Jon Bernthal is usually the MVP of anything he's in.
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To Infinity and Beyond: The Marvel Cinematic Universe
Pajaro Pete
(He/Himbo)
Seeing whomst the primary antagonist in the new Spiders Man film is like... this is very Hydrogen Bomb versus Coughing Babies
4-So
Spicy
I watched the new Spider-Man film. It was a modern Spider-Man film, and that makes it better than most of what has come out of the MCU since Endgame*. Punisher was great here; ditto for the MJ and Ned stuff. The Actual Villain I clocked the first time he is on screen, and the twist with MJ - "MJ" - on the rooftop seemed obvious. I don't know what that means, other than my frustrating understanding of the contours of what they tend to do in these superhero flicks.
I did not care for Jean Grey as a villain. The performance was fine but I didn't buy the character in that role, and that makes me curious about folks who are not familiar with the character. Does it land differently? Hard to say for me since almost everyone I know who would go see this movie also knows that character.
I had fun with it. Good flick.
*To be fair, the only MCU movies I've seen since Endgame are Shang-Chi, Doctor Strange 2: Madness Bugaloo, Oops! All Spider-mens, and Deadpool & Wolverine, so I don't exactly have an informed opinion here.
I did not care for Jean Grey as a villain. The performance was fine but I didn't buy the character in that role, and that makes me curious about folks who are not familiar with the character. Does it land differently? Hard to say for me since almost everyone I know who would go see this movie also knows that character.
I had fun with it. Good flick.
*To be fair, the only MCU movies I've seen since Endgame are Shang-Chi, Doctor Strange 2: Madness Bugaloo, Oops! All Spider-mens, and Deadpool & Wolverine, so I don't exactly have an informed opinion here.
You should also check out Far From Home and GotG Vol. 3. I think they're as strong as anything produced pre-Endgame.
I saw the movie that does whatever a spider can.
I really liked it. I really appreciated that it felt like an appropriate "answer" to the previous Spider-Man movie, where Spider-Man got a magic wishing machine, and solved every problem for every Spider-Man ever. I appreciate that Spider-Man more or less has to spend this movie atoning for doing the right thing there by doing more right things, and maybe he is doing right things wrong. I realize that sounds insane, but, for me, it is a better illustration of "with great power..." to me than the usual Spider-Man story.
I appreciate that the advertising did not give away the presence of one of the characters. That took restraint. Good job, Spider-Advertising.
I do not know if it is my own life revolving around videogames, or if writers are now old enough for their lives to have revolved around videogames, but the most videogame thing I have ever seen in a movie is now "Hi, I am a helpful guy in a position of power. Yes, I have a bodyguard team of anonymous, brightly color ninja. No, I am certain there will never be a situation where you have to fight my ninja army to get to me, the final boss."
There is a version of this script where Punisher is replaced by a pre-X-Men Wolverine, and the only thing that would have to change is the weapons involved.
I really liked it. I really appreciated that it felt like an appropriate "answer" to the previous Spider-Man movie, where Spider-Man got a magic wishing machine, and solved every problem for every Spider-Man ever. I appreciate that Spider-Man more or less has to spend this movie atoning for doing the right thing there by doing more right things, and maybe he is doing right things wrong. I realize that sounds insane, but, for me, it is a better illustration of "with great power..." to me than the usual Spider-Man story.
I appreciate that the advertising did not give away the presence of one of the characters. That took restraint. Good job, Spider-Advertising.
I do not know if it is my own life revolving around videogames, or if writers are now old enough for their lives to have revolved around videogames, but the most videogame thing I have ever seen in a movie is now "Hi, I am a helpful guy in a position of power. Yes, I have a bodyguard team of anonymous, brightly color ninja. No, I am certain there will never be a situation where you have to fight my ninja army to get to me, the final boss."
There is a version of this script where Punisher is replaced by a pre-X-Men Wolverine, and the only thing that would have to change is the weapons involved.
I thought SPIDER MAN: THE NEW ONE was... pretty good? But also kind of a giant fucking mess?
So my biggest problem by far was Jean Grey. I never was an X-men kid and I've always thought that mind control bullshit is a total villain power, so I'm not bothered by her being the bad-ish guy. There's nothing terribly wrong with the basic arc of her trying to get into damage control with the toolkit she's got.
But Man they flubbed the execution.
I don't really care about the car crashes, when I'm watching a movie I just sort of accept those as just the kind of bloodless spectacle where we can all just pretend everyone crawled out of the wreck A-OK. Is that stupid and unrealistic? Yeah, but so is Vash Trigun shooting people in the arms "non-lethally". It falls within the area where we see it in the context of the story and can pretend that it's all good.
The old city worker dude getting Ragdolled by a car though? That's WAY outside the window.
It's just a completely unforced error in execution. They didn't need to underscore just how scary and freaky Jean's powers are because mind control shit is freaky and scary by default. Having her do the whole taunting dramatic villain makes no sense in the context of a homeless teenager driven by single-minded determination. It would be weirder and creepier, yet at the same time more forgivable and understandable if the people she grabbed acted like emotionless blanks or actors doing live reads of stage direction. Them grinning like the joker and making big theatrical flourishes adds nothing but problems.
Also the Ninjas were stupid. Why the fuck were they still in ninja costumes if you "Guided" them into becoming standard dickhead cops? That's dumb.
The rest of it was good for the reasons other people already pointed out. The punisher was especially great. Kinda weird that he can just wait around in a hospital room in his full punisher getup but whatever.
But Man they flubbed the execution.
I don't really care about the car crashes, when I'm watching a movie I just sort of accept those as just the kind of bloodless spectacle where we can all just pretend everyone crawled out of the wreck A-OK. Is that stupid and unrealistic? Yeah, but so is Vash Trigun shooting people in the arms "non-lethally". It falls within the area where we see it in the context of the story and can pretend that it's all good.
The old city worker dude getting Ragdolled by a car though? That's WAY outside the window.
It's just a completely unforced error in execution. They didn't need to underscore just how scary and freaky Jean's powers are because mind control shit is freaky and scary by default. Having her do the whole taunting dramatic villain makes no sense in the context of a homeless teenager driven by single-minded determination. It would be weirder and creepier, yet at the same time more forgivable and understandable if the people she grabbed acted like emotionless blanks or actors doing live reads of stage direction. Them grinning like the joker and making big theatrical flourishes adds nothing but problems.
Also the Ninjas were stupid. Why the fuck were they still in ninja costumes if you "Guided" them into becoming standard dickhead cops? That's dumb.
The rest of it was good for the reasons other people already pointed out. The punisher was especially great. Kinda weird that he can just wait around in a hospital room in his full punisher getup but whatever.
Johnny Unusual
(He/Him)
jpfriction
(He, Him)
I definitely feel like they could have done that movie with any number of mind hopping actual villains and saved me a lot of eye rolling over characterization but gotta make a new MCU I suppose.
Got to watch spiderman do whatever a spiderman can for a couple hours, though, which I’ll always enjoy.
Got to watch spiderman do whatever a spiderman can for a couple hours, though, which I’ll always enjoy.