Loki TV Show Review (Contains Spoilers)| Carenza Bramwell

Taken from Google Images

Title- Loki

Creators- Michael Waldron, Kate Herron

Cast- Tom Hiddleston, Sophia Di Martino, Owen Wilson, Gugu Mbatha-Raw 

Genre- Marvel, superhero, sci-fi, drama

Length- 6 episodes

Platform- Disney+

Rating- 4/5 stars

Plot

The mercurial villain Loki resumes his role as the God of Mischief in a new series that takes place after the events of “Avengers: Endgame.”

Taken from IMDb

Opinions

I would consider myself to be a big Marvel fan. Since March of this year, my family and I have been watching all the Marvel films in release order every Monday. We decided to do this after watching WandaVision and being a bit confused because it had been so long since we had watched the films. We've had to take a few breaks for when I've been away, but as of this going live we have two films left (that are currently out on DVD). We enjoyed WandaVision, have only watched two episodes of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, but were very excited for Loki.

Taken from Google Images

I am very happy that I managed to avoid too many major spoilers for the show as Twitter was filled with them. Loki has been a favourite character of mine since Thor came out. I even have a little Lego Loki keyring on my keys. Before watching the show, I saw that Loki had been confirmed to be gender fluid and bisexual. It's hard to believe that we're only just getting our first openly LGBT+ Marvel character (main character) in 2021. But, a very short summary is that I think Loki is a great character, which made me very excited for this show. 

Taken from Google Images

As this show is all about Loki variants, of course I add Sylvie to my favourite MCU characters list. While it was clear that she was a Loki, she was her own character. She had sass and was a badass. We deserve and need more Sylvie content. I felt that she and Loki had great chemistry, that felt very real. The banter between them in episode three was top quality. I'm trying to make this a series review, but instead I feel like I'm just fangirling about how much I love these characters. They really made the show. Plus Sylvie is played by a Northern actress, and as a Northerner myself, she automatically becomes a favourite of mine. Sophia Di Martino did an incredible job with this role. 

Taken from Twitter

I would like to take a moment to praise the aesthetic of this show. Let's start with the direction. Kate Herron did an amazing job with this show. I didn't realise while watching, but Kate Herron also directed four episodes of Sex Education (which is one of my favourite shows). Kate Herron might be my new favourite director. She is an icon. On the very slim chance that Kate Herron is reading this, then I would like it to be known that I think you're great and you've done amazing. Iconic. Now let's talk about the cinematography. This took my breath away. There's this shot (which I've included above this section and I found from this tweet), which is one of the most beautiful shots I have ever seen. I've seen a few comments about how this show is all about the female gaze and I have to agree. The shot setups, the lightning. Just everything is beautiful. I love the music! I am a big fan of soundtracks to films and TV shows, this one has now been added to the ones I listen to regularly. I could go on and on about how much I love the individual creative choices that went into making this show, such as the costumes and set designs, so instead of me rambling about this, I'd recommend the making of documentary called Assembled (there's one for WandaVision and TFATWS too). Disney+ has some great behind the scenes documentaries for their shows. 

Okay now that I've waffled about how much I love the aesthetic of this show, I will get to my one complaint. I wasn't wowed with the plot/premise of this show. I feel that it was a much more character driven show. Compared to WandaVision, which had an excellent premise and felt very unique, this wasn't as great as everyone was making it out to be. I really think that the plot was the only let down. Nevertheless, I still really enjoyed myself, I was just expecting something a bit more for some reason. That being said, I can see it having a much stronger plot in series two, which brings me nicely to my final point.

I am so excited for series two. I need to know what happens to Loki and Sylvie, as well as the other characters, such as Mobius (who was also very cool). I'd like to see more Croki and Fror (Frog Thor). I think I'll be rewatching this show soon so I can go and see all the cool Easter Eggs. A very solid show.     

My Thoughts on All the Spider-Man Movies from 2002 to Present Day| Carenza Bramwell

This is a slightly different blog post from me, but recently I decided to watch all the Spider-Man films to decide which I thought was the best. By all the Spider-Man films, I mean I watched the Tobey Maguire trilogy, the Andrew Garfield duology, the MCU films with Tom Holland and Spider-Man Into the Spiderverse. The majority of these were rewatches except for Spider-Man Into the Spiderverse. I'll be talking through each film and sharing my thoughts. There are most likely going to be spoilers for these films, so if you haven't watched them, I'd recommend either not reading this post or going away to watch them and then coming back. All images have been taken from Google Images and do not belong to me. 

Spider-Man (2002)

Taken from Google Images

It's been a very long time since I watched these films. I remembered vague moments, but essentially I was watching the Tobey Maguire ones for the first time. I really struggled to connect with this version of Peter Parker and Spider-Man. Now I can't say I know that much, if anything, about the character outside of what I have seen in films about him. To me, something just felt off about this portrayal. That isn't a critique against Maguire, more one about the film as a whole. This film does have the iconic upside down kiss moment, which is a great moment of cinema. For me, it just didn't have that emotional pull. I didn't connect with any of the characters. It's been well over a month since I watched it and to be honest, I can't remember much outside of the things that happen in other origin movies. I gave it 3/5 stars.   

