Cumberbatch sets the film’s tone in the early scenes. His commanding air comes with a healthy sense of the ridiculous and his wizardry is conducted with a winning matter-of-factness. The villains, too, get their chance to be funny, which makes sense given the calibre of the actors playing them, and the action is entertainingly tempered with sequences that have them bantering, bickering and exchanging unlikely confidences about their past lives.
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Watts and his writers also take a risk by spoofing the series itself, planting inside references best appreciated by well-informed fans. It’s a form of breaking the fourth wall, inviting the audience in to share a joke with the actors, and verges on parody. Yet somehow they carry it off without diluting our sense of involvement with Peter and those he loves. They have all come back for this instalment: Marisa Tomei’s Aunt May, her friend, Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) and Peter’s classmate, Ned (Jacob Batalon). And the affection they share is poignantly realised, no matter how ludicrous the surrounding circumstances.
It’s set in New York and a spectacular selection of the city’s major landmarks, along with a substantial percentage of its citizens, are damaged in the rampage that follows the super-villains’ arrival. It’s ingeniously devised and expertly choreographed.
After all this time, that goes without saying. But what makes these films work is Holland’s awkwardness when he’s not actually in the air. He really does look as if greatness has been thrust upon him and he’s still working out what to do with it. And it’s this perpetual state of bewilderment that makes him so appealing.
This Spider-Man is the superhero we need right now
Source: Philippines Alive
