Let me reiterate, I enjoyed the film for what it was worth, i'm glad it's making money and is putting Spiderman in the MCU which i know was a "That's all that counts" matter for allot of fans.
I also loved Holland as Parker, and I adored Keaton as Vulture....but it wasn't a spiderman movie, it was an MCU movie.
Now you might think I mean because of all the references and plugs to other marvel franchises . No that's not it.
The movie is a very good showcase of allot of the bells and whistles of the MARVEL U, and very little to none of Spidey, or his life.
And now I don't want a soap opera-ish drama that's about him and NOTHING else....but I want what's special about Parker to be the defining factor of the film...it IS his own film after all.
Before you comment how I'm "Wrong wrong wrong, Spiderman was totally the defining factor!" hear me out.
Spiderman's own brains, smarts and intuition was replaced by comical side kicks and his own version of Jarvis and his technological ingenuity and personal tricks of the trade replaced by Stark Tech.
Now please don't get me wrong, I'm fine with and like that he has a Stark upgraded suit....what I didn't like is how things like his Spider-sense was given a back seat to Karen warning him of things.
How his innovativeness for making his own stuff didn't come into the story at all to resolve ANYTHING.... and that he needed a techy friend to hack starks suit when we KNOW that he's more than capable of doing so himself.
Peter GETS a Stark-Grade Spider outfit in the comics, I love and get that, and I'm fine with him having it here.
The issue is they never replaced what made Peter...Peter. What made him NOT just another Ironman or War Machine, it's why Parker doesn't actually need anything more than a paper bag over his face to still be Spiderman....Making Web shooters, or having self-made web shooters in the movie AT ALL , doesn't cut it...because Peter's more than a costume or webbing.
Peter's the MASTER of improvisation who has very little of an idea of what he's going to do long term, until he does. He's the "make it up as you go along but don't forget your heart and center" man, with the brain of a scientific genius.
His defeating his foes like the Sinister Six comes not from how cool his equipment is, or what he's invented, but WHY he invented it for that mission, or how he uses it. His quick thinking in the heat of danger, or even using whatever he has at his disposal, from the environment to mind games, to rhetoric...to the villains own powers against them...is how he saves the day.
He's a Super Hero Jackie Chan of what's at hand , with a ladder or a chair being what the battle brings him, even if it's a personal struggle of that day, or the laws of phsyics.
And THAT is what this movie was severely forgeting to emplement ANYWHERE.
All of Peter's compitency's or what makes him special are essentially replaced in this movie....and while that can be great as a show caser of how he can be given an armory and still fail, but when he falls back on his own will, he can be Spiderman....it doesn't do much good cause that never really happens.
What would've been great is if he has this plethora of powers and gadgets his suit can do, and then...he breaks them.
He literally breaks one of their fuctions so now it malfuctions on him and say maybe one web shooter won't work, or he's momentarily flying blind, or can only see in infer-red, and now what was supposed to be his swiss army knife suit to get him out of any situation is a weight and a hamper...and lives are at risk.
SO , Peter being Peter, does what his character always has, and applies his MIND to the situation, to abate that hinderence , and turn that weakness into a strength to save the day. Now HE is the Swiss amry knife getting him out of the situation. I was waiting for something like this with the Washington Monument scene.
As shit as a movie as i'm sure you'll say Amazing Spiderman 2 is, that scene where his web shooter out right breaks and he utilizes that to instead web everyone out of the way in time with seconds to spare....was PURE Parker intuition...because at the end of the day, HE is what is special about him, not his strength but how he uses it to be more than a brute, not his webs but how he is an ORB-WEAVER of scenario's to come out on top when the chips ar down.
In marvel solo movie we've had, even the ones that aren't so good...we've gotten to see the heroes internal struggle, and when they overcome their adversaries, they're also overcoming an element of themselves...OR discovering an element of themselves....we get to see them LEARN and that's important, and one of the biggest characters to show case this kind of journey is Spiderman.
Peter Parker is, and always should be his own best friend, worst enemy, and greatest resource. He's always his most convincing and needed shoulder angel and devil into making the decisions that shape him as a man, which is why the black suit arc of his comic is so intense when it does happen...but instead we get his chubby buddy being his bad and selfish influence and voice of reason throughout the entire movie.