Spider-Man 2 (2004)

   

Taken from Google Images

This film suffered from second film slump. The villain was by far the most interesting so far. A lot of this film revolved around the love triangle between Peter, MJ and Harry. I just didn't care for it. Again, I failed to connect or care with the characters. Like the first film, it had some great cinematic moments, such as when Peter stops the train from falling off the bridge. The characters feel very flat, which is an odd choice for a superhero film. The plot was okay, but if you can't make me care about the characters, then you have lost me. I gave it 3/5 stars.

Spider-Man 3 (2007)

This was my least favourite of the trilogy and there are several reasons for that. My main reason is about the plot with MJ, Gwen and Peter. I hated that they had Peter kiss Gwen when MJ was watching. His excuse for kissing her was awful, her reaction was validated. The way women have been portrayed in these films is most likely a reflection of the time, but this was the early 2000s and so not excusable. They have the potential to be great characters and were reduced to screaming, love interests. My other reason for not liking this film is that it tried to do too much. There were three villains. That's too many. Both of these reasons made for an okay viewing experience. I think it's safe to say that Maguire's trilogy was my least favourite of all the iterations of Spider-Man. I gave this film 3/5 stars.

The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)

These were actually the Spider-Man films that got me into Spider-Man. I know they're not the most popular versions, but I hold a soft spot for them. I connected a lot more with this portrayal of Spider-Man. I think it has the right balance of goofy and serious. It is quite dark in tone, but it works. The soundtrack is great, I regularly listen to it when I want a good study session. Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone are an incredible duo in this film. There's a lot of chemistry between them. Gwen Stacey also holds a lot of authority, she grounds Peter when he's being all heroic. It does take a while to get to the action and introduce the villain. He's an okay villain with an okay motive. I have watched this film about five times and I enjoy it every single time. I gave it 4/5 stars.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)

Like Spider-Man 2, this film suffers from too many villains. Both are great villains and were worthy of their own films to fully explore them. I know that Jamie Foxx is set to reprise his role in the MCU Spider-Man film, which I'm excited to see. Gwen's arc in this film shows her for the strong character she is. She is carving her own path independent of Peter. This makes her death even sadder. I think this is down to the chemistry between Garfield and Stone, you can see how much they love each other. This film is also a tad too long. While I enjoy it and am sad they didn't give Garfield a third film, I think The Amazing Spider-Man is my favourite of this duology. I gave it 4/5 stars. 

Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)  

For a while I was convinced that Tom Holland might be my favourite Spider-Man. For one thing, he actually looks the part. He is believable as a goofy teenager. This film captures that perfectly. It reminds us that while Spider-Man is a superhero, Peter is just a kid. The scene were Peter is trapped under some rubble and starts panicking really humanises him. You very rarely see that vulnerable side of these characters. The side characters of Ned and MJ are great. This is the first time that Aunt May doesn't really play a big role in Peter's life, which is an interesting choice. The romance with Liz and the villain are probably my least favourite things about this film. It gets a lot of things right that it's predecessors haven't. I gave it 4/5 stars.

 

Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019)

As an individual Spider-Man film, this is okay. I think that because these are so embedded into the MCU it is hard to discuss it as it's own film. We do see some development in Peter and Spider-Man. It is slightly darker in tone that Homecoming. The romance with MJ comes out of nowhere, in my opinion. This has some very nice comedic moments. The villain was okay. Jake Gyllenhaal and Tom Holland had excellent chemistry. The ending of this film leaves Peter's journey in a very interesting place. I am excited to see what they do with Peter and Spider-Man in the next film. I like this version of Spider-Man, but it's so hard to talk about it as a Spider-Man film when this one is linked to Endgame. I gave it 4/5 stars.

Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse (2018) 

I finally watched this film after having wanted to watch it for ages. I thought the animation style was stunning, probably one of the best I've ever seen. It's insane just how far animation has progressed in the past 15-20 years. I watched this film in four sittings, which was probably a mistake. I think it's a film that demands to be watched in one sitting. I struggled with the plot and staying connected, but that was probably my own fault. I did go and read the Wikipedia summary after I had watched it. It's one I'll watch again. I knew that Miles Morales was a version of Spider-Man, but I didn't know much about him. I'm now interested in all the different versions and learning more about them. As I've already said this film was visually stunning, but I struggled with the plot. I will watch the sequel as I am interested to see where they could take this story. I gave it 4/5 stars. 

General Thoughts and Ranking

I really like Spider-Man as a character. I will always hold a soft spot for the Amazing Spider-Man films as they are the films that introduced me to the franchise. I do want to read some Spider-Man comics but have no clue where to start. I know a lot of people really like the Maguire films, but I didn't connect with them at all. 

1) The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)

2) Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)

3) The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)

4) Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse (2018)

5) Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019)

6) Spider-Man 2 (2004)

7) Spider-Man (2002)

8) Spider-Man 3 (2007) 

What is your favourite Spider-Man film?