[7.7/10] I like the unofficial theme of trust here. We get two converging stories here: Peter and Harry tracking down whatever leads from Norman Osborn’s tomb on the one hand and Anya and Gwen fending off help from Otto and his spider-bots on the other. Both hinge on characters not fully trusting one another and having reservations about who they can ally with in the process.
That works on both fronts. Peter can tell that Harry isn’t being upfront with him, and the fact that Harry wasn’t traveling this whole time but was, in fact, in New York working on a secret project helps justify his doubts. At the same time, Harry is right that Peter is skeptical of anything involving Norman (not without reason) and so didn’t want to tell Peter because he knew what kind of response he was likely to get. The tension between the two best friends, connected with the mystery of what exactly they’ll find at the end of this mysterious tunnel, works well.
In the same way, Spider-Girl and Spider-Gwen rejected Otto’s help because they don’t trust his efforts at reform works well too. Without understanding Otto’s past and choices as intimately as Peter does, it totally scans that Anya and Gwen wouldn’t buy into the former Doc Ock being a good guy. If anything, it’s a nice choice to have the characters not share and instantly accept things that the audience does, but rather to have their opinions limited by their own, understandable perspective in terms of the story. The same goes for Harry and Otto, whose mutual mistrust lines up with their shared past, even if Peter is now allies with both of them.
And I like the major reveal here, that that the Goblin King is not even necessarily one person or a single threat, but that several past villains -- from the Vulture, to Electro, to the Wake Riders -- are part of this villain conglomerate and posing a challenge to our heroes. Each Goblinite having a slightly different color scheme and design to reflect the villain underneath is a nice touch, and Toomes and the Wake Riders each have obvious experience in skyborn combat. Plus, I like the idea that Toomes was waiting for Spidey to get rid of all the local mobsters so that he and his “nation” could fill the power vacuum.
I’ll admit, some of the third act action became one big blur to me, but I did like the tension and emotion when Harry thought he was dealing with his father, and the bitter anger when he viewed Toomes as usurping his father’s legacy.
Overall, this is another mighty fine entry in the Goblin saga, one that plays on the relationships between the main characters and teases out the points of contention among them at a time when they will likely need to all join forces to defeat the association of villains going against them.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2019-12-14T20:18:58Z
[7.7/10] I like the unofficial theme of trust here. We get two converging stories here: Peter and Harry tracking down whatever leads from Norman Osborn’s tomb on the one hand and Anya and Gwen fending off help from Otto and his spider-bots on the other. Both hinge on characters not fully trusting one another and having reservations about who they can ally with in the process.
That works on both fronts. Peter can tell that Harry isn’t being upfront with him, and the fact that Harry wasn’t traveling this whole time but was, in fact, in New York working on a secret project helps justify his doubts. At the same time, Harry is right that Peter is skeptical of anything involving Norman (not without reason) and so didn’t want to tell Peter because he knew what kind of response he was likely to get. The tension between the two best friends, connected with the mystery of what exactly they’ll find at the end of this mysterious tunnel, works well.
In the same way, Spider-Girl and Spider-Gwen rejected Otto’s help because they don’t trust his efforts at reform works well too. Without understanding Otto’s past and choices as intimately as Peter does, it totally scans that Anya and Gwen wouldn’t buy into the former Doc Ock being a good guy. If anything, it’s a nice choice to have the characters not share and instantly accept things that the audience does, but rather to have their opinions limited by their own, understandable perspective in terms of the story. The same goes for Harry and Otto, whose mutual mistrust lines up with their shared past, even if Peter is now allies with both of them.
And I like the major reveal here, that that the Goblin King is not even necessarily one person or a single threat, but that several past villains -- from the Vulture, to Electro, to the Wake Riders -- are part of this villain conglomerate and posing a challenge to our heroes. Each Goblinite having a slightly different color scheme and design to reflect the villain underneath is a nice touch, and Toomes and the Wake Riders each have obvious experience in skyborn combat. Plus, I like the idea that Toomes was waiting for Spidey to get rid of all the local mobsters so that he and his “nation” could fill the power vacuum.
I’ll admit, some of the third act action became one big blur to me, but I did like the tension and emotion when Harry thought he was dealing with his father, and the bitter anger when he viewed Toomes as usurping his father’s legacy.
Overall, this is another mighty fine entry in the Goblin saga, one that plays on the relationships between the main characters and teases out the points of contention among them at a time when they will likely need to all join forces to defeat the association of villains going against them.