Mission report: December 16th, 1991:
I went and saw Spider-Man: No Way Home! It is amazing, spectacular, even superior to the other films in the trilogy. Before I get into spoilers I will say this, GO SEE IT!! I loved every minute of it. Even though it clocks in at two and a half hours it is non-stop. There's action, comedy and a lot of heart felt stuff so you never get bored.
If you're like me you were worried that the trailers were giving away too much. I'll say this, most of the trailers are in the first few minutes with the exception of two or three scenes. As for all the cameos and rumored cameos, well, we all expected those. You know the cameos but you don't know the spoilers. The story is touching and well done by everyone in front of and behind the camera. Alright, spoilers ahead, but first...
ANNOUNCEMENTS!!!
Thank you to everyone that came out last weekend to see me at West Texas Comic Con! Chris and I had a blast. If you missed out, don't worry. We will be at Star Comics Saturday December 18th from 3pm – 6pm signing “Len, the Littlest Light” and I'll have all my other books available too. I hope to see everyone there.
Looks like my first convention of 2022 will be the Wichita Falls Collector's Convention January 29th and 30th. I've never been to this con before so I'm pretty excited about it. Has anyone ever been to it?
Gotta brag about myself for a minute (that's why you come here, right?) my book, “Midnight Signs,” is coming along great. There are six chapters up on Vella currently and I have about that many in the bank ready to go up. It's been a lot of fun and the feedback has just been wonderful.
Okay, let's swing back to it.
Before we go any further this is it, your spoiler warning! There are a lot from this movie so be warned.
The film opens up exactly where the last one left off. I was looking at release schedules and there were only three MCU movies released since the last one; Black Widow, Shang-Chi and Eternals. To put it in perspective there were six between Homecoming and Far From Home. There were eight between Dark World and Ragnarok. It works though, the urgency of the way the last one left off make for a pretty fluid transition.
Immediately after the excitement of Peter's identity being revealed he and MJ rush home to tell May. When they get there they find out May just broke up with Happy, who isn't taking it well. Then everyone learns about the secret identity situation and police and government agents show up to the apartment, taking everyone into custody.
We get some funny scenes that give great, quick, character studies of all the leads. Just as fast as they were arrested they're released and back home talking to their lawyer. That lawyer? MATT FREAKING MURDOCK!!!! Years ago I called it that we would see Matt before we saw Daredevil. I’ll have to find the podcast I said it on.
At this point the movie could've been over and I'd been fine. He explains what's going on and life gets back to normal. Well, Spider-Man normal.
At school there are mixed reactions to the situation. Some people love Peter, others think he murdered Mysterio in cold blood. During all of this all the kids are applying to colleges. They get rejection after rejection until, ultimately, they get a rejection from MIT. In the letter they explain that since the three are so close to all the Spider-Man chaos they can't be accepted.
There are some funny moments with Flash Thompson claiming to be friends with Spider-Man. He’s even written a book called “Flashpoint” which if a nice dog at DC while also a great foreshadowing tool.
This is where Peter realizes his life is hurting the people he loves. He goes to visit Dr. Strange to try and figure a way out. This scene was in the trailer with the famous wink but none of that is in the movie, which is pretty cool. We also learn that since Strange was blipped Wong became the Sorcerer Supreme.
Peter suggest Strange go back in time but is then reminded they don't have the time stone anymore. Probably in Casey's desk at the TVA. After a few words from Wong they come up with the idea to cast a spell to cause everyone to forget that Peter is Spider-Man. As the spell is being cast Peter tries to change it to exclude his loved ones. This causes the spell to break and that's our mcguffin.
Strange contains the spell and things seem back to normal. Strange chews out Peter for not even trying to plead his case of admittance to MIT before trying this spell, so Peter tracks down the admissions person. He finds her on the freeway and starts pleading his case when Dock Ock shows up. Even though we saw this in the trailers and knew it was coming it was still and amazing moment.
As they fight Ock gets the upper hand and absorbs the Stark nanotech from the Spider suit. Jokes on him because this allows Peter to control Ock's tentacles and make short work of him. He takes Ock to Strange and finds out Strange has already captured the Lizard. The spell is pulling people who know Peter is Spider-Man in from across the multiverse.
The gang makes a plan to capture all of the villains, send them home and destroy the spell. Pretty quickly they round up Electro, Sandman, and Green Goblin. Strange reveals that they are all actually dead, they died fighting Spider-Man. This doesn't sit well with Peter so he decides to save them all which leads to a chase scene trying to keep the spell box away from Strange.
They manage to trap Strange in a mirror dimension and free the villains, who they take to Happy's apartment. They cure the corrupt chip in Dock Ock but before they can cure Osborn his Goblin persona takes over and convinces the others to rebel and enjoy this new world.
Goblin and Spider-Man have an epic fight that almost destroys the whole building. In the fight May is hurt. Things seem fine until she collapses, some of her last words are the infamous, “With great power, comes great responsibility.” This is where I teared up. Marisa Tomei has been a highlight of this series and losing her hurt. Traditionally we have Uncle Ben killed in the first act so we don't get to know him.1 Having multiple movies with May we've come to love her.
