Spider-Man: Lotus

This is the first time I've sat down to write a review on IMDB and there is a very good reason I decided this was the film id finally review.

Spider-Man lotus frustrated me beyond belief. Not because it was horrible (it wasn't), not because of the controversy but simply because you were so close to actually making an incredible spidey fan film.

Let me start with the positives!

• Overall I am a big fan of the direction you wanted to take with this characters and the themes you wanted to explore. I can tell you truly love this character by how much time and energy you spent really trying to dig into Peters grief and guilt.

• The opening sequence was explosive, exciting and fun and really allowed me to get on board with this spidey quite quickly

• the actors did a phenomenal job and really helped elevate the film

• VFX were on point and it was easy to overlook some of the minor issues.

• Faithful to the material

on to my gripes

• 2 hours was excessive. And Gavin trust me I know how hard it is to cut scenes especially when so much work went into writing location scouting and shooting them, feeding the crew, working long long hours just for that perfect take but I firmly believe at least half of the entire movie could have been cut out. And that's not because they are bad scenes. They were just unnecessary and didnt move the plot forward in a meaningful way. It got to a point where I felt this time the credits will pop up when it cuts to black. But then it kept going. Then cuts to black. Fade it. Keep going. Cut to black. It got a little tiresome. Dont be afraid to KILL YOUR DARLINGS. If a scene doesn't push the protagonist to the next stage in the story circle CUT IT. The main reason I dont want to say that this is a bad film is that there is a really good short film in hear with an hour cut from the edit.

• This film was really really really depressing. But a depressing story doesn't need to just be about people crying and being sad. Death can be weird, awkward weirdly funny. I had a close family member pass away this year. And there was a point after the funeral that my whole entire family was so tired of crying and being depressed that we all just started laughing uncontrollably. Now im not saying that there should have been a laughing scene in the movie but my point is that grief comes in many many forms not just crying in the rain and sitting and moping around. Death in movies doesn't have to just be crying. Peter is a guy that hides fear and pain through humour. I would have liked to see at least one scene when he is maybe trying to joke to Gwen over the tape recorder try make the moment light when really he is just trying to hide his own pain. It just feels that for a 2 hour runtime I didnt really get to see Peter experience anything other that immense pain and it got boring.

You took yourself too seriously. All the flashbacks and whining from every character just deflated me. And I learnt nothing new about these characters. And it frustrated me. You had everything in place all the time and money in the world but you wasted it looping the same character beats over and over.

Now im not writing all this because I hate this film or I hate you. Im writing this because I am such a fan of your journey and the balls on you to come out with your chin up and release this to the world. I really hope you see this and can learn from this film and get right back into filmmaking. You have potential. I have to keep reminding myself that this is your first film and for that it's an accomplishment and everyone should be very proud. But dont be afraid to look back and your baby and acknowledge its issues. You can do better and im sure in the coming years you will.

3/10 next project focus on structure and pacing.

Mid writing unfortunately. It relies on one someone's death WAYYYYYY to much and has way too much out of context scenes just thrown in there. It adds tons of unresolved questions and when it builds to something, it will cut out instantly instead of actually letting it have a scene or part. Its practically 15 minutes looped for the entire movie and adds nothing too what we already knew. Theres also multiple long montages and dragged out parts just to add runtime, most of these are flashbacks. Let alone how rude peter is in this movie. Straight up savagely rude to people.

The only 2 things i can say i liked 1: the cgi is great for a fan film even though there wasn't a ton 2: the dialog flows well like an actual movies. This is easy to do but fan films can never get this right which this one did.

This movie could've easily passed as a normal movie that isn't even spider-man related.

I will not, in this review, be addressing the controversy surrounding the people behind this film and their recorded racism/sexism. Because even going in to this film without any potential bias against it, it still fails.

Spider-Man: Lotus is a movie. Many dismiss criticisms of it under the pretense that it is a small student project and not an actual movie, but I adamantly reject that notion. It has a budget of $25,000. It has a runtime of two hours (meaning it's not even the shortest Spider-Man film). With the status of being a feature length indie film with a respectable indie budget, there comes expectations; it is very much within reason to expect this movie to be well-directed, well-written, well-shot, and above all, economic in its production. Spider-Man: Lotus is none of these things.

This movie is unpleasant on the eyes; the directing is deeply uninspired, shots being comprised almost always of very drab imagery that do not grab one's attention. Similarly, the movie is also unpleasant on the ears and brain; the script only shows slight potential just once or twice, and the entire runtime is a plodding chore to get through with a motionless story that numbs the senses at its best infuriates at its worst.

When Spider-Man: Lotus was first announced, the filmmakers affirmed their fans that they were going to work within the confines of their budgetary limitations by shooting a drama first and foremost; the typical hallmarks of what makes a superhero movie would not be a priority. This is not what they did. There are still two superhero-y fight/action scenes in the movie; they are both distractingly terrible. These, along with a few other severely misguided creative decisions, chew through much of the budget that should've been used in other, smarter ways.

Spider-Man: Lotus is not a good film. At best, it is still very much subpar. It had all the tools and ingredients necessary to be an incredible version of itself, but it used them either incorrectly or not at all. To those that still feel this is all too much to expect of a film of this size, here are some other movies whose budgets were at or below that of Lotus:

El Mariachi (1992) with a budget of $7,000

Primer (2004) with a budget of $7,000

Paranormal Activity (2007) with a budget of $15,000

Resolution (2012) with a budget of $20,000

Creep (2014) with a budget of $0

One Cut of the Dead (2017) with a budget of $25,000.

The cinematography, CGI, and most of the acting in this amateur project aren't totally bad, but It's all over the place, and the pacing doesn't help at all. I mean, I sat through over an hour, and I still couldn't figure out where the heck it was heading. It wasted so much time on those pointless flashbacks and cheesy lines. Plus, there's barely any fight scenes, except for this quick two-minute bit where Spider-Man's just taking on some generic bad guys and Shocker. Just go rewatch any other Spider-Man movie; that'd be a better use of your time. I kept an open mind, even after hearing all the stuff about the people behind this, but I honestly ended up wasted my time. It's not a good Spider-Man movie or a good movie at all. Nothing really makes this one stand out; so why do I, or anyone for that matter, have to sit through two hours of just talking? Can't believe they used all that donation money for this garbage.

I went into this film ignoring the controversy. I hadn't kept up with it, I simply watched the film to judge it as a film. And, as a film, it blows. This movie is nightmarishly boring, horrendously paced, abysmally written, with so few redeeming qualities that I'd argue that this film should've never been made in the first place.

Gavin is a lifelong spider-man fan, as am I, and that is part of why I am so appalled by the sheer lack of passion felt within this project. It feels like chewing on a Popeyes biscuit with no drink and then having sand as a chaser.

I enjoyed two scenes in the entire bloated two hour film. The scene where Flash and MJ talk, and the final swing. The scene where Flash and MJ talk worked for me because I think it captures Flash's character quite well. Even with that though, the writing is still more interested in telling rather than showing, and beats you over the head with its messages.

The only scene I can call 100% good is the final swing, which is genuinely great and I give all the props to the visual effects team.

Outside of those two positives, this film was utter drivel. For a film with such an arrogant inception, it utterly fails to provide a film even remotely as good as the MCU trilogy, it can't even manage to be better than most fan films I have watched. "The fan film to end all fan films." Was Gavin's goal, and it once again shows the arrogance behind this movie.

I came into this, hoping for a decent time, instead I came out of it profoundly unfeeling, and with a sour taste in my mouth.

Do not watch this film. There is nothing in it that makes it worthwhile.