Sticking Power: ‘Marvel’s Spider-Man 2’ First Impressions

 

There are only a few games in the past five years or so that have completely captured my imagination and my free time – I’m sure plenty of folks riding out the final days of their 30s can relate. But of that handful of titles, three stand out above all others: Spider-Man, Spider-Man: Miles Morales and, most recently, Spider-Man 2 on PlayStation 5 (officially named  Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, but I think you’ll know what game I’m talking about even if I skip that formality moving forward).

Developer Insomniac Games has cracked the code as far as what makes Spider-Man compelling not only as a fictional character – that efficacy has been proven across just about every medium known to man except maybe Broadway – but as a playable character in a video game. Never before has it been so fun to aimlessly explore a virtual environment as it has been with these three games. And Spider-Man 2 is easily the best one yet.

The game looks beautiful, and whether I’m swinging between buildings as Peter Parker or Miles Morales or soaring above them with the use of the game’s brand-new Web Wings mechanics, I’m in love with the exploration, and many of my waking hours not spent playing the game have involved thinking about it … and that’s just the traversal!

Without getting into spoiler territory (you’ll get their soon enough if you scroll your TikTok FYP long enough), Spider-Man 2 weaves together the various threads from the original game, its DLC and Miles’ spectacular spinoff title to craft a massive narrative that pulls from a half-decade of Spidey lore to create something fresh. If you think you know Venom’s story already, you don’t. And because we’ve all gotten so comfortable with a Spider-Man multiverse many times over in recent years, it’s not at all jarring when Insomniac decides to make a massive departure from the source material. It’s refreshing! New is good! Stop complaining! 

Equally refreshing is the combat, which retains the frenetic, controlled chaos of previous entries while giving both Miles and Peter new, distinct abilities. Miles gets a strange upgrade to his Venom Blast abilities, while Peter … well, let’s just say his movements get more fluid this time around.

But perhaps the most impressive thing about Spider-Man 2 is how excited I am to TAKE. IT. SLOW. With many recent games that I actually quite enjoyed – including Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, God of War: Ragnarok, and Final Fantasy XVI – I’ve been compelled to move through the main story as fast as possible to absorb it and move on because of that “adulting” (ugh) thing I alluded to earlier. But I’m enjoying just being in Spider-Man 2’s world that I’m in no rush to get to the ending. Much like the titular Wall-Crawlers, I think I’ll stick around in Spider-Man 2 for a while.

On ‘Ahsoka,’ ‘Loki’ and Franchise Fatigue

 

Season 3 of The Mandalorian was OK.

Yes, it pains me to write that. The Mandalorian – universally beloved and merchandised thanks to the genius inclusion of a cooing Yoda-like baby now named Din Grogu – had gone from the absolute beacon of hope for the Star Wars franchise to “pretty good” in the eyes of many viewers, including myself. Now, maybe that’s because Andor had sufficiently and surprisingly raised the bar in terms of what a Star Wars TV show could be. Maybe it’s because we’ve been so sufficiently spoiled by new Star Wars stories that it takes much more to excite us. Qui-Gon Jinn himself, Liam Neeson, told Conan O’Brien earlier this year, “There’s so many spinoffs of Star Wars. It’s diluting it to me, and it’s taken away the mystery and the magic in a weird way.”

That makes a lot of sense, right? If we’re constantly fed – and Star Wars fans are fed these days – we’re not all that likely to salivate over the next meal. This is probably why Ahsoka, which debuted in August, was a bit hard for me to get into for the first few episodes. I liked it just fine, but I was shocked by how nitpicky and blasé I was about the whole thing. I felt like I could predict exactly where the story was going and how the season would wrap up.

And then Anakin freaking Skywalker showed up and s*** got REAL.

From the return of The Chosen One to some emotional Rebels reunions to Grand Admiral Thrawn just Thrawning it up every time he was onscreen, Ahsoka became one of my favorite Star Wars things ever. And given where the season wound up (Sabine Wren and Ahsoka Tano stranded on a strange world alongside new enemies, a rogue Jedi unraveling mysteries of the Force, and Thrawn about to unleash HELL on the New Republic), I genuinely have no idea what’s in store next for that galaxy far, far away … and that’s damned exciting.

We’ve been at a point in many fictional cinematic universes – including Marvel, Star Wars, and DC – in which it feels like we’ve been treading water for a while now. Ever since The Rise of Skywalker and Avengers: Endgame, fans have been waiting for the next big event to propel their respective overarching stories forward (and that event unfortunately wasn’t Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania). In DC’s case, we’re just burning through already-completed movies until James Gunn’s reboot happens. This is one of the reasons why phrases like “superhero fatigue” and “franchise fatigue” have been thrown around so much lately. Heck, even Andor – for all its many high points – is essentially just filling in the gaps between other films and shows.  

