Spider-Man: No Way Home

I enjoyed the new Spider-Man movie at the cinema. I enjoyed the return of old friends, and I was equally happy that some characters, for whom I had practically expected no more than a cameo, were surprisingly given quite a lot of screen time. However, this movie beautifully mirrored Martin Scorsese's words about how the MCU really IS the equivalent of an amusement park. That is because this movie, for all its flashiness, has no more depth than an empty amusement park ride, with well-known characters popping up to get the viewers to react emotionally. While I am willing to go along for the unpretentious fan-service ride to a certain extent, I am not going to condone the trigger for the whole plot is that the two main "superheroes" act like the biggest idiots in the galaxy. This is something that no one gives a second thought to for the rest of the movie, and both characters barely show any self-reproach. Yes, I understand that the movie needed some sort of storyline; however, the whole thing (including the denouement) hinges on one screenwriting crutch after another. Plus, there is the lame prepubescent humor again, ha... ha... Again, I enjoyed it at the cinema, but "the nineteenth best movie of all time"? C'mon. (12/23/2021)

In the context of the comic-book movies made so far, Spider-Man: No Way Home is a miraculous phenomenon. Unlike other superhero movies, it doesn’t conform to the dad ethos of aging fanboys, but instead exclusively targets millennials and younger viewers. What’s more, it even adopts their values and, on top of that, confronts them with the essentially evil and instructively corrosive black-and-white duality of older films. Like today’s (or any) younger generation, the Spider-Man of No Way Home is rashly hyperactive, naïve and idealistic. Besides its hypermedia nature and the motif of friendship, a more fundamental shift is manifested in the transformation of Spider-Man’s values and message. Though there is the inevitable facetiously adult proclamation “with great power comes great responsibility”, Holland’s Spider-Man does not have to give up his youthful view of the world within the coming-of-age story arc. Rather, his view permeates the whole film and underscores the central motif of its narrative, which is the effort not to fight the bad guys, but to find ways to help them. (01/08/2022)

Hectic, whiny, Spider Man soap opera. Or when you don't know what to do with the story, make a hodgepodge with time planes and multiverses, everything goes better afterwards because it can basically be about anything – and you have unlimited space for action set-pieces. I don't understand the enthusiastic reactions because it's a grueling 150 minutes. A fine return of friends and some tried and true bad guys, but in real time there's absolutely nothing going on. (03/27/2022)

The best Spider-Man and a solid Marvel movie, but still does not reach the level of Endgame. I'm sorry I didn't see it in the cinema and it's strange to write about a movie after so long when almost everyone has seen it (not my style), so just briefly. The opening with the reveal of Spiderman's Identity is quite overwhelming and powerful, the emotions work and I could easily see the whole movie in a similar vein, but once Dr. Strange intervenes, nothing will ever be the same thanks to the Multiverse. The return of the old villains from the nostalgia side is a pleasure (on the other hand quite a shame, as I like the new villains), and so is the the return of the older Spider-Men (after 5 months of spoilers I guess no one will complain). It has great pace, a nice atmosphere, the humour works in places and the action is solid, although there is not much of it, but it doesn't really matter. All the fatality, atmosphere and visual play, along with the emotions and the excellent Holland and the diabolical Defoe work, and even though I was expecting a stronger impact at the core, it's still a solid film and comic book adaptation that will offend few. I won't resist watching it again. Story 4/5, Action 4/5, Humor 3/5, Violence 0/5, Fun 5/5 Music 4/5, Visuals 5/5, Atmosphere 4/5, Suspense 2/5, Emotion 4/5, Actors 5/5. 8.5/10. (03/16/2022)

A solid popcorn flick and a decent Spiderman movie about Peter's transformation from a teenage boy to a man, but it fails completely in two aspects. Paradoxically, in those on which it should build and stand: the use of old friends and in the fan service. At a time when the spider-universe has offered such gems as Into the Spiderverse (this is how you work with the possibilities of "many worlds"), Life Story (this is what real fan-service looks like), and the Insomniac reimagination (this is how you work with serious themes in Spidey's rendition), to come up with something that brilliantly scatters all the available LEGO bricks on the floor, but doesn't assemble them into anything other than exactly what you'd expect, is a bummer. There is plenty of time and space, but there is not even a hint of an attempt at anything more than "XY takes off his mask, his musical motif plays, his catchphrase comes on, the audience freaks out"; no idea, no playfulness, nothing beyond a few seconds of nostalgia. That's not fan service worthy of as many aces up your sleeve as there are. And there are plenty! They could (and should) have got out so much out of it. Well, they did, but it didn’t work. And as a result, it’s nothing but a solid pop-corn flick and a decent Spiderman movie. (12/16/2021)