[6.7/10] What’s odd about this episode is that it came out in 2013, but feels a lot like Age of Ultron redux, replete with a heavy dose of Tony Stark. (Though I guess “man creates something and it turns on him” is a tale as old as Frankenstein.) And like Age of Ultron, this one was kind of disappointing for me. It feels a lot like the Electro episode, where the message behind the episode was hammered home too hard, and the villain was cool enough, but the fights mainly left me checking my watch.
It didn’t help that Swarm himself gets barely any introduction before he turns into the titular wave of Spidery-nanobots. This one races to the combat, which isn’t a sin necessarily, but the show can’t keep the intrigue up for the whole runtime. The fact that Swarm himself is basically a bundle of red static is cool visually, but the way he moves and interacts with our heroes doesn't come close to topping what Ultimate Spider-Man accomplished in its Sandman episode.
I’m also not crazy about the character dynamics. Getting grumpy Tony Stark rather than fun Tony Stark is a little weak and frankly feels kind of out of character (though maybe truer to his cartoon incarnation). Spider-Man is particularly, annoyingly naive here. And the pair don’t have the fun rapport we’ve seen in prior episodes.
Some of the parts of the fight aren’t bad. The whole “who’s dragging whom” routine is kinetic, Iron Man’s composite suit looks cool, and the final sequence inside the belly of the beast is visually striking. But overall, this one just seems like it’s going through the motions with a big fight, barely sketched character interactions, and the “it’s not the tool, or the tech, it’s the guy who’s using it” themed driven home too forcefully.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2018-12-19T21:55:02Z
[6.7/10] What’s odd about this episode is that it came out in 2013, but feels a lot like Age of Ultron redux, replete with a heavy dose of Tony Stark. (Though I guess “man creates something and it turns on him” is a tale as old as Frankenstein.) And like Age of Ultron, this one was kind of disappointing for me. It feels a lot like the Electro episode, where the message behind the episode was hammered home too hard, and the villain was cool enough, but the fights mainly left me checking my watch.
It didn’t help that Swarm himself gets barely any introduction before he turns into the titular wave of Spidery-nanobots. This one races to the combat, which isn’t a sin necessarily, but the show can’t keep the intrigue up for the whole runtime. The fact that Swarm himself is basically a bundle of red static is cool visually, but the way he moves and interacts with our heroes doesn't come close to topping what Ultimate Spider-Man accomplished in its Sandman episode.
I’m also not crazy about the character dynamics. Getting grumpy Tony Stark rather than fun Tony Stark is a little weak and frankly feels kind of out of character (though maybe truer to his cartoon incarnation). Spider-Man is particularly, annoyingly naive here. And the pair don’t have the fun rapport we’ve seen in prior episodes.
Some of the parts of the fight aren’t bad. The whole “who’s dragging whom” routine is kinetic, Iron Man’s composite suit looks cool, and the final sequence inside the belly of the beast is visually striking. But overall, this one just seems like it’s going through the motions with a big fight, barely sketched character interactions, and the “it’s not the tool, or the tech, it’s the guy who’s using it” themed driven home too forcefully.