standing out. When he wants to be normal, he's got superpowers. When he wants to be a hero, he's thrown into the deep end. When he has the guts to try to do something, he doesn't have the skills yet. This is a character that is basically out of control of his life, and it's very relatable.
The visuals are amazing as well. It's mostly CGI but they also use a mixture of shading techniques. Sometimes it's flat, sometimes it really pops, sometimes it uses the old printed-comic style. The film truly embraces the comic origins, both in some of the silliness and the style. I saw it in regular 2D, but this is one of the rare times I think I would have enjoyed it in 3D.
Even better than I expected
Let's be honest. Sony has not had a great track record with handling Spider-man. The best spider-man movie I've seen in a decade was when Sony gave up control and let Marvel Studios do it.
On top of that, the whole premise is ripe for running purely on reference gags and nostalgia. Too many films have fallen to depending entirely on nostalgia-factor and in-jokes as a substitute for actual writing.
This film has plenty of references and gags, but it doesn't depend on that. It is ultimately about a kid learning to be spider-man - but in a slightly different take on the story, he at least has a few spider-heroes to look up to and mentor him. The focus on character, as well as the distinctive familiar-yet-unique identities of each spiderman keep them memorable enough.
The story is mostly simple enough, which lets us focus more on the characters. Miles is, in fact, just a kid who's thrust into a very dangerous situation before he's ready. When he wants to fit in, he's standing out. When he wants to be normal, he's got superpowers. When he wants to be a hero, he's thrown into the deep end. When he has the guts to try to do something, he doesn't have the skills yet. This is a character that is basically out of control of his life, and it's very relatable.
The visuals are amazing as well. It's mostly CGI but they also use a mixture of shading techniques. Sometimes it's flat, sometimes it really pops, sometimes it uses the old printed-comic style. The film truly embraces the comic origins, both in some of the silliness and the style. I saw it in regular 2D, but this is one of the rare times I think I would have enjoyed it in 3D.
8/10 overall, great film.