WARNING: This Article May Contain Spoilers
A little fact that you may or may not know in terms of Tom Holland as Spider-Man, specifically when it comes to Avengers: Infinity War, is that the line ‘I don’t want to go. I don’t want to go, Mr. Stark…’ was completely improvised. Now, that scene makes me cry anyway but once I found that out it made me cry even more. Yeah, I’m an adult but I don’t care! Truthfully, there have been three Spider-Men in my lifetime and, in my opinion, Tom’s is the best.
The Impossible
This true story about one of the families affected by the tsunami that hit Thailand in 2004, is actually Tom’s first starring role at the age of 16. I’ll be honest, I don’t know if the boy that Lucas is based was 16 himself but if he was younger – Tom definitely fits the bracket as he only looks about 13. The first half of the film is based around Lucas and his mother Maria and it’s beautiful to watch the transitions his character takes on. He starts out as this bratty teenager, mocking his mother and brother for their fear on the plane but the moment he is washed away by the tsunami and is trying to get to back to Maria, he turns into a scared boy – but it doesn’t stop there. Maria ends up so injured that Lucas has to take on the role of care-giver and be brave for both of them. What happens to him next is impossible to explain without giving too much away but it’s heart-breaking to say the least.
This is probably going to sound really weird but what I actually find the most touching moment is when Lucas turns away both times his mum’s breasts are uncovered. It’s just a reminder that no matter what, he’s still a child.
In The Heart of the Sea
Starring alongside each other as Spider-Man and Thor wasn’t the first time Tom Holland had shared the screen with Chris Hemsworth. In a way Tom has the most significant role because, even though the story is based around Owen Chase (Chris Hemsworth) and Captain George Pollard (Benjamin Walker), he is playing the younger version of our narrator Thomas Nickerson – a survivor of The Essex. Now, unlike The Impossible, Tom actually looks older than his character is supposed to be – Nickerson was 14, Tom looks about 16 (even though he was 19 when he made it, the kid’s got a gift).
He even provides a little bit of humour to what at times is quite an intense film. Specifically when they all decide to send Nickerson into the whale’s carcass for the oil but he tries to back away from them as he mops the deck.
How I Live Now
Like the other films mentioned in this article, Tom once again has an ancillary role. I’ll be honest, I think Spider-Man may have been his first leading one. This doesn’t mean that his role isn’t important. Daisy wouldn’t have met her other cousins without him. The character of Isaac does come across as a little bit of an annoying brat in the beginning and his attitude towards his little sister isn’t great but he really does grow on you. It’s a heart-breaking moment when the family are separated and we do not see the boys again for a long time. It is made worse when you finally see how Isaac’s story actually ends. I’m not going to go into detail because I don’t want to ruin it for anyone but it made me both angry and confused. I even wondered if may be his older brother had something to do with it – but I don’t mean voluntarily.
Honorary Mentions
This is probably going to come across as a pretty pointless paragraph considering that outside of the 3 films already mentioned in this article, Tom only featured in another 2 feature-length films and 2 shorts. He did voice work for both The Secret World of Arrietty (Studio Ghibli anime film, check them out in general) and Locke. In the two shorts he was Boy in Moments and Tom in Tweet so you get the feeling his role wasn’t too big. It seems the role of Spider-Man jettisoned his career on the silver screen. He did, however, have a pretty decent role in the mini-series Wolf Hall (based on the book by Hilary Mantel of the same name) as Gregory Cromwell.
