(Editor’s note: Columns often contain opinions.)
EVANS – “Spider-Man Brand New Day 3D”, just starting its big first weekend at the Evans Cinema, has Spider-Man (Tom Holland) flying many times toward the audience in a synthetic spider web flight.
(And if the Spidey head symbols for the reserved seats on Fandango were any indication when I bought tickets for a friend and me for the Saturday matinee, it appears to be a local hit. We could not even find seats that were beside each other.)
Within the film, Holland’s agility in motion and even in fighting harkens back to his very early years as coal miner’s young son turned athletic, ballet dancer Billy Elliott on stage. And unlike the old days of 3-D, which extended the props into your face, such gags are eschewed, and the film’s team chooses a more immersive urban experience with the imagery and action.
While Billy was a dancer in a village, I have been an author and, in my younger years, visual artist in a small town. To be labeled as what they call a creative in a small area comes with several stigmas, including but not limited to being crazy/eccentric and having one’s masculinity questioned. Even in an urban area, with his geeky scientific and tech interests, Holland’s Peter Parker / Spider-Man can be the proverbial fish out of water, too, and has his own set of labels. Not only does his geekiness as Peter Parker contribute to that in various films and comics, but the very nature of being a superhero does.
In fact, Spider-Man’s three-dimensional flight is a lonely flight. And because Peter Parker has cemented his secret identity through some novel techniques, it appears that things will stay that way for some time as, in early montages, he fights a string of run of the mill comic book criminals / super-villains (none of them appearing to be very epic at first).
Nobly, he has arranged things so that his past friends will not get hurt because of their connection to him, including his long-time love interest, MJ (played by singer and actress Zendaya, who I best knew from the film “The Greatest Showman”._ Unrequited love has followed Spider-Man from the comics to even the initial Maguire films, and this MJ is no exception and for even greater reasons than in the past. Zendaya portrays frustration and a host of other emotions well with being this interest.
Speaking of the early Maguire portrayal of Spider-Man in the first modern films, I found him more relatable because it showed him at his most geeky, high school, where I was mostly the same. But, though I never found it to be realistic that they would have a high schooler as a photojournalist at a huge metropolitan newspaper, I also related to his being pressured by his no-nonsense loud editor. This speaks more to my experiences in several proverbial bullpens at daily and weekly newspapers as a reporter. Some management doesn’t employ the political correctness found within articles they approve when chewing out employees. Working as a correspondent, photojournalist, and columnist for “Augusta Good News” has been quite the contrary. A positive focus is emphasized in the newsroom and in our communications – not cursing that something is not in, etc.
This older, end of university-age Parker in this film has made crime-fighting his sole vocation, and I found his isolation relatable. (Disclaimer: I have seen a number of Spider-Man films but have missed a few so may not have filled in the holes as to how he got there.) Not being a huge Spider-Man fan save for a few aspects, I tended to read Fantastic Four (and still do at times) and ElfQuest comics while growing up but not a lot of sole superhero comics. Not playing as Spider-Man or with Spider-Man toys as a child, in contrast, I liked the 80s Superman films as many Gen X’ers did and did the usual running around with a sheet as a cape. I may have picked up a few Superman comics then. Frankly, I do not remember. (Though I have many vivid memories of the past, like with us all, some are hazy.)
The closest I got to reading Spider-Man comics was when, as a lifelong lover of satire and parody, I read the Peter Porker / Spider-ham ones. I remember giggling at the puns in elementary school and turning the pages at the antics of the porcine hero. That is not to say that I did not enjoy the old Spider-Man cartoons and use of comics bubbles to demonstrate reading skills in the Spider-Man segments of reruns of the original The Electric Company in the late 1970s. To this day, I still joke about their web effect looking like someone tossing a big brown fishing net on the bad guy. I am sure Children’s Television Workshop, producing it for PBS, had a B-movie-level budget for effects. So, they improvised.
