Film Preview: Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)

Page Revisions:

(December 11, 2016) Original
(April 2, 2017) New Trailer (#3) / New Posters (#1-#3)
(May 28, 2017) New Trailer (#4) / New Posters (#4-#5)
(July 2, 2017) New Posters (#6-#12)

Release Date:

July 7, 2017

Synopsis:

From IMDb: “A young Peter Parker/Spider-Man begins to navigate his newfound identity as the web-slinging superhero.”

Poster Rating: C+ (3) / C- / C+ / C+ / C / C+ / B- / B (3)

SEE ALL POSTERS BELOW
Review: (#1-#3) These posters capture the locale of the film fairly well, and occasionally deal with the character’s attitude, but are all ultimately unexciting.

(#4) Whomever studied past similar designs put this together clearly had no idea for design. This horrendous effort is slams incongruous colors together, puts in cheesy embellishments, and generally does disservice to the film. (#5) There’s plenty of action here, which is what a film like this needs. There are also prominent characters on display. However, the end result isn’t particular memorable and is certainly a futile composition.

(#6) More action heavy than most of the previous designs, but still not terribly impressive, like most of the previous designs. (#7) A dull design with a cheap, pointless border-overlay concept that doesn’t add anything measurable to the generic content. (#8) This is precisely like the first three, normal-life posters that were released, which also means it isn’t that much more interesting. (#9) This is an interesting, High School teenager doodle design that’s cheesy at worst, but modestly clever at best. (#10-#12) This is a solid, if inconsequential triptych featuring the film’s three prominent players without feeling overwrought, overly precious, or reductively minimalist.

Trailer Rating: F / B- / C+ / B-

SEE ALL TRAILERS BELOW
Review: (#1) A pointless teasing trailer. I need to get better at weeding these out, thankfully the actual trailer showed before I had to post this. (#2) Now that we finally see something of this new film, the question that immediately pops into one’s mind is: why are we re-booting this franchise for a second time. The first incarnation was a box office bonanza and the second was truer to the original webslinger. This seems like an unnecessary cash grab and since it has the blessing of Disney’s Marvel outlet and features an appearance by Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark, we shouldn’t be surprised that it exists. As to the content. Other than it being similar to everything that’s come before, it lacks the degree of imagination and spark that was the hallmark of early Marvel films. The trailer will certainly get fans of the MCU interested, but they won’t necessarily be expecting anything truly enticing or original as a result.

(#3) Now, we have the film’s entire plot in trailer format, which should make for a rather dull time at the movies. There are some interesting questions being asked here, but we likely already have our answer and it’s not a great one.

(#4) Apart from the relatively cute conversation between Peter and his potential flame, this is a hodge podge of scenes from past trailers with a few, not particularly compelling, new moments thrown in. If Sony is going to tack itself onto the Disney universe, it really needs to learn something from them in terms of marketing.

Oscar Prospects:

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has had an uneven history with the Oscars, but have done much better in recent years. The heavy CGI this film is likely to employ might hinder its chances.