Following on the from the ending of the previous film in this series, "Spider-Man: Far from home" (which I've reviewed here), where the identity of Spider-Man is revealed to the world, we see Peter Parker/Spider-Man wish that that wasn't the case. As they say, be careful of what you wish for. Dr. Strange has some unkind words to say about Parker in the aftermath of this but what's that saying about people who live in glass houses? Did Peter subject the good Doctor to peer pressure to get what he wanted? Did Strange want to be one of the "cool kids" by giving Peter what he wanted? Anyway, bad things happen as a result and they need to be fixed. Apparently granting people their wish allows illegal aliens without the correct documentation to enter from multiverses into our own world.
As I said in my review for the previous film (not having the seen the one prior to that, which was the 3rd reboot of the Spider-Man franchise, I believe), I didn't find it a satisfying film until near the end and that ending made me curious to see the next entry, which I've done. It's déjà vu all over again this time, as whilst I didn't find that this new film was as bad as the previous one was (for the most part), it did end in such a way that I was sort of curious to see the next entry in the series as well as the other MCU films which are promoted in the closing credits. These are the kinds of film that I don't really feel happy about paying top dollar to see them at the cinema. If there was a day of the week where you could watch a film cheaply at the cinema, it could be do-able for me. Cheaper than that. I'd settle for seeing it on the non-commercial ABC TV network in Australia, or a summary of the happenings in a Tweet.
"Spider-Man: No way home" is better for not having that 'awkward teenage romance' aspect of the previous film but the way that it dealt with Peter Parker's identity as Spider-Man being revealed just didn't grab me. Maybe I would have preferred a more domestic focus on the impact this has on Peter but then again, maybe the way that it is handled in the film is fair enough. After that stuff is resolved - and I'm not even sure that it is resolved in a way that makes sense, as in it makes sense why Parker is no longer a hunted target - the film focuses on providing fan service to long-time devotees of this character's forays into film. You'll see familiar villains return as a result of Parker's wish, which he'll have to deal with in one way or another.
I might have mentioned in a previous review for a Spider-Man film or elsewhere online that I thought it was ridiculous how many reboots this franchise has had in such a short space of time. Maybe I should have waited for the next actor to play Spider-Man to find one that I can enjoy an entire series of films with? Maybe this whole "multiverse" conceit makes that more possible? E.g. You could have dozens of Spider-Man films being released each year with different actors in all of them. Anyway, it's ironic that multiverse 'logic' has the post facto effect of making all those previous iterations of Spider-Man seem as some sort of 'grand plan' by Marvel Studios. With these kinds of fantasies I like to imagine that the superhero inhabits OUR world. With the multiverse, it's a case of: "Oh, so we're watching a film set in some OTHER universe". If I was to see a new actor play Spider-Man in the future and it had the conceit of being set in our world (until a later sequel?), it would devalue the story of the Spider-Man in this film (S-M:NWH) being OUR Spider-Man.
That being said, I think that long-time devotees of this cinematic character will enjoy the fan service that this film provides. When this happens, some of the exchanges between characters are fun and you're glad that those questions are asked or whatever. However, I do feel that the writers could have spent a bit more time thinking about what kinds of conversations could have been had and writing those down, perhaps in a quieter setting too, so that the viewer could dwell on them. Years ago I said on an online forum or somewhere that I wondered if or why Peter Parker didn't weave a 'brown web of justice', referring to the physiology of spiders. That topic gets brought up in this film, albeit less crudely than I put it.
How to score this film? I'd say that I was leaning on a score of 70% but the fan service later on in the film made me decide on 72.5%. However, with these kinds of films, I think that my scores which are around the 70% mark might be more like a professional critic's 60% score. In that case, maybe I should score this film 65% (but 6 out of 10 stars on IMDB) or 65+% (to get 7 out of 10 stars on this site according to my scoring system)? Take your pick
Notes to self:
* There's an 'interesting' scene where a surprise visitor meets Ned's mum (?) and they recognise one another, it seems to me. My question is: what effect does that have on the 'reality' of the world we are seeing? Does it even make sense anymore? If they do recognise each other, then looks like a logical loophole, it seems to me, in the film's world-building. The same sequence has another inexplicable moment, when someone says "They're not your friends" and action ensues. I have no idea what that was all about either.
* There's a line in the closing credits which reads something like: "Avi Arad the original true believer". I see that that person is the executive producer of this film so it would be interesting to know the background to that assertion.
