#she should’ve been in the movie. even as an easter egg somewhere.

[finleycannotdraw]

if meredith blitzmeyer has a million fans I am one of them. if meredith blitzmeyer has ten fans I am one of them. if meredith blitzmeyer has one fan then that fan is me. if meredith blitzmeyer has no fans then I am no longer alive. if the world is against meredith blitzmeyer then I am against the world.

[adamwatchesmovies]

He’s All That (2021)

Attempting the gender-swap reboot thing with She’s All That was a bad idea. It’s even less memorable than its predecessor - itself a vanilla version of My Fair Lady - and squanders every opportunity it might’ve had to update the story.

Instagram influencer Padgett Sawyer (played by TikTok superstar Addison Rae) is devastated when she catches her boyfriend Jordan (Peyton Meyer) cheating while live streaming. Their breakup causes her to lose followers and sponsorships in droves. To win them back, she takes on a challenge to turn loser Cameron Kweller (Tanner Buchanan) into prom king.

Like in She’s All That, you can foresee just about everything in this story. I won’t criticize the movie for this too because it’s what you came to see. I will criticize writer R. Lee Fleming Jr. for the flaccid attempts to utilize social media in the story. Catching your boyfriend cheating on you isn't going to cost you followers. If anything, you’d gain some… they’d just be subscribing for the wrong reasons. There are so many ways this tale could use new-age technology to its advantage. Cameron could learn about the deception through an overly personal video or a text message she accidentally sends to the wrong contact, for example. As is, this feels like a whole lot of "How do you do, fellow kids?"

By far, the movie's biggest flaw is Addison Rae. She proves you can be badly cast even when "playing yourself". Every scene with her and Tanner Buchanan is unconvincing. It reinforces the feeling that this whole thing... really wouldn't play out this way in real life. Even with his antisocial attitude and long hair, eight-pack sporting Cameron would be beating the ladies off with a stick. He also wouldn't care about being tricked, not with his raging teenage hormones. If you think those makeovers of the past where all the lady needed was to put her hair down and take off her glasses were ridiculous, check out how little effort is needed to turn this hunk into prom king candidate.

This Pygmalion tale has never been flimsier thanks to the non-existent stakes. On top of the jeopardized sponsorship, Padgett is also remodeling Cameron because of a bet, a bet that means NOTHING. Firstly, it’s a wager between kids. Secondly, the whole thing should be null and void because of interference. Finally, there's no reason for Padgett to keep going with it, certainly not once she develops true feelings for her mark.

The story is made more modern by giving both Cameron and Padgett lesbian besties, both of which are played by visual minorities... but they’re completely superfluous to the story, so let’s not get too excited. There’s a message somewhere about experiencing life outside of your phone. Otherwise, nothing except for the casting (which includes non-actress Kourtney Kardashian) makes this story any better than She’s All That, which was at least semi-original.

In theory, this should’ve been a good idea. Don’t remake good movies; remake movies that had potential they never lived up to. For fans, throw in some Easter eggs in the form of Matthew Lillard and Rachael Leigh Cook, a pointless dance scene and a remix of Sixpence None the Richer’s Kiss Me. Instead, He’s All That will make you look back fondly on a mediocre movie as it struggles to validate its existence. (September 17, 2021)

[readygamerone]

Chapter 37 - The Knights Who Say “Kill Me”

Wade is FINALLY inside the Third Gate so the story is at last winding down to its conclusion. Like in the First Gate, he has to begin by conquering a 1980′s arcade game. This time it's Tempest, which Wade claims is somehow not one of the games he's most skilled at. Art3mis, however, expected this particular game to be here because of an extremely thinly-veiled reference at the end of Halliday's book. Wade says that he knew it was a Shakespeare quote but never thought to actually look it up:

"Come on,” I heard Art3mis whisper. “You had to know Tempest was going to factor into the Third Gate somehow. It was so obvious!” “Oh really?” I said. “Why?” “Because of the quote on the last page of the Almanac,” she replied. “ ‘I must uneasy make, lest too light winning make the prize light.’” “I know the quote,” I said, annoyed. “It’s from Shakespeare. But I figured it was just Halliday’s way of letting us know how difficult he was going to make the Hunt.” “It was,” Art3mis said. “But it was also a clue. That quote was taken from Shakespeare’s final play, The Tempest.” “Shit!” I hissed. “How the hell did I miss that?”