And why? Cause In this movie, Peter isn't our down troden hero, he has it made. Peter's just a nice guy and has friends, and a following and honestly no bully issues at school. Even his love life isn't a proper stake of this movie, it's an...after thought that factors into the story towards the end last minute.
He doesn't want to be cool, or popular, or a normal kid, or need to help Aunt May make ends meet...so it's then his FRIEND who has to be selfish for him and pressure him into making bad or wise choices.
And ontop of that, needs him to hack his suit for him even though Peter's a dumpster diving technician genius who builds his own computers from when he was 11, and a high mark of his career was when it turned out he was as tech savy as stark at a young age and capable of giving his counter measures a run for their money. So yes, most things that made Peter special...are given to other people in this film.
I mean sure he learns his limitations and humility when out of his element but....really, was he acting too cocky before?
If it's about him learning to accept help...then that's stupid since getting help is all he does in the movie, and if it's learning to accept your limits...he can't really because if he does, and does nothing people will get hurt and literally die....
They're sawing whole buildings and streets in half and what, cops are supposed to contend with that? What was Peter supposed to do? He can't just be content with being a friendly neighborhood spiderman when this is at stake!
So he can't NOT act, and telling Tony was proven to do nothing cause Happy Hogan spikes him down and blocks his calls every chance he gets, and when he does get through to Tony, he tells Peter that while he doesn't want him to deal with this new threat, the AVENGERS won't deal with it either as it's "Below their paygrade." and out right ignores Peter's warnings of these guys being bad news.
He also gives no indaction that he'll make sure anyone will take care of them other than the police...and acts like it was obvious that he alerted the FBI, when him and Happy have been actively keeping Peter, who's on the ground, out of the loop! From there we get this slight prompt that Peter needs to grow...but from what? Also what did he do wrong? Disarm his suit so he can solo mission sure, but that was so Tony wouldn't STOP him from doing his job saving people.
Peter's been asking the grown up for help since the start, so how does he need to grow in humility from that?!
I mean sure, we get a scene where he cries under rubble and the movie treats it like this is the culimination of a big arc of some kind but really what Arc is it?
We hear Tony's words "If your nothing without the suit than you don't deserve it..." but...I mean.....we know he's been Spiderman before any of this or even civil war, he's lifted an entire bus by himself before he met Tony, so why is him not having the suit a factor into why he believes he can't lift the rubble!? The Suit never made him stronger, it just gave him more toys...so what's the lesson here??? He didn't get in trouble cause of the lack of gadgets its because Vulture is faster and stronger than he is.
For that matter did he get into this mess because he was over confident? was it because he doesn't have enough self confidence? Is he too noble and that's a blind spot? What's he come out with learning? There's no concrete flaw for him to grow out of...It's like the movie can't make up it's mind what lesson he should learn at this point other than....he's Spiderman and strong enough to lift debris.
It looked like they were going to touch on an interesting moral dilema when Vulture compared himself to Tony, and honestly...that was an interesting pan to throw Peter's way. Tony did what he did selling weapons cause he wanted to make money and bang chicks...and aside from not making weapons anymore with the occasional psycho robot dropping city's to stop it looks like that routine hasn't changed that much....even now Tony seems like a careless glory hog.
As where Vulture is selling weapons to feed his children, and give a home to his family...and he doesn't even want to do it his whole life....a life that's been ruined cause of Tony and the Government's neglect. But no, that's then never addressed again.
Getting sucker punched into a school bus at one point..........and then a game of tug of war at the beach.
The end.
Seriously WHY?! This movie is about SPIDERMAN, we need to see him shine, in terms of being innovative , in terms of being witty and in terms of being a high flying bad ass when up against super villains....something that feels like the PS4 game trailer.
It's the finale of your movie, your AT a the perfect setting, a Carnival ground with Roller coasters, Light up towers, and Ferris Wheels, the perfect location for a Vulture vs. Spidey fight....but nope....just an unmasking, "don't do it villain!" , "i'm going to do it anyway hero!" scene....and then it's over.
So....i guess i'm saying "Since the same writers are returning for the sequel, I hope these guys can do better next time....."