This loss drives Peter to the brink and he disappears. MJ and Ned are worried about him and try to find him. Ned had managed to get a sling ring during the Strange debacle and uses it to open a portal to find Peter. The portal opens to an alley and Spider-Man comes running into the room. Except it's Andrew Garfield's Spider-Man! They try again only to have a man in plain clothes come through. Tobey Maguire strolls through. The two Spideys quickly web each other before realizing they're both friendly.
The new Spiders share their tragic backstories with Ned and MJ which leads them to realize where Peter has gone to sulk. The four of them go to find him on the school rooftop. They convince Peter to still save the bad guys and then they go to a lab to science.
This was a real fun scene seeing the three actors play off each other and share stories. I really felt sorry for Garfield's Spider-Man. They develop ways to cure everyone and then Spider-Holland goes to the Daily Bugle to issue a challenge to the villains; come get the box!
The three Spiders wait for their opponents to arrive, exchanging stories and anecdotes about villains and loved ones. Again you feel the pain Spider-Garfield has for not saving Gwen. As the bad guys show up Ned and MJ leave with the spellbox, but Ned can't close the portal.
After getting beaten the Spideys decide to team-up and focus on one opponent at a time. This, along with the help of Doc Ock, allows them to cure Sandman, Lizard and Electro. During all the fighting there is a moment when MJ falls, it was in the trailer. Spider-Holland goes to catch her but is snatched out of the air. Spider-Garfield sees her falling, and thinking of how he lost his love, jumps in to save her. He manages to grab her and they make it easily to the ground. After a brief exchange you can see that Spider-Garfield gets a little closure for his story, moving on from his losses.
Ned, seeing all the chaos, manages to free Dr. Strange from the mirror dimension. With the very fabric of the multiverse tearing apart Strange begins to cast spells to try and hold things together.
During this Spider-Holland and Goblin are getting into another brutal fist fight, but this time Spidey has the upper hand. He is savagely beating Osborn until Spider-Maguire steps in to talk him off the ledge. Telling of his rage and thirst for revenge when Uncle Ben was murdered. It calms Peter down but then Goblin stabs Tobey. Spider-Holland remembers Spider-Maguire's words and instead of attacking Goblin, cures him. Reverting back to his Osborn personality, Norman instantly regrets what has happened.
Peter again realizes the damage his life as Spider-Man has caused everyone and ask Strange to cast the spell as they had originally intended. Strange tells Peter to say his goodbyes because nobody will remember who he is. After some tearjerking conversations Strange finishes the spell and everyone returns to their home dimensions.
Now that nobody knows who he is, Peter goes to introduce himself to MJ. When he walks up to her he notices the bandages from her injuries during the fight and decides to just buy coffee and leave. Later, at Aunt May's grave he runs into Happy, who doesn't recognize him. The two talk about how great May was and how her legacy for helping people will always live on.
The movie ends with Peter moving into a cheap apartment and studying to get his GED.
The mid-credits scene shows Tom Hardy's Venom sitting at a bar in Mexico. He's talking with the bartender about all the superheroes, Thanos and what do to about Spider-Man. As Strange's spell takes effect Hardy is zapped back to his dimension, much to his regret, but not without leaving a piece of the symbiote behind!
The final scene, after all the credits is basically the trailer for Dr. Strange 2 and holy forking shirts! We see Wanda, and they talk about the events of WandaVision and it ends with the Superior Strange from What if making an appearance!
So, that's the movie. A lot happened, but like I said, it was all amazing! It was really nice to see Garfield get his story wrapped up, he even made friends with Electro. I was never a fan of the Amazing movies but now I want to go back and watch them. Something tells me I will appreciate it more this time.
Maguire's universe gets its ending too with Ock proving why he's the best Spidey villain from any of the franchises. Sandman gets cured and gets to go see his daughter, and Goblin seemingly is on the path to be friends with his Parker again.
The May death hurt and didn't feel cheap. It added a whole new depth and tone to the movie that really pushed it into the last act. The team up was fleshed out and having the dialogue scenes really made it organic.
The ending, with nobody knowing him and starting a new life, seemed like the perfect ending to Holland's story too. If he doesn't do anything else in the MCU I'd be ok. Shoot, if there wasn't another MCU film I would be ok. This movie delivered way above and beyond on everything I had hoped for.
If I had a complaint it would be that this movie reminded me how great the Raimi trilogy is. Goblin and Ock are the most iconic villains in the comics and I would say the same for the big screen. I've really enjoyed the MCU films but after revisiting these characters I think they are still the best.
This movie is perfect so see it ASAP! Let me know what your thought about it in the comments below. Should we have seen Topher Grace's Venom drinking with Tom Hardy's? That would've been pretty cool.
Until next time,
Lance
P.S. - I haven't forgotten about your Christmas freebie, I'll do an extra post this weekend for is.
- - - all images belong to their respective owners, not me - - -
Bendis did a great job in the first arc of Ultimate Spider-Man letting us know Ben a little better.