Meanwhile, back in New York City in this movie, another person Parker is trying to protect is his tech wizard friend, Ned Leeds (Jacob Batalon), with a fanboy geekiness toward the real Spider-Man. All of this secrecy and being the proverbial island among men gives Parker a lot of inner turmoil – emoted /expressed well by Holland.
Even Bruce Banner/ The Hulk of the Avengers has been intentionally snubbed by Parker. But later, incognito, Parker has to seek his advice pertaining to physical and mental changes resulting from his arachnid-esque powers (this is no more of a spoiler than what is seen in the trailer). In this film, Banner, as played by Mark Ruffalo, is suppressing his Hulk side with a special technology, so we see the amiable benevolence of his professor persona helping the disguised Parker.
No spoilers on whether the Hulk makes an appearance,
By the way, the pop culture live action T.V. show Hulk and the cartoon were other favorites of mine as were his appearances in the Avengers films. I do remember being fascinated with the early comics having him have a military connection. And I have often alluded to the show and films with lines like, “Don’t make me angry” and “HULK SMASH!” But, again, I was very selective with my comics reading. I tended to read more novels than comics growing up. Because an English teacher aunt wanted to encourage even more reading by me, I read more illustrated classics than traditional comics themselves. These helped transition me from children’s books to adult-level novels fairly early in life. I did love what comics I managed to read in my childhood and still read them on occasion. Graphic novels have tended to capture my interest more in adulthood, and I have read more of those as I have created my own graphic novel series.
Next, Parker engages with many friends, old and new, and like in other Marvel and D.C. universes does not reveal his secret identity even to the police. Liza Colon-Zayas as Detective Jean DeWolff gives him some initial ribbing about this yet also protects him as long as she perceives he is doing the best for the city. Other friends are equally as clueless about his identity, but one plays a pivotal role
Like the initial modern Spider-Man films had sayings like, “With great power comes great responsibility”, this one forges an adage as well. Viewing the film will reveal this, but I do not want to create any spoilers.
Perhaps ironically, given the show she came from, long-time “Stranger Things” star Sadie Sink appears in the film as Jean Grey, a sullen teenager with telepathic and telekinetic abilities. One discovers many reasons why she has become so sullen, including an organization bent on using her powers and the powers of others. By the way, from what I understand, the inclusion of Jean Grey, who is eventually one of the X-men, forges more connections in the Marvel cinematic universe. As per the irony of Sink’s casting and even the plot of this film in comparison to many seasons of her as fiery red-head Max Mayfield being alongside the powerful Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) in “Stranger Things”, much in this film is familiar if not bordering on science fiction tropes. In fact, as I was watching a lot of the middle content of the film, I had flashbacks to watching the Netflix series with my sister and niece initially and eventually more of the series with one of my best friends in binge sessions. The content is not very original, but the writers do take it in some interesting psychological and socio-political directions.
Next, I thought parts of the film dragged a little with the info. dumping, but when the central mystery started unfolding, my interest continued until the end – even if I did figure it out pretty early. By the way, I do not recall a lot of inappropriate content for families with very young ones other than the comic-book style violence. But those who read comics or attend movies based on comic books should know this. And those of us who have been isolated geeks will silently applaud the hero along the way and may even applaud at the end of the film as those in the Evans matinee did.
If you can get past some slower parts (and I am not talking about the emotional explorations which were interesting), I think the film could be a wonderful, riveting escape this week/next weekend. -Excellent characterization and arcs for those who enjoy such explorations and plenty of action for the fanboys and fangirls in all of us.
Ron Baxley, Jr. is a veteran journalist who has been a published author for 34 years and is working on writing a Southern-set television series. His latest satirical Southern fantasy Oz book, “O.Z. Diggs the Fifth Estate” is the third in the O.Z. Diggs VII series. For additional columns and fiction, go to https://substack.com/@ronbaxleyjr . Contact him via ronbaxleyjr.com .
