Review: Spider-Man: Homecoming (UK Cert 12A)

Whilst the Marvel Cinematic Universe bestrides the cinematic landscape like some giant lycra-clad colossus, it's easy to forget that Marvel Studios don't actually have the rights to all their characters. The rights to several franchises/groups (such as Fantastic Four and X-Men) belong with other parties- it's why there was so much wrangling over the use of Quicksilver in both X-Men: Days Of Future Past and Avengers: Age Of Ultron, with there being so many rules as to what can be said/referenced and so on. 

So whilst Spider-Man is a Marvel creation (created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko in 1962), the cinematic rights are currently with Sony, whose head honcho Amy Pascal said in 2013 (prior to the release.of The Amazing Spider-Man 2) that Sony selling the rights back to Marvel Studios would 'never ever ever' happen. However in February 2015, Sony and Marvel Studios struck a deal to co-produce a new Spider-Man movie which would form part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (as well as Spider-Man appearing in Captain America: Civil War) 

Fan speculation went into overdrive, especially when it was revealed there'd be new casting for Peter Parker. Would we be subjected to a THIRD version of the origin story in fifteen years? 

Luckily, not. Instead, we find Peter already comfortable with his powers, eager to be of more use to the Avengers whilst doing small-scale heroic acts in Queens. However, when he attempts to stop criminals pulling off a bank robbery (who are armed with technology which is definitely out of this world), our friendly neighbourhood webslinger discovers there's a very dangerous adversary behind it all. As if negotiating the difficulties of high school wasn't bad enough...

For a lot of previous MCU films, you can see that they're also riffing off a genre picture within the confines of a superhero movie (a paranoid political thriller, space opera, heist movie and so on). Spider-Man: Homecoming plays like a John Hughes teen movie- with added superheroes. 

It's also led from the front by a winning and utterly absorbing performance by Tom Holland (The Impossible, How I Live Now, Locke). Critics were fulsome in their praise of his short cameo in Captain America: Civil War- he was superb and was able to hold his own against the more established stars. In his own movie, he's given the room to expand that role and takes it with both hands. He's geeky, slightly awkward, bizarrely quite adorable. He has all the enthusiasm and warmth of an energetic puppy and you really feel for him as he struggles to stake his claim as a new Avenger.

The other school children are all strong too, with Jacob Batalon giving a star-making turn as Peter's equally geeky mate Ned who becomes Peter's 'guy in the chair' later on. Laura Harrier is excellent as Peter's crush Liz, and the burgeoning relationship between the two is quite lovely (there's also a killer twist later in the film which complicates things even further). Zendaya is also strong as school outcast/misfit Michelle, always ready with a sardonic quip or raised eyebrow. Finally, Tony Revolori (The Grand Budapest Hotel) plays school jerk Flash and adds a nice level of comic snark to it.

As for the adult cast, Michael Keaton is just superb (and not a little chilling) as Adrian Toomes a.k.a. The Vulture. Toomes originally helped cleaned up the Avengers' mess- literally, as a construction worker tasked with clearing the debris- but after being closed down by a shady government organisation with ties to Stark Industries, he decides to keep some of the alien technology he''s scavenged. There's an interesting socio-economic point to be made here- the rich get richer whilst the poorer get screwed- but thankfully it doesn't tubthump on it too much. The design of the Vulture costume is really cool as well. There's also a very interesting twist on the big hero-villain confrontation (before the final fight) which works really well. 

Robert Downey Jr is as good as you'd expect him to be as Spidey's reluctant mentor whilst Jon Favreau is also superb as Happy Hogan, acting as Peter's contact. I still can't quite get my head round Marisa Tomei being old enough to be Aunt May but, as Tom Holland is only in his early twenties, it fits. She's a warm presence, providing some stability for Peter. There's also a great voice performance by Jennifer Connelly as the AI in Spidey's new suit. Chris Evans pops up here and there in several slightly cringeworthy Captain America instructional videos for the children (and also provides a nice end-credits scene). 

Some of the action sequences are stunning, especially the attacks on the Washington Monument and the Staten Island Ferry (the latter teased in the trailers). The whole aesthetic of the film works really well. The script is nicely balanced between these big set-pieces and the quieter, smaller character moments. The humour is there and the characters feel authentic- often, high-school kids don't sound like high-school kids but here (mostly) they do. 

Spider-Man: Homecoming deserves credit for a lot of things. Firstly, that it isn't an origin movie. In fact, the whole circumstances of Peter's transformation are glossed over in a few sentences. Secondly, using The Vulture as the primary antagonist is a good move; whilst he is a well-known Spidey villain, they could have gone with someone better known (Doc Ock or Green Goblin for example). Thirdly, Uncle Ben is nowhere to be seen. There are a few oblique references to May 'going through' some stuff but- as they're not using the origin story template- we don't see that happening. Ultimately, they're not trying to reinvent the wheel but, by not using the standard tropes, there's a certain amount of originality in it. 

