Showing posts with label Peter Parker. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Peter Parker. Show all posts

Saturday, February 5, 2022

Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) - Review

spiderman green gobin no way home poster

Spiderman/Peter Parker just cannot get a break. He finally came to terms with being a superhero and even disclosed his secret to MJ (Zendaya). That is when the multiverse warriorQuentin Beck/Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal)  revealed Parker's secret to the entire world.
 
Peter finds himself the target of intense media scrutiny. By extension, MJ and Ned's MIT applications get rejected. Desperate for a solution, he turns to Dr Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), who proposes to use his powers to make everyone forget about Spiderman's secret identity.
 
Peter interrupts the spell many times, resulting in people from other multiverses popping up in this reality. Multiple supervillains show up, including Doc Ock (Alfred Molina), Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe) and Sandman (Thomas Haden Church) from the Sam Raimi/Tobey Maguire trilogy. We also have Electro (Jamie Foxx) and The Lizard (Rhys Ifans) from the Marc Webb/Andrew Garfield movies.

dr strange spiderman no way home movie poster
 
Dr Strange and Spidey manage to capture the supervillains one by one. It seems the villains were pulled in from their respective realities, just before they were about to die during their confrontation with the Friendly Neighborhood Webslinger. Dr Strange proposes to send them back to their respective universes, but Spiderman disagrees and traps the Sorcerer Supreme in the Mirror Dimension. 
 
Spiderman wants to cure the villains and succeeds with Doc Ock but his good intentions backfire when the Green Goblin persona takes over Norman Osborn and kills Aunt May (Marisa Tomei). A distraught Peter goes into self-exile. Ned uses Dr Strange's sling ring to find his friend. Guess who turns up instead  - Tobey Maguire (Peter 2) and Andrew Garfield (Peter 3) from their respective realities.

The rest of the movie is about how the three Spidermen work together to cure the remaining baddies with support from the now reformed Doc Ock. And yes, Dr Strange escapes from the Mirror Dimension and performs one final spells that makes every one forget the real identity of Tom Holland's Spiderman (Peter 1). He also sends back the other two Spidermen and others back.

Peter 1 continues to fight crime as Spiderman but decides not to reintroduce himself to Ned or MJ.

doc ock spiderman no way home poster wallpaper screensaver image picture

The movie works for the most part, mainly due to the return of actors from previous Spiderman movies and Benedict Cumberbatch's Dr Stephen Strange. Speaking of the former, like the movies themselves the actors also continue to leave similar impressions this time too. Tobey Maguire, Willem Dafoe and Alfred Molina continue to deliver stellar performances, even if it is almost two decades since the last time. Especially Willem Dafoe - he exudes innocence and menace as Norman Osborn and Green Goblin respectively. The transformation scene and the subsequent fight scene leading to Aunt May's death has to be seen to be believed. He is a gifted actor and has portrayed both heroic (Aquaman's mentor Nuidis Vulko) and villainous characters with ease. 

Same is true of Tobey and Alfred. They have a great reunion in the movie and the scene that is set to Danny Elfman's memorable soundtrack, should bring a smile to fans of the Sam Raimi movies. Additionally, all three of them get to repeat some of their memorable lines from the previous movies.
 
Tobey's Peter 1 is the mature one in the team and he imparts wisdom to Andrew's Peter 2, who suffers from inferiority complex. The conversation featuring the 3 Spideys is another great scene from the movie. Peter 2 and 3's responses to Peter 1's remark that he is part of The Avengers was gold.

Andrew's Spiderman finally gets some closure after rescuing Zendaya's MJ. Jamie Foxx is clearly channeling his Bats character from Baby Driver. Both Rhys Ifans and Thomas Haden Church make their appearance in the climax, as they are in their transformed personas for the remaining of the movie.
 
benedict cumberbatch spiderman no way home poster wallpaper screensaver picture image

And now coming to my favorite part of the movie - Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Stephen Strange. I think this is his best performance in the MCU so far; yes even better than his own standalone origin movie or Avengers: Infinity War. He did have a brief cameo in Thor: Ragnarok and Avengers: Endgame, but those were too brief. For the first time, Dr Strange shows his sense of humor and that made the big difference. Dr Strange is clearly the next big thing in the MCU after Iron Man's exit and Benedict is settling well into the role.
 
 
His battle with Spidey is the best sequence in the movie and Michael Giacchino's background score lifts the scene to a different level. Interestingly, Michael will not be scoring for the next MCU movie: Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Since Sam Raimi replaced Scott Derrickson, his favorite Danny Elfman has been brought on board for the composing duties. Let us see if they can recreate the magic of the Spiderman trilogy.
 