Even worse, he has to beat Halliday's high score with only one credit. Once again, Art3mis saves Wade's ass here by giving him a cheat code that actually existed in the original cabinet, allowing the player to get 40 free credits. She's really earning more than her share of that 25% cut.

Now equipped with a few dozen attempts, Wade is able to eventually beat Halliday's score and move on. He had claimed that he wasn't very good at this game but, of course, he's the best and we never should've doubted his ability. We also learn, via the OASIS system automatically livestreaming everyone who is attempting this final Gate, that the Sixers have also begun playing Tempest. Naturally, they're all familiar with the same free credits cheat code as well. Wade's not looking like such a singularly worthy gunter at the moment.

The next leg of the challenge is something that is sure to send chills up the spine of anyone whose time in high school was anything like mine. Like he did previously with the movie WarGames, Wade has to play a character in every scene of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Yes, the one movie that is probably forever ruined in the minds of so many like myself who heard it endlessly quoted in class and in the lunchroom. It's impossible to think about what was once a decent comedy film without associating it with the same kind of performative nerdom that defines this entire book. So it's very fitting that one of "Halliday's favorite films, and perhaps the most-beloved geek film of all time" would serve as the next tedious task. 

Wade doesn't think he needs any help acting it out since's he's watched it 157(!) times over the last six years but he has his friends feeding lines and actions into his ear all the same. Entire paragraphs of dialogue from the movie are included here, both so fans at home can join in on the fun and so Cline can stretch out an insubstantial chapter.

With the entire 90 minute performance completed, Wade then finds himself in what appears to be a recreation of Halliday's office. And since it's been a while since we last had to put up with it, we get treated to an entire list of computers and game consoles where a sentence would've sufficed:

On each table there was a different classic home computer or videogame system, accompanied by tiered racks that appeared to hold a complete collection of its peripherals, controllers, software, and games. All of it was arranged perfectly, like a museum exhibit. Looking around the circle, from one system to the next, I saw that the computers seemed to be arranged roughly by year of origin. A PDP-1. An Altair 8800. An IMSAI 8080. An Apple I, right next to an Apple II. An Atari 2600. A Commodore PET. An Intellivision. Several different TRS-80 models. An Atari 400 and 800. A ColecoVision. A TI-99/4. A Sinclair ZX80. A Commodore 64. Various Nintendo and Sega game systems. The entire lineage of Macs and PCs, PlayStations and Xboxes. Finally, completing the circle, was an OASIS console—connected to the immersion rig in the center of the room.

Keep stretching, Ernest. We're almost to the finish line.

Sorrento and the other Sixers are right on Wade's heels so some urgency would probably be a good idea. But I can understand why he wouldn't be able to resist drooling over hardware that's as much as 70 years old by this point. Composing himself, Wade determines that the Easter Egg must be somewhere in this room and begins to search. There are only two chapters left so surely something exciting or profound will happen soon!

Pop Culture References: 71 (7.1 per page)

Video Games Q*Bert I Gorf I Tempest IIIII IIIII I Atari III Black Tiger III Intellivision I Colecovision I Nintendo I Sega I Playstation I Xbox I

Movies Monty Python and the Holy Grail IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII I WarGames II

Music Rush II

Books Shakespeare III

Computers PDP-1 I Altair 8800 I IMSAI 8080 I Apple III Commodore PET I TRS-80 I Atari 400 I Atari 800 I TI-99/4 I Sinclair ZX80 I Commodore 64 I

Brands Ex-Lax I

[robedisimo]

The Last Jedi: six observations and four questions [MAJOR SPOILERS]

[WARNING: the following contains HUGE PLOT SPOILERS for Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Please proceed at your own discretion.]

It has been a strange, busy year for franchise sequels. Between Alien: Covenant, Blade Runner 2049, Thor: Ragnarok and now The Last Jedi, a lot of what has graced our screens has been saddled with a lot of different expectations, and with more than a little anxiety concerning its relationship to vast pre-established canon. In my opinion, all four films handled that task well; however, each of them approached the matter in a very different way.

Denis Villeneuve’s Blade Runner sequel embraced and expanded its predecessor’s style and themes, for example, while Ragnarok upended pretty much everything in its franchise so far with maniacal glee and an irrevent attitude bordering on outright mockery. Covenant also played fast and loose with established lore, but unlike the third Thor it did so without acknowledging it, “pretending” – thanks to original creator Ridley Scott being at its helm – to perfectly fit into everything that preceded it.

