I must confess that I am not a great fan of SuperHero movies. I also believe that the genre is now becoming a standard template and tending to get repetitive. I am of course in the minority; the 27th offering from the #MarvelCinematicUniverse just grossed upwards of 750 million USD and is skyrocketing to the top of the charts. You can imagine the mild trepidation with which i sat down to watch #Spiderman-NoWayHome. At 148 minutes, it's definitely 30 minutes too long and that didn't help either. Till I discovered this movie is not about Spider Man; instead the focus is on Peter Parker, the man behind the hero! How about that heyy?!!
The remote is entangled in the spider's web. Pass_Me_The_Remote reviews Director #JonWatts’s return to the franchise with #Spider-Man-NoWayHome. The movie takes off where #SpiderMan-FarFromHome ended with Mysterio (#JakeGyllenhaal) revealing Spiderman’s identity to the world. Parker (#TomHolland) seeks out DrStrange (#BenedictCumberbatch) for help but the latter’s spell goes horribly wrong. Parker now has to contend with his adversaries across time and universe. There is #AlfredMolina as Dr Octopus, #WillemDafoe as Norman Osborne and the Green Goblin, #JamieFoxx as Electro/Max Dillon, #ThomasHadenChurch as the Sandman and #PhysIfans as The Lizard. Meanwhile, the Daily Bugle’s J Jonah Jameson Jr (#JKSimmons) is having a field day, tearing Parker apart on national television.
Enter the surprise package in the form of #TobeyMaguire (2002-2007) and #AndrewGarfield(2012-2014) the men who played the superhero and redefined the webby hero in our minds. The trip team up to send the villains back to where they belong but not before a fair bit of humour, some emotion and lots of introspection.
At one level, #NoWayHome is a multiverse ode to the diehard Spidey fan, with an overdose of nostalgia and emotion. At another level, it is the typical cocktail of web slinging action, laugh-out loud humour and deeply emotional moments. But did you notice, there was no reference to the standard themes of Peter being bitten by a spider and developing his extraordinary skills. Or to the scarred psyche owing to the loss of his Uncle Ben? But then you realize these have no relevance to the story here. And that is why #NoWayHome is for the fans and yet moves the franchise appeal to a wider set of audiences. The messaging is subtle and yet hard-hitting and very relevant to our troubled times; redemption over revenge and reconciliation over rivalry, compassion over conquest and authenticity over everything else! The Parkers from the other Universes help Holland’s Parker to send the enemies back intact to where they belong and not just destroy them. Screen writers #ChrisMckenna and #ErikSommers focuses on the essentials and does not pander to the temptation of the popular Spiderman tropes.
The multiverse theme is, of course, new and bold. Both #Maguire and #Garfield are not just playing cameos, they dominate a lot of the second half playing Peter the individual and help to tie up a lot of the loose ends in the narrative. The multiverse story is of course bound to find new meaning with the soon to be released #DrStrangeInTheMultiverseOfMadness.
Early on in the movie, Dr Strange tells Peter “The multiverse is a concept about which we know frighteningly little”. As you sit through the movie, you cannot help thinking about the fact that the multiverse concept provides the license to let the imagination run wild and perhaps even allow space for endless chaos. And you do end up wondering what the fuss is all about? Is the mad fandom just going overboard? You look deeper and you realize what #JonWatts has done; what #NoWayHome does is to make the emotionality deeper than the narrative. Peter is just a high school student here and all he wants is to ensure that people who are close to him are not impacted by what happens to his alter ego. There is Aunt May (#MarisaTomei) who delivers the de rigeur lessons on power and responsibility. And his friends, a brilliant Ned (#JacobBatalon) and the really talented #Zendaya as MJ. There is a simplistic vulnerability to the characters and that is where the spotlight really is.
#Spiderman-NoWayHome is crammed with big names and even bigger characters but the pacing, VFX are just fabulous as the screenplay keeps you going, pausing only for the emotional moments. The audio sound track by Oscar winner #MichaelGiacchino serves to accentuate the emotional underpinning of the storyline.
#NoWayHome is produced by #ColumbiaPictures and #MarvelStudios and distributed by #SonyPictures. Expected to gross 130 to 150 million USD over the opening weekend, this final chapter in the #TomHolland led trilogy netted 121 million USD on the opening day itself. Notwithstanding my misgivings, the film’s superlative opening is testimony to the popularity of the superhero genre, but my takeout is that in these post-Covid times of despondency and restlessness, the emotional philosophy of restraint and empathy is what is the winner. As I said, the truth is that this is actually the story of the ordinary human being behind the superhero. Time to bring on a new trilogy then for stories around Peter Parker? Perhaps yes!
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