The Spider-Man (film)

The Spider-Man is a 2020 British/American superhero crime film directed by Matthew Vaughn. Based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name, the film stars Jim Sturgess as Peter Parker, a news photographer in his mid-20's who gains spider-like powers after an accident in the enhanced super-spider testing room during a news report. After his uncle Ben is murdered by a criminal, Peter sets off to South Korea on a quest of self-discovery, where he discovers a ninja dojo and there learns how to use his spider-powers for self-defence, and is trained in the art of ninjutsu. He later returns to New York as the vigilante Spider-Man".

The film also stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Phineas Mason (a.k.a. the Tinkerer), Bryce Dallas Howard returns from Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 3 as Peter's love interest Gwen Stacy, though it is not the same film universe, and Anton Yelchin as his best friend Harry Osborn.

Development of the film began with the ending of Marc Webb's 'The Amazing Spider-Man' film series in 2018. Opting to reboot the franchise with the same production team along with James Vanderbilt to stay on with writing the next Spider-Man film while Alvin Sargent and Steve Kloves helped with the script as well. During pre-production, the main characters were cast in 2019. Props from the Webb films had been re-used, such as the artificial web-shooters. Using Red Digital Cinema Camera Company's RED Epic camera, principal photography started in May 2019 in South Korea before moving to New York City. The film entered post-production in August 2019. 3ality Technica provided 3D image processing, Sony Imageworks handled CGI and Hans Zimmer composed the film score.

Plot
In South Korea, Peter Parker (Jim Sturgess) wakes up from a dream. His sensei, Master Hiroshi (Jackie Chan) asks him to tell him what it was about.

2 years earlier, Peter Parker is an ordinary 25 year old news photographer living in New York City. He is about to move out of his aunt and uncle's house in Queens, and is going to move into his own apartment. The next day, he is called by his boss at the Daily Bugle, J. Jonah Jameson (Xander Berkeley) to take pictures of a brand new species of spider, dubbed the "super-spider" by many. When Peter goes to investigate the laboratory where these spiders are stored, one of them bites Peter on the wrist. He eventually has to take the rest of the day off, but sends his pictures first.

At OsCorp, Harry Osborn (Anton Yelchin) is ordered by his father Norman (Mark Strong) to present the plans of a metal suit of armour to Professor Phineas Mason (Benedict Cumberbatch), an inventor at OsCorp. Harry gives him the plans, but Mason repeatedly tells him it will take time.

Peter wakes up after two days "sick", and finds out he has spider-like powers. He goes out into town and tests them out at the docks. When he is returning home, he finds his uncle Ben dead on the floor, with a crowd watching. With his last breath, Ben points at the criminal who shot him, informing Peter that the man running away is the killer.

Two months later, Peter is in South Korea, on a quest of self-discovery, and to find out how he can use his powers for good. He finds a dojo on the top of a mountain. In there, he finds a group of ninjas training. Peter speaks to their master, Kamato Hiroshi, and asks for training. For the next year and a half, Peter trains in the art of ninjutsu, he learns how to meditate, and to use his spider-powers for defence, never for attack, unless it is truly necessary.

The film then shifts back to present day. A bearded Peter is about to advance to a higher level of ninja: The Scarlet Warriors, or the Spider-Men. They all wear red and blue costumes and wield duel swords. Peter is rewarded this outfit, and when he is about to commence his training with the Spider-Men, an explosion occurs. Peter rescues Master Hiroshi and runs away into the mountains with him. Hiroshi calls Peter a good man, but tells him to run away, quickly.

After two years of being in Korea, Peter returns to New York City. He is warmly welcomed back by his best friend Harry and his boss Mr. Jameson, but his former girlfriend Gwen Stacy (Bryce Dallas Howard) is not pleased. She is angry about Peter not telling her where he went. Peter heads back to his apartment.

Back at OsCorp, Professor Mason is almost finished building the suit of armour Norman Osborn asked for. Mason then asks Norman where he got the plans from, Norman tells him they were the blueprints for the Iron Man armour stolen from Stark Industries.

Peter is watching TV, and sees that crime has dramatically increased in the city while he was away. This reminds Peter of his red and blue ninja costume. He spends the night making some changes on it. Painting a spider-emblem on the front, adding artificial web-shooters to the wrist and designing a mask, he decides to become a crime-fighter. He names himself "Spider-Man", after the group of ninjas who wore the same costume. That night, he easily defeats some thugs with a combination of his spider-powers and kung fu. The next morning, "Spider-Man" is already famous in the city, and the Daily Bugle make news reports on him all the time.

Cast

 * Jim Sturgess - Peter Parker/Spider-Man, the protagonist. This version of Peter is much older than other interpretations. Unlike most versions, in which Peter is a high school student, this Peter Parker has long finished high school, and is 25 years old.


 * Benedict Cumberbatch - Phineas Mason/Tinkerer, the principal antagonist. He is an inventor at OsCorp who, after seeing Spider-Man on TV, becomes jealous of his fame, and decides to challenge him.


 * Bryce Dallas Howard - Gwen Stacy, Peter's former love interest. She is curious to know what happened to him for the past two years, and is investigating throughout most of the film.


 * Anton Yelchin - Harry Osborn, Peter's best friend, who discovers his secret identity half-way through the film. He is the son of Norman Osborn, head of OsCorp. He becomes the Green Goblin at the very end.


 * Mark Strong - Norman Osborn/Iron Patriot, Harry's father and the CEO of OsCorp, who hires Phineas Mason to build him a replica of Tony Stark's Iron Man armour. Norman becomes the hero Iron Patriot and helps Spider-Man defeat the Tinkerer.


 * Jackie Chan - Kamato Hiroshi, Peter Parker's sensei in Korea. He trained him to become who he is.