Spider-Man swings back into a fun action movie, but can he save the MCU from fading relevance?

★ Action

Spider-Man may be the all-time favorite superhero. I really think Batman might be his only competition for that title. Part of the reason why is that he makes for great, creative action. The MCU’s Spider-Man, along with the recent Sony Spider-Man video games, has combined this creativity with the gadgets that Batman is famous for to create the modern techno-webslinger we know today. The movie rejects this a little with its theme of metamorphosis, as Peter grows web glands. This is used in all kinds of fun ways in the action. The scene where the camera rotates in the hallway to match the direction of his web stood out as particularly cool to me. Anytime Spider-Man is fighting onscreen, it’s high entertainment, and that’s a very good thing. Every fight is fun in its own way.

★ Dialogue

Now, the problem is that Spider-Man just can’t be kicking ass the whole movie; you have to fill the time in between with compelling scenes too. Luckily, this movie does a pretty good job at that. Throughout the movie, characters frequently remind and warn Peter about his lifestyle and choices. It’s a little heavy-handed at times, but it all builds on his growing isolation. He is stuck in this cocoon of his own creation, and it’s only when he listens to the voice in his own head telling him what he’s been ignoring from everyone else that he is finally able to emerge from it.

★ Humor

Spider-Man is funny. That’s one of his defining characteristics. When he jokes in the middle of fighting a bad guy, it’s always enjoyable to me because it shows the confidence and joy he lives with. The other characters are putting in work here too. I never saw the Punisher show, but he is a highlight. Playing the straight man to Spider-Man is light work, but he makes it even more fun than expected.

★ Mets

No explicit Mets mentions, but during the emotional climax of the film, which takes place in Peter’s room, there is a Mike Piazza Mets pennant and a Mets logo on the wall. They are featured in the background of many shots. Spider-Man is a Mets fan, and we all know that’s why he is such a well-developed character: the Mets build character like no other team in baseball.

☆ Story

Okay, spoilers ahead because I’m about to go through the story, which was a mixed bag for me. It starts by aging Peter, MJ, and Ned up to college graduates, which is a smart change. All of this is done in a montage where we see Spider-Man defeat classic comic-book villains. It’s fine. It’s a good setup, but it also introduces us to Detective DeWolff, and she is an unconvincing character to me. She’s only there to say, “Hey, Spidey, thanks for catching the bad guys,” and to set up a flat and artificial “character growth” moment for Peter. The movie never really decides if they are friends or strangers, and the one time later in the movie when Peter accidentally hurts a cop, she is VERY quick to scold him. The movie does not show me enough of them to convince me of their relationship, so all their interactions are uncomfortable.

The film continues with the first major action scene, which is fun, and the introduction of the main villain and her powers, another well-executed scene. Then the Department of Damage Control is introduced, with the outstanding Tramell Tillman playing its leader, I guess. You can immediately tell that they are up to no good and will be the twist villain of the movie. It’s just the combination of the standout actor, the ambiguous name, and the nameless henchmen that makes it all too obvious. But anyway, we have to continue with the story, pretending that Spider-Man should be helping them.

He then goes to meet Yelena in a fun scene where he gets in a Russian bath with his mask still on. I loved that, pure Spider-Man, and I like Yelena as a character, but plot-wise, the scene doesn’t make much sense. He goes there to find out more information, and Yelena gives him “V-MAX” and discusses potato sizes, and that’s about it. I don’t understand why she would have this information, so while I did enjoy the scene, it just feels forced to me.

Then he goes to Damage Control, and we get more “hints” that they are really up to no good with their security. You can already see where they are going with all the X-Men stuff: they are clearly going to be the big, bad government that persecutes mutants. We then get the next scene with Tramell that is actually a little bit ingenious, I have to give them this. Peter asks him about V-MAX, and he says he has no idea what it is, though it really seems like he’s lying. So when the movie reveals later that he really has no idea what V-MAX is, it’s a fun little twist.

Then there is the good character work where Peter runs into Ned and follows him to the housewarming party. There is good buildup to the gut punch of MJ’s new boyfriend, which sets off Peter’s metamorphosis. This sets up the funny laundry-room scene.

After that, it’s the fight with Scorpion, who actually turns out to be Jean. It’s a super-fun fight, and Peter not being able to detect her anymore is cool, but the part where black-eyed Peter loses control and is scolded by DeWolff is clunky. It spurs him to visit Dr. Banner.

The classroom scene, I don’t really know what they were going for. They use it as a joke where one of the students asks Banner a popular online discussion question: “Why didn’t Thanos just double the resources?” Instead of giving an answer, he just points to a man in green body paint who says, “Hulk smash.” I don’t get it. Is that like an Austin Powers reference telling the audience, “I suggest you don’t worry about this sort of thing and just enjoy yourself”? I don’t much care for that. It seems pretty dismissive to just tell people not to think too hard about their plots and to just have fun. I still want stuff to make sense. Maybe I’m falling into their trap by thinking too much about this, but it came off as a strange thing to include in your movie. At least it’s just setup for the actually good scene that follows between Banner and Peter, where he warns Peter to be careful about what he’s messing with, but it falls on deaf ears.

After that, it’s the “jumping” chase scene, another fun sequence. Jean finding out about MJ is kind of revealed out of nowhere, but I like it because you can always assume she’s just been following Peter around with her powers. It creates a fun detail to look for in the background on a rewatch and see whether the film actually acknowledges it.

After that, it’s the roof scene with MJ. To me, it was super obvious that it was Jean in MJ’s head, but the reveal got a decent reaction out of my theater. We then get more Frank stuff, and MJ and Peter discuss her boyfriend, who is kind of just dismissed offhand. We don’t see him again, and he never even got a name.

After that, it’s the Hulk fight, which I really enjoyed, and they stop Jean. Banner is then pulled offstage with a hook. The movie is done with him, so we don’t get anything more from him, but at least we got a cool Hulk fight, so whatever.

Then we get to the point where Jean finally says “Sara,” which she could have been saying the whole time to help her cause and gain sympathy, but she just doesn’t. This is where the whole V-MAX thing kind of falls apart. Just because she got the V-MAX message doesn’t mean she also can’t say, “I’m trying to find my sister.” This is definitely an arbitrarily created conflict that breaks down under any sort of pushback, but you know: “Hulk smash.”

At this point, you are just counting down the seconds until Peter finally realizes he has to remove his inhibitor. It’s a little frustrating that it takes him so long to reach this conclusion. The emotional climax is nice, at least.

The story then ends with Peter and Ned doing their handshake, which means the spell didn’t actually work, I guess? I don’t mind it; it’s a nice, ambiguous ending. You don’t need to stay for the after-credits scene. It’s just Ned’s Spidey-tracker app showing Spider-Man in space.

Final verdict

Fun action movie with a mixed-bag story.