How to write about the new installment of Tom Holland’s Spider-Man franchise without spoiling anything? That’s quite a task! While I’m assimilating all the events that transpired in this epic film, I have to start by saying that all the craze over the film, tickets selling out in minutes, long queues trying to get those last tickets lefts on the venues, and of course the endless theories that suggested really far-fetched plots, are all worth the hype.
As we all know, Peter’s identity has been compromised, and to fix things, he seeks Doctor Strange’s for help. Something goes terribly wrong, and villains from other universes arrive. Peter and his friends will have to deal with them to save their own universe. Now, let’s move on.
Unlike one failed and one unexistent third movie of our previous friendly neighbor Spider-Man, Holland’s version manages to break the curse. Perhaps as Doc Ock would say, it’s brilliant but lazy, since it’s true that they’re resorting to the easy stunt of nostalgia, but it’s also true that, unlike the previous films, this one is supported by the very long thread of stories that form the now iconic Marvel Universe. In other words, Spider-Man: No Way Home, has all the MCU elements that guarantee a great superhero film. But it’s that it?
Not really. Actually, the story is quite solid within the trilogy and the MCU. More importantly, it succeeds in showing us convincing character evolution. We’ve seen Peter Parker go from a silly, immature, high school kid impressed by the superhero world that his new powers provide to a conflicted young man that has to accept the consequences and responsibilities of his powers.
We’re not shading the other Spider-Man franchises, but let’s just say that Holland’s appears in a different era of superhero film history. Marvel has done a great job in evolving and changing the genre, and unlike the previous franchises, these movies come once the genre has been already consolidated. This manages to give us deeper characters, more solid plots, and great emotional and comical moments that make the films memorable.
Now, we have to talk about the great villains! Even they have a great upgrade in terms of character development. Yes, the Green Goblin, Doc Ock, are iconic, but their villainous motifs were not that convincing. The Sandman had a more solid backstory, but the movie (let’s accept it) is just really bad. As for Garfield’s antagonists, well, they exist. However, in this film, they get the MCU treatment and give us great, mostly funny and epic, moments that make them amazing elements in this cinematic universe.
I can’t say more without giving away spoilers. All I can say is that it’s an Endgame-level film that although it’s impossible to meet all the expectations of the fans (I mean no film will ever do), does a great job. Probably the only negative thing I have to say is that looking at the first villains made me realize I belong to the oldest fandom, but that’s not the movie’s fault.
Spider-Man: No Way Home was released today in some countries in Latin America and the United Kingdom, while the rest of the world will have to wait until tomorrow. If you haven’t seen it, don’t miss the two post-credit scenes! We get some sneek peaks from the second Doctor Strange film!
Photos from Sony Pictures.