Tom Holland. It’s easy to believe that only six years ago, almost no one knew who this erstwhile child actor was — and today, he’s bona genuine movie office gold, topping with Spidey threequel No Way Home in 2021 and raking it in with Uncharted this year.
He’ll stay Spidey for as long as Marvel keeps paying him large dollars, having entrenched himself as their top draw with the aforementioned third Spider-Man film. Few are doing it like him: Holland, R-Patz, Timothée Chalamet, and then everyone else.
Nonetheless, not everything has been perfect. He has yet to get his big independent film – each of his previous endeavors, be it the Russo Brothers’ Cherry or the southern gothic Devil, has failed. Being various registers of awful — and lord, has he been in some clangers.
Dolittle
When everything is said and done, Dolittle will not be the one Holland is known for. Holland, who co-starred with Robert Downey, Jr. as Dr. Dolittle’s bespectacled dog Jib, based his portrayal on his own dog, Tess… and that’s about it. A dog of a performance, a dog of a film.
The Devil All the Time
The Achingly Serious Southern Gothic Drama The Devil All the Time does Holland a huge injustice. He has to deal with a devilishly theatrical Robert Pattinson, playing to the rear rafters as a mad priest. Holland, who is dark and subdued, is unavoidably overdone by his co-star.
Spider-Man: Homecoming
Holland’s first full-length appearance as the friendly neighborhood superhero allowed him to create his own Spidey, marked by a childlike innocence and quippy zaniness right from the pages of the original Lee comics. Look, he’s no Andrew Garfield when it comes to the utter believability of his soon-to-be co-star, but as Spider-Man, Holland at least holds his own.
The Impossible
Based on the actual tale of a Spanish family who survived the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that killed and devastated Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and a half-dozen other nations, Holland plays a teenage kid seeking to escape the catastrophe. Holland provides an emotionally real performance as a son thrown into a horrific circumstance, in a rare pure tragic part for the rising star.
Spider-Man: No Way Home
No Way Home is on the verge of imploding under the weight of its point-and-gawp easter eggs, meme allusions, and over-reliance on nostalgic familiarity. But Holland delivers a leading man performance for the ages, possibly the greatest we’ve seen in a comic book picture – he’s genuine, broods with the weight of moral obligation, and displays considerably more emotional range than the narrative justifies. Not the hero No Way Home deserved, but certainly the one it required.