At its heart, The Last Jedi has more than a little in common with the latter two. It – literally, in certain cases – sets fire to certain aspects of the Star Wars canon to make room for a newer iteration of the franchise, but it does so with respect and love, pruning selected parts of the property to allow it to flourish. Its mockery seems instead aimed at its direct predecessor, The Force Awakens, which director Rian Johnson appears to retroactively adjust in order to steer the saga towards his own vision.

That attitude is nowhere more apparent than in the outright derision of Kylo Ren’s mask, which “makes him look like an idiot”. The meta-textual jab at J.J. Abrams’s aesthetic sensibilities betrays a ballsiness bordering on arrogance, as does the U-turn on Snoke’s characterisation, going from grave, sombre Palpatine wannabe to sneering, opulent Bond villain.

Whatever the reasoning behind The Last Jedi’s changes to the franchise, in my eyes the overwhelming majority of them was for the best. But did Johnson’s film really change everything, or was it more of a balanced mix of old and new? Following is a brief list of things that didn’t go as we might have expected and things that most certainly did, as well as some that still may or may not in the near future.

1. Subverted expectations

Leia’s death Given historic Star Wars precedent, it was very reasonable to expect Leia to not survive Episode VIII’s events: Kylo Ren was on a stated mission to forcibly (har har) eradicate his family ties, “mentor”-like characters have a track record of not surviving long into a new trilogy and, well, Carrie Fisher won’t be around for Episode IX. And indeed, The Last Jedi does give Leia a swift and dramatic death scene... only to reverse it immediately by virtue of a plot twist hinging on the character’s previously-undisclosed Jedi training, in a textbook example of a trope which I’m sure must be already defined somewhere on the Internet but which I’m personally more than willing to dub “Secretly Jesus”. It’s a stunning sequence and one that’s proving quite controversial with fans, setting the scene for the no-holds-barred approach to storytelling showcased throughout the movie.

Finn’s sacrifice I’ve written at length about how Finn is the best candidate for Sequel-Trilogy replacement to Han Solo, and so there was good reason to believe that, as he threw himself into a First Order super-weapon, we were in for a rerun of Han’s heroic surrender to frozen doom – I don’t think anyone was expecting Finn to actually die, but by that point The Last Jedi had certainly demonstrated that it was down for pretty much anything – at the end of The Empire Strikes Back. Once again, that didn’t end up happening but the spirit was certainly there: just like Han, Finn had spent the whole film – and the whole franchise up to that point – torn between his own good heart and an individualistic penchant for self-preservation; by the end of their respective second chapters, both characters finally embrace their heroic streak. Ironically, whereas Han sacrificed himself to save Leia – culminating in the saga’s first explicitly-stated romance – here it’s the girl who ends up in suspended animation instead, after saving the day and declaring her love.

Rey’s parentage The most (apparently) outrage-introducing aspect of Johnson’s film is also the most interestingly handled. After two years of speculation regarding Rey’s true parents, and a number of increasingly far-fetched theories – Rey is Luke’s, Obi-Wan’s, Qui-Gon’s, Palpatine’s daughter – in The Last Jedi she was finally revealed to have been just a regular Jane Doe all along, an outsider to the Skywalker family saga. Some fans have met this with outcry, partly because they don’t seem to understand that the Sequel Trilogy is still part of the Skywalker arc through Kylo Ren, and partly because of precedent. The reveal of Luke’s parentage in The Empire Strikes Back is the single most iconic moment in the entire franchise, and quite a few people were expecting a direct retread of that. Except a direct retread is precisely what they got. Even without getting into the fact that Kylo could’ve simply been lying, the scene plays exactly how you’d expect: the bad guy extends his hand to the hero, offering a place beside them on the Galaxy’s throne after dropping the unexpected bombshell about their parents’ identity. The scene is almost exactly the same, but in reverse: for starters, the hero has just been in a fight involving the film’s villain; but unlike in Empire, Rey comes out of the fight victorious and having fought on the same side as the villain, not against him. Similarly, the biggest reversal comes in the fact that the bombshell shock doesn’t come in the shape of a twist reveal but rather in the absence of one. The Last Jedi – something it has in common with another piece of oft-maligned fiction that I happen to love, but that’s a story for another time – trades a twist for an anti-twist: “I am your father” becomes “Nobody is your father”. Which isn’t just poetic, it also works on a number of levels. Rey doesn’t have to be connected to everything else in the saga, just like Finn doesn’t have to be Lando’s or Mace Windu’s secret son. In The Last Jedi we finally get to know and love these characters for who they are, not for who they could be. This moment in which the saga is freed from the weight of its own legacy is as earth-shattering and franchise-changing as the ending to Empire was; if not more, because this time around we were prepared for it but were still surprised. We were prepared for anything, and they surprised us with nothing. You can call that cheating. I call that clever.

