THE USUAL DISCLAIMER - This isn't an actual review. I'm a HUGE Fan-Boy Man-Child when it comes to superheroes and comic books and blockbuster entertainment. This is my first draft, almost entirely un-edited first impression stream of consciousness blather. Remember that Chris Farley sketch on Saturday Night Live with Paul McCartney where Chris just kept saying "Remember that? That was awesome!" Yeah - that's pretty much what this is, only about the latest Spider-Man movie.
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Dragged the wife and daughter out to the theater opening weekend for the latest Spider-Man installment. Happy to say, the cinema was PACKED. It was one of AMC Burbank's larger rooms, probably over 200 people - genuinely sold out - and the most special icing on the cake of this very special movie was the opportunity, really a privilege, to see this film with a throng of loud and enthusiastic Spider-Maniacs.
All of us laughed, we cried, we cheered and even spontaneously broke into applause on more than a handful of occasions. I will forever be grateful to that I got to see this movie, in 2021 at the tail end of a pandemic, under these conditions. Nothing beats a theater full of pumped up fans watching a movie that meets and often exceeds very high expectations.
So yes, I absolutely loved this movie and I am super happy that Disney's Marvel Cinematic Universe, with a great help from Sony Pictures, still has enough in the tank to deliver an 'Avengers: Endgame' level of excitement experience to comic book nerds of all ages.
Going forward in this 'review' there will be a TON of SPOILERS, so if you haven't watched the movie, STOP right here and make sure you do that first.
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I don't know exactly where in my MCU ranking this movie will fall just yet. I've seen the movie twice and absorbed all the essential elements, but I do need to ponder some more before I place it in the pantheon in it's correct ranking. I also have to find a place for Black Widow and Shang-Chi, not to mention Eternals which I haven't even seen yet - but that's a whole other couple of reviews and musings for another post.
But I can say at this point that Spider-Man: No Way Home (SM:NWH) easily for sure falls into my top five favorite MCU entries, and could very well be top three for that matter. Yes, it's just that good.
I know I skipped out on a movie top ten for 2020 because of Covid, but I will be retroactively posting that in a month or so, along with the 2021 post - I can tell you right now - SM:NWH is number one on the latter list with a bullet.
As you know, if you've read more than one of my top ten movie posts, I place great value on movies that give me "the feels" - that is, which stories give me the most chills and manly tears. SM:NWH had me laughing hard, ugly crying and cheering loud all through out.
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FUNNY STUFF -
I love the humor in these movies because I loved to be entertained. I really don't want to watch a somber and serious, self-important comic book movie that has no breaks from drama. It's a comic book! I want to laugh along the way, even when the stakes are high.
As always, the MCU expertly brought the funny - so much so that it almost fooled me into believing this was a lighter side of Spidey. Almost...
My top five laughs were...
5 - MJ throwing bread at Andy Spidey. The whole scene was just overflowing with JOY, but MJ and Ned's mom reacting with bread and pillows was the comic frosting that was just perfect.
4 - Tobey Spidey getting uncomfortable at discussing his biological web shooters. Just the right amount of gross implications!
3 - MJ freaking out at being plopped onto a bridge girder 20 stories up. Just LOVED her reaction and Tom Spidey's initial indifference to her plight. Yes, Spider-Man does this every day, and momentarily forgets that almost everyone else on the planet never does.
2 - Coach Wilson hissing at Peter Parker while the other teachers welcome him. This just cracked me up! "Naw man, you're a murderer. We know what you did..." A great comedic device to illustrate the divisions in American society over believing Peter or believing the Daily Bugle. A not very subtle parallel with American politics, but very effective.
1 - Andy cracks Tobey's back. I just love this so much - yes it's hilarious, but it's also touching at the same time. The best of the MCU's humor works this way. It's funny but it also ties in directly with the characters, in this case reminding us that Tobey almost lost the role of Spider-Man because of an all too real life injury. Here Amazing Spidey Andrew Garfield reassures the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man (Tobey) and helps him feel better with a good old fashioned back crack!
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MANLY TEARS -
Along with the laughs, I also appreciate the MCU's expertise at bringing out the waterworks. There was more than one moment that I got something in my eye watching this flick. Here are the top five moments that really got to me...
- either because of sadness or because a moment was just so AWESOME it hurt. My top 5 tear-jerker moments were...
