Spider-Man: Lotus

Such a slog. Utterly dragged by flashbacks and drawn-out dialogue scenes. Very little actual Spider-Man.

It strays from a conventional story structure, much to this film's detriment, even if it's what the filmmakers were going for. All I can say is, learn the rules before you break them. Very little setup and payoff in this film, resulting in extreme boredom. The group I watched it with was not invested at all in the characters or the plot. Please, learn the fundamentals of writing before starting such an ambitious project.

Glad to see fans make content like this, but sad to see it executed so poorly.

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.

At a staggering budget of $100,000 USD, Spider-Man Lotus enters the indie fan film arena with anticipation riding high. However, despite its financial prowess, the film struggles to translate its substantial investment into a polished and coherent cinematic experience.

Cinematography, takes an unexpected tumble here. Struggling with inconsistent color choices, shaky camera work, and odd moments where characters lose focus, the film fails to capitalize for visually captivating shots.

The editing further compounds the film's challenges, as it's plagued by puzzling continuity errors. For example: MJ knowing where Harry is after months without seeing him or even knowing about Harry's drug problem, since went missing right after his father died. Or Green Goblin knowing the place where Uncle Ben's Killer was arrested. Even Goblin's motivation left to be desired too.

Knowing that this is a indie movie, the GCI is expected to be weak. The diference between the work of the initial artists and their successors is evident, casting a shadow over the overall visual consistency of the production.

The soundtrack, while initially promising with its impressive score, falls short in execution. The music's placement disrupts rather than enhances the flow, and an unfortunate tendency to overuse the music detracts from the film's quieter moments. Given the substantial budget, the film could have better leveraged its soundtrack to create a more immersive experience.

The cast's performances exhibit a wide range of skill, with some shining and others faltering. Surprisingly, the "uncredited kid from true blood," Warden Wayne, delivers a performance lacking emotional depth and conviction. In contrast, standout portrayals by Moriah Brooklyn, Maxwell Fox-Andrews, Mariah Fox and Jack Wooton breathe authenticity into their characters, holding the best scenes in the movie (scenes where Spider-Man is not in!).

The pacing emerges as another obstacle, with prolonged dramatic segments and recurring scenes that detract from the narrative's flow. The film's attempt to juggle multiple storylines results in rushed resolutions, leaving some arcs feeling underdeveloped. The Harry and MJ subplot stands out as one of the film's more cohesive elements. If the movie had condensed its runtime to about an hour and centered on Peter Parker's process of coming to terms with Gwen Stacy's death, ultimately connecting with "The Kid Who Collects Spider-Man", the story would have found a more fitting and engaging balance.

In conclusion, my expectations for this film were elevated, particularly considering the manner in which it was being approached with a distinct sense of professionalism, reminiscent of mainstream productions. However, it regrettably falls short in delivering a straightforward narrative centered on overcoming challenges during trying circumstances.

This movie is is just plain boring while i like some things about it the acting is bad and I felt it could have been handle better, and not to mention that with the racism and supposed grooming allegations against the green goblin actor I feel like every day this movie gets worse and worse. Also Harrys drug addiction is probably one of the worst adaptations of it as its only shown when peter goes to the apartment looking for harry and when Mary jane finds harry at his fathers grave after he had been walking around then has a conversation with her that was stupid. Unfortunately this movie overall is just terrible.

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.