Films (POTC, Spider-Man)
Last week, I finally watched Pirates of the Caribbean: Salazar’s Revenge on DVD. I’ve had it for ages, but kept passing it over. Most of the same problems that struck me when I saw it on the big screen remain. I caught the post-credit scene for the first time. 1, Will/Elizabeth are clothed in bed, RLY? 2, on the sequel baiting, ah no. This film resolved the mess that was the ending of POTC 3, but the fact that I cared more about that than anything else that happened, and that most of the callbacks to the first film reminded me of how outstanding that was, when the only newish idea this film has is zombie sharks…ah, no.
And I finally saw Spider-Man: Far From Home
Entertaining, if a little disappointing for me because I took Spider-Man: Homecoming to heart so much. It worked as a follow-up and change of tone to Endgame, but I much preferred the second half. The first half has everyone being charming, but is really brisk. I liked that it acknowledged, even if it didn’t delve on or dwell on, ‘the blip’. Peter’s reaction to what he’d been through and grief for Tony were understandable: he just wanted to be his neighbourhood’s Spider-Man, not take on Iron Man’s mantle (Captain Am-who? Woman who was in charge of protecting earth for five years? I snickered at the tribute video as much as anyone, but this was Tony time.)
Peter had also decided that he really liked MJ and was going to follow a very specific, predetermined path to tell her so, because his class, plus the one guy who hadn’t blipped (why?) was going on a European ‘science’ trip, except enter Fury, Hill (yay!) and Mysterio from another Earth to fight the Elementals, and Peter was torn between his heroic tendencies and desire for a quiet life. He did seem to be asked to take on huge responsibilities amid Eurotrip teen comedy fit for preteens being accompanied by parents.
And then they went to Prague and I was like ‘Don’t destroy Prague!’ It appeared that Mysterio destroyed the last Elemental, and I was mainly not trusting him as an impetuous Peter handed over the EDITH glasses because of where we were at in the movie. I only remembered afterwards that I’d heard Mysterio was the master of illusion. Gyllenhaal came more alive after the big reveal, and ‘don’t believe everything you hear on the news/read on the internet/see unquestioningly’ is…timely, although the exposition made me go ‘this is a bit like Iron Man 3 and they’ve combined the Kingsley-Pearce roles’ and ‘I know she’s grieving and looking after Morgan, but I’m disappointed in Pepper’.
The illusion sequence in Berlin, ending with the train, was brilliant, though (but you can’t escape the fact that there was much more of this brilliance in Into the Spiderverse). Peter realising he’d screwed up even more bigtime than he’d thought and how he had to scramble/Spider-man up to make up for it was sweet. I know Happy’s heart melted in a ‘Tony’s protégé’ way as Peter got really into designing his suit, and aww, Peter really getting into designing his suit, but I was more touched at him picking up the Tower Bridge sign as a shield and something else as a…hammer replacement, echoing the other Avengers. I also dug that Betty provided the distraction, whie MJ was the first to pick up a medieval weapon to fight back against the drones.
Aww, MJ. Zendaya plays her so rooted, cooler than Peter, but not that much cooler - they were o adorably awkward. I didn’t know what to make of the fact that this fumbling pair had a more optimistic ending than the other couples (Happy, falling for another of Tony’s leavings) but for two seconds, I thought ‘maybe Hill can comfort Beck for the loss of his past family.’ But MJ learning what it is to be in on the secret was nice.
Lots of European clichés abounded, and I did wonder ‘why am I watching Spider-Man in Europe?’ especially when he wasn’t in his own costume. Intriguing possibilities abound that his identity has been revealed to all in a faked video, and that it wasn’t really Fury and Hill, but Captain Marvel (OH! YOU’RE NOT FIT TO NAME HER!!)’s shapeshifters all along was on theme (what’s next on the MCU slate if Fury is in space? And where is Maria Hill? And I wouldn’t mind seeing Shuri interact with Peter, because she is smarter than him and not stupid. And don’t be dismissive about Doctor Strange, confirm he’s getting a sequel).
