It’s a film that I was waiting for as a fan of comics and Spider-Man – buying it at newsstands punctuated a large part of my adolescence.
What’s interesting to say?
Before its release, I had written a few responses that had fun making hypotheses about the feature film based on the trailer and visible clues here and there.
Since 2008, the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has perfected its formula and, in most releases, the films follow one another and are similar. In short, it’s not a big deal: I know what I’m going to watch and my cinematic landscape is not limited to this franchise.
Personally, I more or less grew up with Spider-Man thanks to the cartoons (especially the 1994 one), the comics and the Sam Raimi films (2002–2007).
On the other hand, I enjoyed Marc Webb’s adaptations (2012–2014), although they are not without their flaws, and I quite liked Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) and Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019).
When I understood that the MCU wanted to introduce the multiverse in its film adaptations, I was very curious since this concept had already existed for some time in the comics and it had a superb adaptation in Spider-Man: Into the spider-verse (2018) which is of very high quality, both aesthetically and script-wise.
With Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), I’m a little annoyed, because it’s a film that cinematically offers absolutely nothing (the script must fit on a post-it ), but it is a nostalgic object to which a person who grew up with the character can hardly be insensitive.
What is the film about?
Following the events of Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019), Mysterio revealed to all of New York Spider-Man’s civilian identity: he is Peter Parker. From the first minutes of Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), we understand the burden this represents for Peter since everything becomes oppressive: the high school, the journalists, etc., especially since the majority of citizens think he is a killer (he would have killed Mysterio, which is totally false since it is the manipulation orchestrated by the latter of which he is the victim). Peter wonders how to solve this problem and he ends up turning to Doctor Strange, a master of the mystical arts and member of the Avengers, in the hope of erasing the link between Spider-Man and Peter Parker from the collective memory. The problem arises when the spell is cast: the multiverse has been destabilized and the consequences are very quickly visible. Indeed, supervillains from alternative universes appear: Doctor Octopus, the Green Goblin, the Sandman (from the Sam Raimi films), Electro, the Lizard (from the Marc Webb films).
Obviously, if the enemies from other universes land in the MCU, it is also necessary to bring back the two previous incarnations of Spider-Man: Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield – which was an open secret.
My fan eyes felt joy seeing these two actors back on the big screen in the superhero costume, but once that joy has passed, what is left?
That’s where it hurts: not much left. It’s a good shot , but the comedown is not pleasant.
The two actors – three, if we count Tom Holland – are never iconic (the first two return to a kitchen…), the fights are not breathtaking, the plot is not particularly interesting, and so on!
The film seems to be based on a fan fantasy: seeing the three actors together on screen. However, basing an entire film of more than two hours on a concept is a bit weak.
To conclude, it is regrettable to obtain such a result when we access similar stories, that is to say which use the concept of multiverse, better constructed and developed: I am thinking of Spider-Verse for the comics and Spider-Man: Into the spider-verse for the animation (2018).