Ahsoka, meanwhile, just shook up the entire Star Wars galaxy and left us on the edge of our seats. Loki, now in its second season, is about to similarly make sense of all this Marvel Multiverse stuff we’ve been living in for the past few years. They’re breaking the formula and giving us new stories, new perspectives, and new questions to ask. Hell, I’d say given Star Wars and Marvel Studios’ recent output, they’re as good as they’ve ever been. So perhaps it’s not fatigue for fans … it’s impatience.

Fortunately, it seems, the wait is over.

‘Mutant Mayhem’ is the Best TMNT Reimagining Yet

 

If you ever want to send me into an existential spiral, simply ask me this question:

“James, who is your favorite Ninja Turtle?”

When asked this question prior to a screening of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, I froze up. How can I choose just one?! I relate to the hot-headed Raphael more often than I’d like to, but I typically aspire to be a carefree party dude like Michelangelo. Professionally, however, I aim to channel the leadership of Leonardo and the problem-solving skills of Donatello. So, I guess that speaks to one of the reasons why Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has thrived as a now-multigenerational franchise for nearly 40 years. For everyone who grew up with them, the Turtles continue showing us who we are and who we want to be.

Nickelodeon has refreshed the brand a few times since acquiring the franchise in 2009, including two animated series and a bizarre duet of Michael Bay-produced films that made our heroes gigantic and Hulk-like (downplaying the “Ninja” part of their moniker) and visually unappealing (doubling down on “Mutant,” I suppose). The third film under the Nick umbrella turns up the volume on the “Teenage” aspect of the property and breaks off the knob. And the result is an irresistibly charming new take on the Turtles that oozes (ha) authenticity and reinvents the characters for an entirely new audience.  

Directed by Jeff Rowe (The Mitchells vs. the Machines), who collaborated on the screenplay with Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, Dan Hernandez, and Benji Samit, Mutant Mayhem uses a beautiful animation style reminiscent of the Spider-Verse series – a CGI hand-drawn aesthetic with a dash of stop-motion charm. Add in top-tier voice work from actual teenagers paired up with an all-star cast filling out the mutant menagerie and what you get is something that looks, feels, and sounds intricately, lovingly and effectively crafted.

The story takes place several years after Master Splinter (Jackie Chan) finds our ooze-covered protagonists in a sewer and trains them in the ways of the ninja to help them protect themselves from the dangers of the human world. Named after Renaissance artists, Leonardo (Nicolas Cantu), Michelangelo (Shamon Brown Jr.), Donatello (Micah Abbey) and Raphael (Brady Noon) grow into restless pizza-loving teenagers curious about the world outside their sewer den. While stopping a robbery during a grocery run, they meet fellow teenager and reporter April O’Neil (Ayo Edebiri) who, like the Turtles, yearns for acceptance and validation. With April documenting their every move, the Turtles aim to track down and defeat a criminal known as Superfly (Ice Cube) to earn the city’s respect. While confronting him, however, they find that they’re not the only mutants in town and, as the title suggests, mayhem ensues.

Fans of the classic cartoon, toys, video games and Archie Comics will find many familiar faces and names in Mutant Mayhem, including Bebop (Rogen), Rocksteady (John Cena), Baxter Stockman (Giancarlo Esposito), Leatherhead (Rose Byrne), Wingnut (Natasia Demitriou), Ray Fillet (Post Malone), Genghis Frog (Hannibal Burress), Mondo Gecko (Paul Rudd), and Scumbug (who only speaks in “vermin”). One of my few complaints about the film is that there are so many side characters they don’t really have much of a chance to shine individually, but I suppose with the announced sequel and two-season animated Paramount+ series already in development, we’ll get to know each of them individually in due time.

As mentioned earlier, the most endearing aspect of Mutant Mayhem is the fact that the Turtles talk and act like actual teenagers – perhaps for the first time in the franchise’s history. The way they goof on each other, support each other and crack jokes with each other makes it seem like these are actual 15-year-olds who spend a lot of time together. Heck, I wouldn’t be surprised if many of the funnier moments between the Turtles were improvised in the recording booth. It’s special, and I can’t wait to see and hear more from this cast in future installments.

At 99 minutes – short for a superhero epic in 2023 – Mutant Mayhem does leave you wanting more in the best way possible. And judging by THAT mid-credit scene, massive things are on the way. But even as a self-contained story, I absolutely loved Mutant Mayhem, and it’s my favorite TMNT movie since the 1990 original. And to paraphrase Mikey from that film, man, I love being a Turtles fan.