As a collaboration between studios, I think they can say Spider-Man: Homecoming ranks as a success (at the time of writing, it had made over $700 million at the box office). It'll be interesting to see whether this is a one-off or whether other non-Marvel studios will be interested in attempting a similar deal in the future. 

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Tez

Review: The Grand Budapest Hotel (UK Cert: 15)

Having seven feature films to his name, director Wes Anderson is seen by some as a filmmaking God, a modern day auteur. You watch one of his films and you instantly know it’s Anderson behind the camera. There are others who would say that his films are a load of hot air, that there is very little substance underneath the inventive visuals and offbeat humour. Me, I’m somewhere in the middle. If you had asked me after seeing The Darjeeling Limited, I would have said that, while the film was a brilliantly eccentric watch, everything about it, the humour, the visuals, the shifts in tone, were nowhere near in the same league as Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums or The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. Then Fantastic Mr. Fox came along; not just, for me, Anderson’s best film, but the best family film and easily one of the best films of this century (that’s in no way an exaggeration). Since then, Anderson has been on top form, with 2012’s Moonrise Kingdom raising the bar both in production design, performances (Bruce Willis and Frances McDormand, especially) and script writing (the film swerves wildly between zany comedy and drama, and really shouldn’t work, but somehow does).

If you thought Anderson’s previous films were crammed with never before seen cinematography and gags, then his latest, The Grand Budapest Hotel, sees the director firing on all cylinders. So many frames feel straight out of a Stanley Kubrick film, but if Kubrick concentrated on meticulous, striking images, less concerned about the beating hearts of his characters, then Anderson gets the balance just right.

When we first see the hotel of the title, during the sixties, it has been forgotten, falling apart. Set in the fictional Zubrowska, both fascism and communism have literally changed the country’s landscape, shown in how the hotel is almost empty, the decor pale and dull. This all changes when Mr Moustafa (F. Murray Abraham) narrates how the hotel wound up this way. Going back to the thirties, the camera deliberately takes its time as it glides across production designer Adam Stockhausen’s extravagant interiors, filled with eye-catching colours (the colour pink almost everywhere); everything from the doors, the windows, the staff uniforms, even the lifts, are lavishly made.

There is no consistent visual style to The Grand Budapest Hotel, Anderson picking and choosing from various genres. Rooftops and landscapes that resemble the Georges Méliès 1902 short, A Trip to the Moon; Willem Dafoe chasing Jeff Goldblum through the dark corridors of an art gallery is a scene straight out of a film noir; a prison escape, tunneling underground and tip-toeing around the guards as they sleep, is a nod and a wink to every jailbreak film ever made.

The Grand Budapest Hotel’s gorgeous-looking cinematography is one reason to see the film, the performances throughout are just as attention grabbing. Ralph Fiennes has been consistently good in everything he has appeared in, yet he has not had a part that has given him much to do since Martin McDonagh’s In Bruges. Here, as the equally debonair and foul-mouthed Monsieur Gustave, Fiennes steals the show. You forget how gifted Fiennes is, his comic timing up there with the best comedy actors. One minute he is charming, a gentleman, the next he delivers a deadpan jibe, turning the air blue with every other word.

Fiennes and newcomer Tony Revolori make a fantastic double-act, Revolori playing the hotel’s newest lobby boy, Zero, who Gustave takes under his wing. While Fiennes clowns around, Revolori is straight-faced, unblinking, his words slow and monotone. Revolori is the Ernie Wise to Fiennes’s Eric Morecambe.

Just as in Anderson’s previous films, half the fun of The Grand Budapest Hotel is spotting another cameo from one of the director’s regulars. Tilda Swinton, as Gustave’s aging lover, Madame D., constantly makes you laugh in her brief scenes, hidden under a heap of make-up. Willem Dafoe, who can play villains on autopilot, is clearly having a hell of a lot of fun as Adrien Brody’s henchman.

The one thing that stops The Grand Budapest Hotel being Anderson’s best film is the last ten-to-fifteen minutes. We know things are going to end badly; we still don’t know how the hotel ended up being a ruin. Yet Anderson decides to rush his finale, wrap things up far too quickly. The whole film whizzes by at a hurtling pace, but the closing minutes oddly go up a gear. This could have been the director’s most thoughtful film: Europe’s twentieth century history done Wes Anderson-style. While the ending doesn’t exactly bring the train off the tracks, you get the sense that there should have been more of an impact here. Sadly it is far too heavy handed, nothing like the subtlety of Moonrise Kingdom.

This isn’t to say that The Grand Budapest Hotel is a disappointment, it’s anything but. It could have been Anderson’s very best, instead of being one of his best. Those who have never understood Anderson, who would rather see the latest mainstream Hollywood comedy, won’t be convinced by his newest offering. Yet for those who the mention of Rushmore or Fantastic Mr. Fox brings a smile to their face, then The Grand Budapest Hotel is Anderson at the height of his filmmaking powers.

4 out of 5

Matt