Spider-Man: No Way Home

 2021, d. Jon Watts - in theatre

[oh damn, you bet there are spoilers ahead]

Film critic/podcaster Alonso Duralde spoke of "the Spider-Man spike" on an episode of his film review podcast Linoleum Knife he does with film critic/husband Dave White.  By this he was referring to the massive spread of the Omicron COVID variant as a result of the huddled masses launching No Way Home not just into the most successful film of the past few years, but one of the most successful films ever.  

No Way Home's debut came in mid-December just as Omicron hit, and while it may have dissuaded me (both because tickets were hard to come by as theatres had to rapidly adjust to changing government restrictions, and, as well because I fell ill just as I started my holidays) it certainly didn't, and hasn't dissuaded the masses.

The buzz was all about the multiverse.  Even ignoring the MCU continuity from Loki, the concept of a "multiverse" is now just a thing people - and not just comic and sci-fi nerds - are willing to acknowledge and embrace.  Unfathomable not just 10 years ago.  The buzz was about the multiverse, characters from past Spider-Man film series, popped up in the trailer, notably Doctor Octopus from Spider-Man 2 (Alfred Molina, reprising the role with some exceptional digital de-aging), Electro from The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (Jamie Foxx once more) and hints of The Lizard, Sandman and Green Goblin.  

The big question was ... were there going to be other Spider-Men, like in Into the Spider-Verse?

...

At the end of the last Marvel movie before the pandemic, Spider-Man: Far From Home, we left the MCU on the cliffhanger of Spider-Man's secret identity being revealed, and also painted as a murderer for the death of Mysterio.  No Way Home very satisfyingly deals with one of those threads, and basically relegates the other to background noise.  (You don't really miss the lack of resolution on that front until a long time after the film is finished)

The fallout extends beyond Peter's life to friends and family, which means he, a teenage boy still, doesn't know what to do, what options are before him.  Except to say he has superhero friends who might be able to help, like a magic guy who can cast a spell to modify reality. 

Enter Doctor Strange.  

No longer the Sorcerer Supreme (that apparently fell to Wong when Strange disappeared during the Blip), he's kind of bored and accepts the challenge to reshape reality to help the kid who helped defeat Thanos by erasing everyone's memory of Peter being Spider-Man. But it goes awry and draws a few people from another reality into this one.

Doctor Strange just wants to wrangle the pan-versal others an send them home.  But upon learning they would be sent home back to the time of their death from which they were plucked, Peter intervenes (Aunt May's influence is strong), and wants to help them, help them get better, maybe give them a chance to live when they return.  

But they're people who are mentally disturbed as a result of traumatic transformations in body chemistry, so given the choice between death and life in another dimension...well, things get complicated right quick.  Some bad things happen, then some worse things.  Peter gets real low, but, thanfully, he has some help pulling him out of it.

[Seriously, SPOILERS]

If you've managed to avoid them this long, keep avoiding them. The sense of discovery is just so wonderful.

[Last chance]

So, as it turns out, the villains weren't the only ones to be pulled in.  Their Peter Parkers were too.  Yes, we see the Raimi Spider-Man and the Amazing Spider-Man back on the big screen, and not in just some quick little cute cameo, but as real, meaningful, contributing characters to the story.  It affords us, the long-time viewer for the past 20 years of Marvel cinema, the chance to catch up with these beloved and maligned heroes of the past, but also the opportunity to see what makes each of these Spider-men different, and the same.

Leading into the return of Garfield and Maguire, the film is a roller-coaster and a romp.  It's dealing with magic and multiverses and really awful personal dilemmas and it seems like anything is possible in this story...which is literally true.  As such, there's no sense at all about where it's heading, where it could possibly be taking us. To the point that, by the time they show up, you've forgotten that you were even wondering if they would show up in the first place.  So they manage to have their cake and eat it too, with the surprise entry of anticipated (if not necessarily confirmed) cameos.

Just don't try to logic out too much why the people that show up are the ones that show up and why characters like, say Gwen Stacy, Mary Jane or one (or both) of the Harry Osbornes  don't show up (could you imagine... Dane DeHaan AND James Franco... *shudder*) , just go for the ride.

The movie has so much fun playing with the multiverse, and Doctor Strange's magic, and Peter's multitudinous problems, that it's absolutely dismaying that it could get so much better with three Peter Parkers interacting on screen, relating to one another, discovering their differences and similarities, and just embracing each other like brothers.  Maguire's the eldest Peter, the most reserved and sensible one, while Garfield is the most emotional and self-conscious.  Yet, somehow, it's Holland's Peter that's the most experienced, having so much heroism and heaviness thrust upon him (as well as having spent the most screen time in the role) that he's the de-facto leader of the trio.  

It all leads up to a big climactic battle that, while being a jumble of CGI figures moving around a CGI set, is completely fun, every damn moment of it. It's a fight sequence that progresses, step by step, in a meaningful manner for almost all the characters involved, not just a perfunctory series of escalations.  And, as well, most of the major players of the film are involved with purpose.

...

I have heard criticisms of this film, that it trades in manipulative nostalgia and "brand synergy", well, whatever.  Sure, it does, but it does so in a way that still has resonance with Peter Parker's journey, leading to a rather massive swing (pun intended) or two in Peter's reality.  The whole movie -- despite all the injection of other MCU players and prior versions of the character and his rogues gallery -- is all about Peter Parker's journey as both a young man and a hero.  This is a boy who has been mentored by Iron Man, squared off against Captain America, fought his girlfriend's father, gone to space, blipped out of existence for five years, worked for Nick Fury (sorta), fought a near-omnipotent alien and learned more than a few hard, hard lessons.  Still, somehow, this seems like the biggest challenge yet most personal adventure he's had yet.

Where it leaves him, well, it's both kind of bittersweet, and yet with the promise of even more exciting adventures to come.

You'd never know it, but I don't really love Spider-Man as a character very much, but I've been all-in on this interpretation of him, and continue to be so.  This is so good, that it even brought deeper appreciation for Maguire and Garfield's interpretations.  It's a wild, wonderful, emotional romp.  Maybe not worth risking catching COVID at the height of its spread, but certainly worth a trip 6 weeks after release on a weekend matinee with about two dozen attendees.