PS: Michael Giacchino has scored the soundtrack for the next Batman movie. He joins both Elfman and Zimmer as the composers who have worked on both Batman and Spiderman movies.
 

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Image Sources: Pascal Pictures, Marvel Studios, Columbia Pictures

Thursday, November 18, 2021

Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) Trailer - Review/Reaction

spider man no way home poster
 
The latest trailer for the webslinger's latest movie outing is out. And it promises to be the mother of all cross overs, even by MCU standards.

Peter Parker/Spider-Man has taken Doctor Strange's help to solve his identity crisis and the outcomes are far worser than anything he could have expected.

Check out the trailer:




As readers would know from the previous trailer, characters from parallel universe/multiverse have descended on Peter Parker's reality.
 
This includes Doc Ock (Alfred Molina), Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe), J Jonah Jameson (J K Simmons) and Sandman from the Sam Raimi/Tobey Maguire movies. We have Lizard and Electro/Max Dillon (Jamie Foxx) from Marc Webb/Andrew Garfield movies. 
 
I am personally excited by the return of Green Goblin as Willem Dafoe is a terrific actor. Another noteworthy point is the comic book faithful depiction of Electro's costume this time. Alfred Molina seems to be genuinely enjoying his return to Spidey's Universe.

There are some aspects of the trailer that also raised my concern. Benedict Cumberbatch looks a bit bored in his role as the Sorcerer Supreme. There is a clear difference between this performance and what we have seen him do as the Sherlock in the BBC series.

Plus, most of the jokes fell flat (at least for me). Hope the other jokes in the movie are funnier.
 
Obviously, like most other fans, I am also eagerly anticipating the return of Tobey Maguire to his arguably most famous role. Did not enjoy Andrew's performance and would not care either way for his appearance.
 
Doc Ock seems to be on Spidey's side this time. It would be fun to watch the 3 Spider-Men/Doctor Strange/Doc Ock take on Green Goblin/Lizard/Sand-Man/Electro alliance.
 
And, let us not forget about a certain alien symbiote and a living vampire who should also pop up in Spidey's timeline soon...
 
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Image Sources: Pascal Pictures, Marvel Studios, Columbia Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE)

Sunday, August 29, 2021

Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) Trailer - Reaction/Review

spider man no way home poster wallpaper screensaver image picture

This is the third film in the series, following Spider-Man: Homecoming and Spider-Man: Far from Home. Joining our friendly neighborhood superhero is Dr Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), who uses his powers to separate Peter Parker from Spidey. Peter is having issues from the secret identity disclosure (courtesy of Mysterio) in the previous movie and Sorcerer Supreme tries to help his fellow Avenger, against Wong's advice.

Seems Wong is right. The third movie in the MCU's Spider-Man franchise promises to be a true crossover - we see Doctor “Doc Ock” Octopus (Alfred Molina) and Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe) return to harass Peter. Electro/Max Dillon (Jamie Foxx) also is listed in the IMDB credits.

The only question that remains is: Will Andrew Garfield have a cameo as well. I am sure/hoping that Tobey Maguire will be back.

Check out the trailer:
 

The trailer was ok. I found it to be mildly interesting. The only parts that piqued my interest was Willem Dafoe's return as Green Goblin. I am more excited for his return than for Doc Ock, even though we only heard Dafoe's voice. Dafoe did a great job as Aquaman's mentor and I cannot wait to see him menace Spidey once again. 
 
For the rest of the cast, the regulars are ok. Tobey Maguire's incarnation and his fellow cast continue to be my favorites and while I enjoy the ongoing MCU series, the tone is a bit off for my taste. Nevertheless, Cumberbatch is having fun and having JK Simmons and Dafoe makes the movie a must watch.
 
Fun Fact: Sam Raimi, who directed the Tobey Maguire Spider-Man trilogy, is directing the Doctor Strange sequel: Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

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Image Sources: Pascal Pictures, Marvel Studios, Columbia Pictures

Tuesday, January 15, 2019

Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019) Trailer - Review/Reaction

spiderman far from home first look poster wallpaper screensaver image picture

Marvel Entertainment has released the teaser trailer for the second standalone MCU movie starring Tom Holland as Spider-Man/Peter Parker.

The newcomer to the ensemble cast including Tom Holland, Marisa Tomei, Zendaya, Tony Revolori, Samuel L. Jackson and Jon Favreau is Jake Gyllenhaal as Quentin Beck/Mysterio.

Check out the trailer:



Peter Parker is going on a vacation to Europe in the hopes of finally getting some downtime from the the responsibilities of the wall crawling titular superhero.

