This movie was better than good, it was great. If you’re reading this review and you haven’t seen the movie, don’t worry we’re not to the spoiler section yet. I’ll warn you before it’s too late.
So, let’s say right out of the gate that you should see this movie. And if you watch it, you’re not going to be disappointed. It’s a pretty long movie too, so diet soda is out of the question.
There are two post-credit scenes that make you go “WTF?” so make sure you stay till the end. And lastly, this movie is safe for kids.
NOW FOR THE IN-DEPTH MAVERICK REVIEW, SO IF YOU DON’T WANT SPOILERS TURN AROUND NOW!
STORYLINE
I didn’t have a problem with the storyline other than I thought too many people knew Spider-Man’s secret identity. Then again, in this world, pretty much every Superhero lives in the public eye. And right out of the gate, the directors pretty much corrected a plot hole that everyone saw, that some of the kids at Parker’s High School would be five years older. Mysterio was a really great antagonist as well.
GRADE: A
ENTERTAINMENT VALUE
Spider-Man was a tad slow in the beginning and I can see why some fans complained. The 1st Act was rather long and focused more on Peter Parker’s life post Endgame. I didn’t mind, though, it was fun. You’re either going to love or hate the 1st Act.
The fight scenes in here are just incredible. I mean, wow. It’s probably one of the best Superhero fight scenes I’ve seen in a long time. I would say they are better than Endgame.
And the movie had a lot of laughs for me.
GRADE: A
ACTING
Well, what more can you say when you have Jake Gyllenhaal plays one of the leads. That guy pretty much dominates the screen when he’s on it. I like Tom Holand as Spider-Man. Everyone does a great job, from the kids, professors, everyone.
GRADE: A
CHARACTER ENNEAGRAM BREAKDOWN
I haven’t done a superhero personality breakdown, so I’m just going to focus on Spider-Man and Mysterio. Let’s start with the guy who claims to have a “Peter Tingle.”
SPIDER-MAN – TYPE NINE “The Peacekeeper”
Peacekeeper personalities first reaction to confrontation is to run away. They retreat from conflict, are not fighters, and will do everything in their power to keep the peace, thus the name – “Peacekeeper.” They are not natural leaders unless they embrace their Type Eight “Challenger” wing. If they embrace that win, they tend to a leader who is calm and in control, rather than in your face.
If you’re wondering, Spider-Man has been a Type Nine in the comics and in Sam Rami’s movie version of the web crawler. But in the reboot of Spider-Man, Peter Parker was more a Type Four “Individualist” who rather emo’ish and unsure of his identity and prone to depression. This is probably why the reboot didn’t work.
MYSTERIO – TYPE THREE “The Achiever”
Achievers are insecure about what people think of them and become obsessed with creating a winning image. Now this image can be real or it can be fake. In the case of Mysterio, at one time, this image was real as climbed the ranks in Tony Stark’s organization. But when his achievements we’re insulted and degraded, what he craved was recognition, and like many unhealthy Type Threes, he thought of a very convincing con.
Mysterio was a great character through and through. Not only was the image of Mysterio an illusion, so was his friendship to Peter Parker. He even fooled Nick Fury.
Just as a side note, real-life cons tend to be Type Threes. They are so charismatic, you really don’t see their con until it’s too late. To spot their con, you need to be very careful, maybe even a bit paranoid.
MARY JANE – Type Eight “Challenger”
The canon Mary Jane, the one found in the comics and Sam Rami Movies is a redhead who is a healthy Type Six Loyalist. Because of her rough childhood, she does harbor a strong sense of abandonment, and tends to have a hard time trusting Spider-Man and her own feelings.
The Mary Jane featured in the MCU Spider-Man is not of the same personality type, and also is not a redhead. She’s cocky and quite abrasive with her language, pushing people away and not allowing anyone to get too close.
GENIUS DOESN’T EQUAL TYPE FIVE INTELLECT
Those who are new to the Enneagram will automatically assume that just because a character or a person is a genius, that automatically means that they are a Type Five. All nine personality types can be geniuses. Such as in this movie Peter Parker, Mytsterio, and Mary Jane are all intellects. They even harbor some of the traits of genius, the social awkwardness and tendencies to be introverted. But their instinctual reaction to conflict is to not retreat into their brain and to overthink a situation like a Type Five (such as Emmit Brown or Egon)
- Peter Parker cowers in the face of conflict.
- Mysterio schemes to win.
- Mary Jane verbally punches back
Remember, the Enneagram is reading a character or person’s spirit, not their traits.
FINAL VERDICT
Spider-Man was great. Disney makes a lot better Spider-Man movies than Sony. Was the story perfect? No. But it gets a solid A from me.
GRADE: A
Steve Young