2. Confirmed tropes

Luke’s goodbye While Luke’s final act of heroism in The Last Jedi is breathtaking in its unexpectedness, his ultimate fate is as traditional as they come. Right after re-enacting Obi-Wan’s “strike me down” scene, Luke pulls a Yoda and peacefully joins the Force. It’s something that by all logic should’ve been reserved for the first half of Episode IX – just as Yoda’s death signalled the beginning of act 2 for Return of the Jedi –, but then again I did mention in my review that The Last Jedi is a bit of an episode-and-a-half kind of deal. Narratively speaking, the film could’ve ended on an Empire-like note right as Rey manages to escape after her lightsabre-breaking, parentage-revealing confrontation with Ben. Instead, Johnson took things one giant step beyond. And that’s a good thing, fortunately: had this movie closed on yet another cliffhanger, we wouldn’t have had the chance to conveniently explain away Leia’s departure from the franchise by means of a – all but inevitable, now – time skip between Episodes VIII and IX.

Snoke’s death Unexpected as it was in its timing, Snoke’s demise was anything but in terms of pure narrative structure: he was set up to be defeated, and he most certainly was. Not just that, but he was defeated in what’s arguably the most traditional way to be found in Star Wars canon: an apprentice turning on his own master when he’s instead supposed to finish an incapacitated opponent. It happened to Palpatine in the Original Trilogy, and it happened to Mace Windu – in a direct reversal of that same scene – in the Prequels. Snoke may not have been an actual member of the Sith order, but his fate certainly conformed to that of historic Dark Side practitioners. What’s more, his efforts to turn Ben Solo into a new Vader definitely paid off... perhaps even too much for his liking.

DJ’s betrayal Benicio Del Toro’s character is more a walking, talking plot device than anything, but he’s an undeniably charming addition to the franchise. Still, for anyone who thought he didn’t get enough development on his first time on the Star Wars scene, his return is pretty much a given. His potential for a face-turn in Episode IX, combined with his introduction as a shifty but useful ally to our heroes, only to grievously betray them while maintaining a measure of relatability, paints a very clear picture: DJ is, quite simply, the Sequel Trilogy’s Lando. There’s probably no easier cross-trilogy comparison in all of The Last Jedi, in my opinion. And to be frank, it’s a pretty entertaining one.

3. Still-dangling plot threads

What role do Luke’s relics play? The Last Jedi includes more than a few deep-lore easter eggs, many of them hidden on its characters. Snoke, for example, wears a golden ring whose stone – as one can read in the Visual Dictionary companion book – comes directly from the Dark Side pit originally lying beneath Vader’s fortress first glimpsed in Rogue One. Luke carries not one but two of these significant relics. The first is a Jedi compass, a MacGuffin introduced in the recently-released Battlefront II video game whose exact purpose wasn’t really disclosed, although one might speculate that it’s through it that Luke managed to find the ancient Jedi planet of Ahch-To. The second is Luke’s pendant, apparently housing a red crystal of unspecified origins. This particular object became the centrepiece of a fascinating fan theory in the months preceding the film’s release, and while that specific scenario didn’t pan out, the pendant itself did get a suspicious close-up shot which went entirely unexplained. The Visual Dictionary lists it as an ancient “Jedi Crusader” trophy, sparking rumours about the renewed canonicity of fan-favourite Knights of the Old Republic character Darth Revan. Could that be it, or is there more to Luke’s story between trilogies that we have yet to see? And if so, will that be addressed in Episode IX, or is it something that’s bound to be left to exploration in New Expanded Universe material?

Who was Snoke, exactly? Easily the second most controversial bit in the movie, Snoke’s sudden death left a lot of questions hanging. Who exactly was this guy? Where did he come from? Why was he so strong in the Force, and how did he know so much about everyone involved in the previous two thirds of the saga? The fans’ frustration about these unresolved plot points is understandable, and it’s undeniable that Johnson has left quite the hot potato in Abrams’s hands. Still, one must never forget that Emperor Palpatine was just as much of an unknown quantity in the Original Trilogy: character-wise, he was very little more than a cackling, mugging “evil incarnate” trope, blandly intimidating up to the point where his right-hand man killed him by essentially pushing him down a flight of stairs. It wasn’t until the oft-maligned Prequels that good ol’ Sheev took on a personality all his own. On the other hand, that sort of undefined mystery just isn’t viable in the franchise’s current state. After forty years of accumulated, obsessive exploration of the narrative universe’s every nook and cranny, fans are no longer willing to put up with not knowing. And, to be completely fair, relegating Snoke’s backstory to Expanded Universe novels or comic-book series would be a disservice to the portion of the audience that only watches the film instalments – whereas Phasma’s mostly-perfunctory role in the movies is more acceptable, vis-à-vis her much more in-depth characterisation in ancillary material – and a general faux pas from a narrative standpoint.