Trouble follows him in the form of Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson). Reluctantly, Peter joins the fight against an as yet unnamed adversary who can seemingly grow in size by absorbing the matter around him.

Initially I thought it would be Sandman (played by Thomas Haden Church in the much maligned Spider-Man 3). But then he also took the help of water and knowing Sandman's vulnerabilities against water, Absorbing Man came to mind.


Given that Quentin Beck is in the movie and he is a master at creating illusions and special effects, it is quite possible that this villain himself could be his handiwork.

Speaking of Quentin, Jake Gyllenhaal joins Michael Keaton as the second Batman actor to play the villain in a MCU Spidey movie. Granted that Jake has not been officially cast as the The Dark Knight, he has been long been an favorite to star as the caped crusader in the movie to be directed by Matt Reeves (Cloverfield, War for the Planet of the Apes).

The other highlights of the trailer are Happy Hogan spying on Aunt May, and the growing romance between Peter and Michelle Jones.




The only minor gripe I have is that Marvel Studios is trying too hard to link these Spider-Man movies with the bigger MCU Universe. Characters compare Quentin to being a cross between Iron Man and Thor and Nick fury takes over the mentoring responsibilities from Tony Stark this time around. Perhaps the latter is because of the rumored departure of Tony from the MCU in Avengers: Endgame or may be RDJ demanded too big a paycheck.

I wish that Marvel Studios would make a stand-alone Spider-man Movie as just being a friendly neighborhood wallcrawler. Sure, there would be the inevitable cameos from one or two fellow MCU superheroes. But I would like to Peter Parker grow into his role as Spider-Man without the involvement of the Avengers/S.H.I.E.L.D. folks.

Something along the lines of Iron Man 3 or Thor: Ragnarok. Well, we can always dream...

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Image Sources: Sony Pictures Releasing, Columbia Pictures Corporation, Marvel Studios, Walt Disney Pictures

Thursday, March 30, 2017

Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) Trailer - Review/Reaction

robert downey jr tony stark mentor peter parker spiderman homecoming poster wallpaper screensaver image picture


The second trailer for the first solo MCU Spidey movie is here.

Directed by Jon Watts, the movie features Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man, Tom Holland as Peter Parker/Spider-Man, Marisa Tomei as Aunt May, Michael Keaton as  Adrian Toomes/The Vulture and Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan.

Check out the trailer below:


This looks like the first dud to come out of the Marvel assembly line. The only redeeming feature is Robert Downey Jr. No wonder the studio has marketed his presence so much.

I was not a fan of the Andrew Garfield version but did like the Tobey Maguire movies from Sam Raimi. Despite being a bit old to play Peter Parker, Maguire successfully played the webslinger in two great movies and one OK movie.




Tom Holland is the latest actor to portray the character. And I am not sure about his performance. I have not see Captain America: Civil War in its entirety, but have seen the airport fight scene in which Spider-man makes his debut in the MCU Universe.

While that fight scene was superbly orchestrated and Spider-man was definitely a highlight (the other being Black Panther), it was just Tom Holland's voice-work that was in the scene. This trailer is the first time I have seen him as Peter Parker and the performance was just serviceable.

The reason we root for Iron Man/Spider-Man/Hulk is because we are invested in the particular actor's performance as Tony Stark/Peter Parker/Bruce Banner. And in this aspect Tom Holland seems to be more in the Ben Affleck/Henry Cavill/Andrew Garfield mold rather than being as memorable as RDJ/Tobey Maguire/Ed Norton.

Click on the link below to buy Marvel's Captain America: Civil War:


Speaking of RDJ, he is as good as ever as Tony Stark/Iron Man. Looks like age is catching up with him or may be it is deliberately pronounced to showcase Tony as an elder mentor to the young Parker.

Marisa returns as Aunt May. It is not clear if the Daily Bugle will be part of the movie. Perhaps, Parker would join the company at the end of the movie or in a mid-credits scene. If that does happen, it will be interesting to see who gets to play J Jonah Jameson. J K Simmons played the role with aplomb.

Speaking of Simmons, he has jumped ship and is playing Commissioner Gordon in Justice League. As if to counter that, one-time Batman and recent Birdman, Michael Keaton is playing the bad guy in this movie. But even he does not leave much of an impression.



Marvel has not delivered a dud so far. This movie may not bomb but does not look like it will get the critical acclaim that people lavished on The Avengers, Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Captain America: Civil War.

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Image Sources: Columbia Pictures, LStar Capital (as LSC Film Corporation, LLC), Marvel Entertainment, Marvel Studios (in association with), Pascal Pictures