5 - Tom Spidey let's MJ go at the very end. I didn't actually manifest tears, but there was a sizable lump in my throat. The moment PP saw the bandaid on MJ's head and made the decision that he wasn't going to hurt her anymore - just a lovely and powerful moment.
4 - Villains are cured - None of these moments by themselves got a manly tear to fall from me, but all together, when I think back on each of their moments of clarity, I can't help but get a little misty. Even Lizard and Sandman had lovely moments when they were fixed. The quickest and least satisfying was the Lizard's cure but Thomas Hayden Church had a surprisingly touching moment as the CG of sand melted away as we got to see his real (albeit de-aged) face. Jamie Foxx's best moment in an otherwise just ok performance was when he was 'all tapped out' of power and had a lovely interaction with Andy Spidey about the impending arrival of Miles Morales. Willem Dafoe's incredible kick-ass performance as the best Spidey villain ever had a nice finish with his realization of what he had done. And the best of all I thought was Doc Oc who not only was cured of his malcontent, but was able to pitch in and help with the others. Nicely done all around!
3 - Tom Spidey decides to wipe the slate clean. If you blink you might miss it - but I caught it, and it put a lump in my throat and a gleam in my eyes. When our MCU Spidey realizes the sacrifice he has to make, and asks the good Dr. Strange to wipe out everyone's memory of Peter, to fix his mess and make things right. Probably the most under-recognized but truly great and tear-jerking moment of the whole movie.
2 - Andrew Garfield saves Tom Holland's MJ. Sure, it was predictable, but it also 100% worked to get me to tear up and sob (in a good way) quite a bit. The perfect moment of redemption for the Amazing Spider-Man that no one liked or wanted - until he showed up in this movie and now people are clamoring for an "Amazing Spider-Man 3". Absolutely lovely moment, made even better by Zendaya's perfect answer to Andy's question - "Are you ok?" "Yes. Are YOU ok?"
1 - Aunt May passes away. Well duh, this one got me actually ugly crying - no joke. Such a powerful scene, and wonderfully executed from start to finish. When May takes the hit from the Goblin Glider, I thought "Oh, she's dead - oh no!" but then May popped up and seemed to be alright.
But Marisa's performance perfectly portrayed what often happens when someone experiences a brutal trauma. (This often happens to motorcycle accident victims) The injured person will pop up on their feet quickly, as a surge of adrenaline takes over. You can read it on her face the entire time - she is up, but her breaths are shallow and quick. She is not well.
And then she delivered the Uncle Ben line, this time with the exact verbiage taken straight from the comic book and the pen of Stan Lee himself. "With great power must also come great responsibility..." and I'm wrecked!
Her subsequent breakdown and departure from the world is pure agony for Peter and for us. Tissue please!
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STAND-UP AND CHEER
And these are the top 5 most iconic moments in the movie for me. The parts that gave me ALL THE FEELS in all the right ways.
5 - Andy and Tobey show up! Even though I already suspected this moment was coming - the way it was done, and that both Spidey's from other movies ended up doing a TON more than just make cameos - they were truly IN this movie, participating and interacting and expanding/enhancing their own lore - makes these portal emergences truly significant and emotionally resonant. Also funny (bread throwing, cobweb cleaning and youth pastor-ing).
4 - Tobey Spidey stops Tom Spidey from killing. Beautiful culmination of Aunt May's message. Spider-Man will always be the hero. Imperfect and sometimes impulsive - but always the good guy. Meaning he will stay his hand when his adversary is at his weakest, even if that means taking a knife in the back.
3 - 3 Spideys Attack Together! After a frantic and scattered first attempt at fighting the bad guys, I was afraid we weren't going to get a satisfying team up moment. But after the 3 Spidey bros regrouped and made a plan - the long continuous shot of all three running and diving together - and landing in iconic poses - WOW!!! A thunderous applause in the theater, probably the biggest of the entire film. What a moment!
2 - Brothers hug. Yes, this could've gone on the crying list - but I was moved beyond tears, I applauded like crazy along with everyone else when Tom Spidey throws his arms around the other two and they all embraced. All credit to Andy Spidey who set up this moment beautifully earlier when he said "I always wanted to have brothers" - Just perfection!
