No Way Home : Marvel’s Redemption.

 

 

Spiderman : No Way Home was the most anticipated film for 2021 and it was a massive success. Sitting at $1.5 Billion merely a month after it’s release, making it the fourth film for Marvel in the top ten highest grossing films in history, No Way Home has captured the hearts of audiences worldwide. For me, it was a redemption shot for Marvel. 2021 had been a horribly disappointing year for Marvel with average or below average blockbusters like The Eternals, Black Widow and Shang Chi, who while enjoyable, didn’t live up what audiences expected from Marvel. I personally loved the previous Spiderman movies including the animated rendition of Miles Morales in 2018. I was excited for this movie and I loved it. This was the one movie Marvel poured their heart and resources into and it shows throughout the film and the viewing experience.

I think a good portion of this film’s success is owed to its cultural significance in cinema more than the actual story, which is something important to note when criticizing this film. Spiderman movies, starting from Tobey Maguire’s 2002 Spiderman movie to Now Way Home, never meant to be stories like Iron Man – of bravado, courage, high stakes and extreme supervillains and ideologies. Spiderman connected with fans because he was a child – a high school teen who happened to get superpowers and was thrust into the task of saving the city. Afterall, he’s your friendly neighborhood Spiderman. His relatability, the feelings of regret, happiness, guilt, human emotions are what made the movies so loved and, in this movie, it’s very well potrayed by all the actors in the movie. The reason why I’m saying this is, for a movie this large, it really doesn’t “hold up” compared to heavy plotlines like other movies this size because it was never supposed to. I don’t mean to say the story was bad or disappointing in anyway, all I’m saying is it wasn’t something that came to me immediately when I recall why I enjoyed this film.

I would owe a large amount of success to the introductions of Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield and it works well on two aspects for me. I never liked how there were three sets of Spiderman movies with different storylines and actors – It was always something off putting for me and while I familiarized myself with the stories, I never liked how they all seemed to exist canonically. This fixes that for me. The idea of the multiverse was vaguely introduced in Endgame and better worked out in the Loki miniseries but this really introduces it in the big screen and explains it well. The idea that Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire existing as spiderman parallelly in different universes really gives watching the other movies a different perspective and sets the stage for the existence of  Miles Morales and Gwen Stacy as other multiverse Spider people in future films. The second aspect of success was for Marvel. No Way Home with the other-universal Spidermen with any other actors would’ve been an average film at best. The plot really doesn’t do anything staggering or amazing on its own and the fact that we know Andrew Garfield, Tobey Maguire, Doc Ock, Green Goblin and other characters from movies older people grew up with was the key reason this movie was so enjoyable. And it’s okay. As I said, Spiderman movies were the most human superhero movies I’ve seen compared to other movies that delve into character growth, powers, themes etc, Peter is just a kid who wants to get into MIT with this best friend and girlfriend. It’s the reason I love the character and I feel like it sets the stage for the movie well. The re-introduction of those nostalgic villains for millennials and gen-Xers who grew up watching those movies really helped bring in audiences for the movie and played on a story that already started which Marvel seems to excel at.

The main criticisms I have about the plot is mostly about the logical standpoint of Peter sending “fixed” villains back to their timeline. Electro was sucking up massive amounts of power so he would’ve been electrocuted. Green Goblin was going to be stabbed by his flying glider, so unless he has a split-second choice, he would’ve died, Sandman would’ve died in the mine and the only person with the existing chance of survival was Doc Ock, who drowned under the debris of his own building. Yes, it makes for good emotional part, but the logical reason seems to be lacking which leaves a bit of a bitter taste in your mouth when you start thinking about it. I found it quite surprising because Marvel is better than this. When Electro commented on a “Black Spiderman”, I was immediately assured of the existence of Miles Morales and I won’t be surprised if a live-action Morales comes to existence soon.  I assume these will be addressed in the next movie which will focus on Peter and MJ’s relationship or will diverge to create a fan-anticipated Amazing Spider 3.

I especially enjoyed this movie’s ability to let go. Aunt May’s story was coming to an end and while I cried when she died, it felt right for her character to end there, considering she would’ve been part of the memory wipe which would’ve been equally or more heartbreaking. Ned and MJ, who were Peter’s main supporters throughout the franchise and provided excellent emotional and comic support to the film were part of those who’s memories got wiped and while it was a bold move, I liked how the writers decided to take some bold steps in this movie.

I really enjoyed this movie. As a film and a sequel to the Far From Home movies, I loved it. This movie opens up massive possibility for the MCU in the future and I really hope Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire make some sort of return cinematically as Spiderman and expand on those universes. This was one of the Marvel movies I truly enjoyed this year and with the new Thor movie coming out soon, I’m really excited to see what they can come up with.