What about the Knights of Ren? Speaking of dubious narrative choices, another unexpected element in The Last Jedi’s standalone-but-not-standalone structure – the movie works extremely well in isolation, but it’s also perhaps the most interconnected to previous lore that Star Wars has ever been – was the total absence of Kylo Ren’s eponymous Knights, teased in Rey’s “Force Vision” sequence halfway through The Force Awakens. From a purely in-universe standpoint, their uninvolvement with the film’s proceedings makes sense: Episode VIII takes place over a short period of time immediately on VII’s heels, and as such it would’ve been strange for the Knights to come running as a sort of bad-guy cavalry, especially if it were for the sole purpose of being anticlimactically slaughtered barely halfway through the trilogy at the hands of a still-inexperienced Rey. Narratively speaking, however, what we got was a full movie – and two more years of endless wait – going by without the characters being addressed, which is pretty frustrating. So much so, in fact, that some fans have already begun speculating that the Knights actually were featured in The Last Jedi as none other than Snoke’s Praetorian Guards, a truly awful theory that presupposes a shockingly appalling grasp of storytelling on Rian Johnson’s part. One can only hope that with Kylo now positioned as the trilogy’s Big Bad, they’ll serve as the mid-boss-level characters our heroes will have to get through if they want to face the ultimate evil... potentially resulting in the most spectacular lightsabre battle ever witnessed in Star Wars canon.

Where are the other Force ghosts? The question of where Yoda’s Force ghost has been all these days as Luke – and the Galaxy – needed his guidance is easily answered by The Force Awakens, in both title and dialogues: there has been an “awakening” in the Force, at least the Cosmic side of it, with Rey’s and Kylo’s mounting powers. So it’s not hard to imagine that the world of spirits has been a lot less in touch with that of the living over the past thirty years. Nonetheless, that dry spell is now decidedly broken. Obi-Wan whispered in Rey’s ear at least once in Episode VII, and Yoda’s appearance in The Last Jedi showed us a Force ghost with more power and influence over the physical world than ever before – although that may have to do with the peculiar Force-attuned nature of the planet Ahch-To –, and that’s a pretty hard can of worms to re-seal. So the big, looming question right now is: where is Anakin Skywalker’s ghost, and why isn’t he giving his grandson a piece of his mind about his hare-brained scheme for galactic annihilation? Should we expect Hayden Christensen to make a Vader-y return in Episode IX, or will Abrams’s apparent loathing for the Prequels rob us of that long-delayed rehabilitation of his take on the character?

Other questions loom large over the next (and final) episode in the Skywalker saga, of course. Did Kylo lie about Rey’s parents? Will Snoke still exert some sort of influence on the Galaxy’s fate, even after death? How exactly will Leia die? How will the Resistance turn things around to win the day? Will Rey and Poe start a surprise romance? And how will Phasma have ludicrously survived this time?

We’ll just have to wait, I guess. In the meantime, I’m sure Solo: A Star Wars Story will give people a lot more to complain about.

[wionews]

Spider-Man Homecoming movie review: This is the web-slinger we were waiting for all these years

One of the most famous and loved superhero of all time, Spider-Man made a much awaited and much needed Marvel Cinematic Universe debut in last year’s Captain America: Civil War. Many were of opinion that Spider-Man was one of the best parts of the film. Fans were even more elated when it was announced that the very next year that is in 2017, Spider-Man will be starring in his own film, helmed  by MCU. The film was titled Spider-Man: Homecoming and it was revealed that will also feature MCU’s poster boy since its inception in 2008, Robert Downey Jr aka Iron Man aka Tony Stark. Directed by Jon Watts, film stars Tom Holland, Jacob Batalon, Zendaya and Michael Keaton among others.

