Spider-Man has been captured and is being held for reasons not clear. Despite being badly hurt and restrained, Spider-Man knows he has to escape even if it means fighting his way out.
I have seen a couple of films now from Al White, at least enough to know that he knows what he is doing with a camera so, although I am not really a big fan of the character (and indeed ground my way through the first Amazing Spiderman just this weekend) I decided to watch this fan film he made. The dark edge is evident from the start as we join a captured and badly beaten Spider-Man (sans mask), however it is not long before he is free and using the simple internal sets of his prison, we get a couple of fight scenes before breaking out on the streets. The fight scenes are not quite The Raid, but they have that air to them and the lack of CGI is covered by the impressive physicality of free-runner Alexander Chard. We also get some web-slinging action too, although of course there is a limit to what the film can do, so mostly we are on the floor and fighting. This was fine by me because it added a bit of grit and brutality to the character, which I really think it needs.
The film has a short time with Mary Jane before the conclusion to this short and really this is the only major weakness to the film. Here we have performances and dialogue driving it and you really do feel it when it happens because this is not a strength of the film. Chard is great when it is about his movement but the dialogue and his delivery, not so much. He is a lot more natural than Lyons though, who really feels stiff and unsure of what is being asked of her. White's direction of them as characters is not great but in all other areas he does very well – again making good use of effects. The Spider-Man costume is knitted and it can be a bit off-putting to see that when in close-up, but it still looks pretty good unless you are being fussy.
Despite its limits as a low-budget fan-film, this does have plenty in the movement and action to justify giving it a look and for sure I wish the films would take a leaf out of White's book and put a bit of toughness and edge into their versions, because that aspect along with Chard's movement is really what makes this work.