So, I was entertained, if not quite as moved as I ought to have been, but they’ve nicely established Spider-Man as a central figure for the ongoing MCU story.
Having said that, the trailers for the upcoming summer fare were underwhelming.
This entry was originally posted at https://shallowness.dreamwidth.org/390722.html.
And I finally saw Spider-Man: Far From Home
Entertaining, if a little disappointing for me because I took Spider-Man: Homecoming to heart so much. It worked as a follow-up and change of tone to Endgame, but I much preferred the second half. The first half has everyone being charming, but is really brisk. I liked that it acknowledged, even if it didn’t delve on or dwell on, ‘the blip’. Peter’s reaction to what he’d been through and grief for Tony were understandable: he just wanted to be his neighbourhood’s Spider-Man, not take on Iron Man’s mantle (Captain Am-who? Woman who was in charge of protecting earth for five years? I snickered at the tribute video as much as anyone, but this was Tony time.)
Peter had also decided that he really liked MJ and was going to follow a very specific, predetermined path to tell her so, because his class, plus the one guy who hadn’t blipped (why?) was going on a European ‘science’ trip, except enter Fury, Hill (yay!) and Mysterio from another Earth to fight the Elementals, and Peter was torn between his heroic tendencies and desire for a quiet life. He did seem to be asked to take on huge responsibilities amid Eurotrip teen comedy fit for preteens being accompanied by parents.
And then they went to Prague and I was like ‘Don’t destroy Prague!’ It appeared that Mysterio destroyed the last Elemental, and I was mainly not trusting him as an impetuous Peter handed over the EDITH glasses because of where we were at in the movie. I only remembered afterwards that I’d heard Mysterio was the master of illusion. Gyllenhaal came more alive after the big reveal, and ‘don’t believe everything you hear on the news/read on the internet/see unquestioningly’ is…timely, although the exposition made me go ‘this is a bit like Iron Man 3 and they’ve combined the Kingsley-Pearce roles’ and ‘I know she’s grieving and looking after Morgan, but I’m disappointed in Pepper’.
The illusion sequence in Berlin, ending with the train, was brilliant, though (but you can’t escape the fact that there was much more of this brilliance in Into the Spiderverse). Peter realising he’d screwed up even more bigtime than he’d thought and how he had to scramble/Spider-man up to make up for it was sweet. I know Happy’s heart melted in a ‘Tony’s protégé’ way as Peter got really into designing his suit, and aww, Peter really getting into designing his suit, but I was more touched at him picking up the Tower Bridge sign as a shield and something else as a…hammer replacement, echoing the other Avengers. I also dug that Betty provided the distraction, whie MJ was the first to pick up a medieval weapon to fight back against the drones.
Aww, MJ. Zendaya plays her so rooted, cooler than Peter, but not that much cooler - they were o adorably awkward. I didn’t know what to make of the fact that this fumbling pair had a more optimistic ending than the other couples (Happy, falling for another of Tony’s leavings) but for two seconds, I thought ‘maybe Hill can comfort Beck for the loss of his past family.’ But MJ learning what it is to be in on the secret was nice.
Lots of European clichés abounded, and I did wonder ‘why am I watching Spider-Man in Europe?’ especially when he wasn’t in his own costume. Intriguing possibilities abound that his identity has been revealed to all in a faked video, and that it wasn’t really Fury and Hill, but Captain Marvel (OH! YOU’RE NOT FIT TO NAME HER!!)’s shapeshifters all along was on theme (what’s next on the MCU slate if Fury is in space? And where is Maria Hill? And I wouldn’t mind seeing Shuri interact with Peter, because she is smarter than him and not stupid. And don’t be dismissive about Doctor Strange, confirm he’s getting a sequel).
So, I was entertained, if not quite as moved as I ought to have been, but they’ve nicely established Spider-Man as a central figure for the ongoing MCU story.
Having said that, the trailers for the upcoming summer fare were underwhelming.
This entry was originally posted at https://shallowness.dreamwidth.org/390722.html.