* I'm not so personally invested in this series to get excited about some of the surprises that this film had in store but it didn't sound like anyone else in the cinema was that much of a superfan either to get THAT excited. However, I do concede that I found some of those moments of interaction to have emotional gravity which was well conveyed by the actors concerned.
As I said in my review for the previous film (not having the seen the one prior to that, which was the 3rd reboot of the Spider-Man franchise, I believe), I didn't find it a satisfying film until near the end and that ending made me curious to see the next entry, which I've done. It's déjà vu all over again this time, as whilst I didn't find that this new film was as bad as the previous one was (for the most part), it did end in such a way that I was sort of curious to see the next entry in the series as well as the other MCU films which are promoted in the closing credits. These are the kinds of film that I don't really feel happy about paying top dollar to see them at the cinema. If there was a day of the week where you could watch a film cheaply at the cinema, it could be do-able for me. Cheaper than that. I'd settle for seeing it on the non-commercial ABC TV network in Australia, or a summary of the happenings in a Tweet.
"Spider-Man: No way home" is better for not having that 'awkward teenage romance' aspect of the previous film but the way that it dealt with Peter Parker's identity as Spider-Man being revealed just didn't grab me. Maybe I would have preferred a more domestic focus on the impact this has on Peter but then again, maybe the way that it is handled in the film is fair enough. After that stuff is resolved - and I'm not even sure that it is resolved in a way that makes sense, as in it makes sense why Parker is no longer a hunted target - the film focuses on providing fan service to long-time devotees of this character's forays into film. You'll see familiar villains return as a result of Parker's wish, which he'll have to deal with in one way or another.
I might have mentioned in a previous review for a Spider-Man film or elsewhere online that I thought it was ridiculous how many reboots this franchise has had in such a short space of time. Maybe I should have waited for the next actor to play Spider-Man to find one that I can enjoy an entire series of films with? Maybe this whole "multiverse" conceit makes that more possible? E.g. You could have dozens of Spider-Man films being released each year with different actors in all of them. Anyway, it's ironic that multiverse 'logic' has the post facto effect of making all those previous iterations of Spider-Man seem as some sort of 'grand plan' by Marvel Studios. With these kinds of fantasies I like to imagine that the superhero inhabits OUR world. With the multiverse, it's a case of: "Oh, so we're watching a film set in some OTHER universe". If I was to see a new actor play Spider-Man in the future and it had the conceit of being set in our world (until a later sequel?), it would devalue the story of the Spider-Man in this film (S-M:NWH) being OUR Spider-Man.
That being said, I think that long-time devotees of this cinematic character will enjoy the fan service that this film provides. When this happens, some of the exchanges between characters are fun and you're glad that those questions are asked or whatever. However, I do feel that the writers could have spent a bit more time thinking about what kinds of conversations could have been had and writing those down, perhaps in a quieter setting too, so that the viewer could dwell on them. Years ago I said on an online forum or somewhere that I wondered if or why Peter Parker didn't weave a 'brown web of justice', referring to the physiology of spiders. That topic gets brought up in this film, albeit less crudely than I put it.
How to score this film? I'd say that I was leaning on a score of 70% but the fan service later on in the film made me decide on 72.5%. However, with these kinds of films, I think that my scores which are around the 70% mark might be more like a professional critic's 60% score. In that case, maybe I should score this film 65% (but 6 out of 10 stars on IMDB) or 65+% (to get 7 out of 10 stars on this site according to my scoring system)? Take your pick
Notes to self:
* There's an 'interesting' scene where a surprise visitor meets Ned's mum (?) and they recognise one another, it seems to me. My question is: what effect does that have on the 'reality' of the world we are seeing? Does it even make sense anymore? If they do recognise each other, then looks like a logical loophole, it seems to me, in the film's world-building. The same sequence has another inexplicable moment, when someone says "They're not your friends" and action ensues. I have no idea what that was all about either.
* There's a line in the closing credits which reads something like: "Avi Arad the original true believer". I see that that person is the executive producer of this film so it would be interesting to know the background to that assertion.
* I'm not so personally invested in this series to get excited about some of the surprises that this film had in store but it didn't sound like anyone else in the cinema was that much of a superfan either to get THAT excited. However, I do concede that I found some of those moments of interaction to have emotional gravity which was well conveyed by the actors concerned.