What’s It About

The film starts right after the aftermaths of Captain America: Civil War as far as Peter Parker’s (Tom Holland) story is concerned but Adrian Toomes (Michael Keaton) aka Vulture’s story goes back to the first Avengers film. Film follows the life of Peter Parker and how his life changes after his stint along with the Avengers. While Tony Stark assures him he’ll be called when the time is right and advises him to not do what Tony would do and definitely not do what Tony wouldn’t do. Basically, Tony wants him to be the friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man while Peter wants to prove his worth and is just looking for a chance. And that one chance arrives in The Vulture! Once he comes face to face with The Vulture, all hell breaks loose, so much so that even Tony leaves him on his own. What happens next forms the rest of the film. 

What’s Good

Even though I am one of those who grew up on Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man trilogy and loathed Andrew Garfield’s The Amazing Spider-Man duology for two reasons, films not being anything like original trilogy and Andrew not being Tobey, but Tom Holland here is beyond comparison. He is goofy, childish, bumbling and yet endearing. He creates the sort of persona of Spider-Man in this film that you just can’t compare him with the previous two. You can still be a fan of Tobey’s take on the web slinger and love Tom’s turn at it. Moreover, Tom is a very able actor, the whole scene of his with Michael Keaton’s Adrian Toomes in a car, speaks volume about his talent and the one in pre-climax when he decides to be an ‘adult’.

Michael Keaton is one of the major reasons the film turns out to be what it is. He balances it out, if Peter is goofy, Adrian is no nonsense and menacing. When he turns into The Vulture, he is a scene stealer, his voice, demeanor, mannerism, aura works wonders for the film. Like I mentioned above that one scene in a car was the highlight of the film for me. While he does all those dreadful activities, somewhere in your heart, you still feel for him.

Jacob Batalon as Ned, Peter’s best friend plays a perfect sidekick and often raises laughter quotient in the film. Marisa Tomei as Aunt May is as hot as she is talented and makers have played to that in the film. No wonder Tony Stark wanted to know if she’s wearing something ‘skimpy’. Other actors be it Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan, Zendaya as Michelle and Laura Harrier as Liz give able support.

And what can I say about the truly invincible Iron Man aka Robert Downey Jr. The more I say about his screen presence and acting ability, will be an insult to one of the world’s biggest stars. He is charismatic, enigmatic, majestic and charming. 

As far as film is concerned, like every other Marvel movie, film plays high on humour and there is not a single dull moment in the film. Spider-Man here is a trainee and is far away from learning the ropes or webs in this case, of being a superhero. This is the most grounded version of Spider-Man, which one can easily relate to for we finally get to see the difficulty Peter faces while he balances his school and trying to be a superhero. In fact if not for a superhero film, this film works well enough and can easily be passed off as a high school comedy.

There are many digs or reference, of course, indirect at (surprisingly) DCEU superheroes like Flash, Batman, Superman and Green Arrow. (Or maybe I read too much between the lines.) Anyway it was a win!

Apart from that there are several other easter eggs and references that’ll be fun for the fans.

The music is fine with Vulture’s theme score standing out. The special effects are first rate.

And finally, out of all the MCU, DCEU and other franchise blockbusters of Hollywood, this film has the best post-credit scene ever. You have to wait for it… 

What’s Not

While the earlier face-offs between Spider-Man and Vulture were worth your money, it is the climax that I  found a little underwhelming. Make no mistake the end fight scene’s build up is fantastic, it ends way before it should’ve, as if makers were in a hurry. Tony Revolori as Flash Thompson, “The High School Bully” in Peter’s life was, highly underused.

I know it’s a Spider-Man film but still I was expecting a fair screen time of Robert Downey Jr (blame it on the promos) but he had very limited scenes…may be that’s the fanboy in me speaking.

And why oh why, you wouldn’t show that money shot moment from the trailer where Iron Man and Spider-Man are shown slinging/flying around the city. That scene was missing from the film.

Apart from the above things, film, most importantly lacked depth, which was the major reason I loved Wonder Woman and Logan. Both of those films have soul, here it’s all mind blasting entertainment. 

What To Do

The question is, Can Marvel ever go wrong? Well the answer is NO, I don’t think so. They know the tips and tricks of how to play to the gallery and successfully churn out an entertaining blockbuster. What’s commendable here is they have done it with a superhero who is already a hit with the fans and have been played twice before in last 15 years. Watch the film for its non-stop entertainment and humour, for Tom Holland and Michael Keaton, for MCU finally getting a good villain after Loki and…well it’s MCU, you are gonna watch it, anyway. This is the Spider-Man we were waiting for all these years.

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