1 - The kiss. I think it might be Giachinno's score that pushed it over the top - but for me this moment more than any other in the entire movie gave me chills upon chills. Two people mashing their lips together is a moment that is tough to pull off in even the best movies. In fact, perhaps the most memorable kiss prior to this one in cinema was between Toby McGuire and Kirsten Dunst in the very first Spidey movie. It was upside-down and very wet and very iconic. But this one for me surpasses even that one.
What made it work was that it was such a huge culmination of all the feelings that Peter and MJ had for each other, through all of their movies together but especially this one. Somehow their chemistry, which has always been good - became GREAT in this movie. This doesn't always happen with real life couples, but here you can plainly see a true and deep love in both of their faces. And the payoff here, with the perfect lighting, the perfect angle and the perfect uplifting music (with the exact right amount of bittersweet chord progression) just crushes it.
This moment is an exclamation point on a love story which is just tremendous and far bigger in importance to the Spider-Man story than it was even in the comic books. Bravo Tom and Z!
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WRAPPING IT UP
Before I go I just have two more points that I'd like to mention...
1 - Andrew Garfield now is clearly everyone's favorite Spider-Man
I, like the rest of the country, was seduced and beguiled by Andy's energy and passion in this movie. Obviously I and everyone else are now clamoring for "Amazing Spider-Man 3" - whereas before he showed up again, I had no idea we needed this so badly.
And I can say this without bringing down Tobey at all. He was also great and had plenty of awesome moments. But Tobey was part of a massive successful trilogy - even the third much maligned movie made more money than both of Andrew's movies and Tom's first movie believe it or not. Tobey's first movie was a massive cultural moment and his second movie has been, and still is, hailed as one of the greatest comic book movies ever.
Andrew's movies alas, never reached near the box office numbers nor the cultural importance of Tobey's films.
Andrew's appearance in No Way Home is a genuine redemption for him, and a reminder that he was always great - even if his movies suffered in comparison to his predecessor.
2 - The SECOND of three acts is actually the BEST act.
Many a nerd on this here internet has spelled out that the 2nd act of this 3 act movie is the weakest.
I would agree insofar as the middle chunk of the story has the fewest great moments (see my lists above to affirm this) BUT - in my opinion it's NWH's 2nd act that puts the most meat on the bone and allows for the MONSTER emotional payoffs in the last third of the film to exist.
Let me clarify - SM:NWH transcends being very good and is GREAT because of it's big themes - and the big themes are FORGIVENESS and REDEMPTION.
The seeds for all of this are planted in the second act - by Peter Parker's determination, at the behest of his Aunt May, to not simply push a button and send all the "bad guys" back to their deaths, but to do his absolute best at giving them a real chance at redemption.
And he does this by automatically forgiving them. The most difficult and clearly the most genuinely heroic thing to do. He pushes forward to help the villains. Some are hesitant, others flatly reject him. But this is who Peter Parker is, and it is magnificent to see.
This trait - the instinctual impulse to forgive, is not held up high in our modern culture. This movie holds it up as the highest virtue, and that is truly refreshing.
It also makes it that much more earth shattering when Aunt May dies because of Peter's efforts to repair these broken men. But May does not die doubting that she and Peter have done the right thing - not for one second. She goes to the grave at peace, 100% certain in her righteousness.
And she did not die for nothing. She died for everything that Peter Parker is and that we could be if we pay attention and seek out the good in the darkest of hearts.
That is significant and meaningful and FUCK Martin Scorcese for saying these movies aren't "cinematic" or worthy of our attention and devotion. He is ENTIRELY WRONG.
Plus he's old and cranky and who cares what he thinks.
I forgive him ha ha.
3 ( extra bonus point) - Just want to acknowledge what others have already said - this movie and the others before it, are INDEED a Spider-Man origin story, even though we thought we skipped over it. All three "Home"movies, plus 'Civil War' and the Avengers movies, the entire trilogy plus three other movies it turns out, were made to introduce us to Tom Holland's Spider-Man. Surprise! Just awesome!
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Anyways, that's it for now. I would like to get around writing a 'review' of Shang-Chi, I actually did like it a lot (don't know if I loved it like I loved Spider-Man: No Way Home) but we will see if have the energy or interest.
In any case, I will be updating my MCU ranking in an all new post soon - stay tuned for that!
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