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    Another mandatory character was Aunt May, played by Marisa Tomei, whom I always personally thought was cute. Her version of Aunt May is much younger than other portrayals and is somewhat more relatable to Peter, being more of a mother than a grandmother. She really doesn’t appear too often; actually, the whole Uncle Ben story was only referenced once by Peter. This was a good thing since we all already know the story and by telling it again would have taken away from this movie’s main focus. Pretty much, she was in the parts she was needed in—short, sweet, and to the point.

    Of course I couldn’t talk about the film without the main antagonist. Michael Keaton portrays the aerial villain Vulture in the film. When I first heard this, of course I thought Keaton trading his batwings for feathered wings was wonky, but unique. Is Beetlejuice really going to be a serious threat now? Joking aside, I liked Keaton’s portrayal of Vulture. Structure-wise, it seemed that the villain just sort of shows up now and then and near the end they attempt to dump character development to give him purpose. However, character development or not, there’s just something about Keaton that lights up the screen and makes you look forward to seeing him. Maybe it’s because I grew up on the Tim Burton Batman films (and Beetlejuice), but I always liked Keaton. Vulture and other villains did feel evil for evil’s sake, and while he does have motivation for doing what he does, it still felt generic. When you see Vulture appear on screen, he does feel intimidating coming down from the sky. During his confrontations with Spidey, he felt like a threat and like there were stakes against him.

    One final character I want to mention is another obvious one, Tony Stark/Iron Man. Robert Downey Jr. is his typical snarky self here, and added much of the comedy in the film. I did like the way he was portrayed as a mentor/older-brother type who never stole the spotlight from Spider-Man. Well, maybe except for one scene at the end of the second third of the film. Then again, that did add development for Parker’s character later on.

    Since this is a more lighthearted film, there are plenty of jokes to go around. While I felt one or two were a bit cheesy, none of them overstay their welcome (looking at you, Family Guy). Many jokes revolved around Spidey’s clumsiness and awkward moments. Most of the film felt this way; however, it only really felt serious when Vulture appeared and during an earlier bank robbery scene. It was mostly comedic but serious when it needed to be, such as dealing with Peter’s teen angst.

    Visuals were pretty good. However, I wasn’t really a fan of the CGI Spidey. I felt it was overused just a bit and seeing so much CGI, you can easily tell the difference with its artificial jerky movements. Also, I’m not too much of a fan of Spidey’s new squinting eyes, though there is a comedic moment halfway through involving them that I though was pretty funny. Vulture’s mechanical suit was done excellently and you could feel the weight of him when he came from the sky. He often felt like an evil version of Iron Man with his suit and mechanical gadgets. I did have an issue with another villain that appears in the film (well, actually two), as the visuals of what they did in the film didn’t accurately portray the character.