How wonderful it is to plunge into the always pleasant darkness of a movie theater to tackling a feature film with practically no idea what’s to come for the next couple of hours. Repeating increasingly anomalous experiences such as the one lived, since we are talking about the Marvel Cinematic Universe, in an ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ whose succession of twists, deaths and moments of impact were felt on the surface thanks to the hermeticism prior to the premiere, It seems something of the past.
On the other side, less lustrous, of the coin we find Destructive promotional campaigns – for the experience, not the box office. like the one in ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’; To whose sloppy management of the trailers with convenient digital deletions and excesses of information should be added the leak of scripts, the confirmation of rumors, the proliferation of unofficially confirmed theories and, even, statements by bosses such as Kevin Feige himself who, beyond to generate hype, they killed what little was left of mystery to the production.
Finally, after watching ‘No Way Home’, I can confirm with no small regret that the months and months of speculation and open secrets have ended up translating into an adventure of 148 bulky minutes that is limited to filling in the gaps left by his advances with less claw than one would expect. A trip that is more than entertaining and intense, but whose only really unexpected twist serves to turn the freshness of the previous installments into a new rehash of popular arachnids exploited ad nauseam.
Between four walls
Don’t be misunderstood. Putting aside my drawbacks towards the inability of ‘Homecoming’ to free itself from the bonds of the shared universe, I do not hesitate to declare myself a great defender of the adventures of Tom Holland’s Spider-Man, especially of the hilarious ‘Far From Home’. In fact, ‘No Way Home’ had, on paper, all the elements and the potential to have been a real bombshell; but, finally, these have been reduced to a kind of amalgam of memories piled up in an album using too weak an adhesive.
It is fantastic, and it is even exciting to see some of the faces that have accompanied us circulating on the screen during the twenty years that have passed since Sam Raimi signed the fantastic ‘Spider-Man’ of 2002. But when Jon Watts limits himself to lock them in rooms to make them interact with dialogue during the vast majority of the footage, as if everything were a formality between complicit winks to the stalls, it is difficult not to be inundated by the bitter taste of disappointment.
As I mentioned, ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ has a twist – fortunately unpublished – decisive for the present and the future of the Trepamuros that, in addition, makes the film the darkest of the franchise. However, this twist, although it more than fulfills its narrative function within the story, it evidences a tonal inconsistency that goes beyond the usual MCU skids with goofy humor; becoming incongruous by making certain characters turn from tears to star in a trademark comic scene by cut.
Fortunately, there are two factors that slightly dissipate these sensations, the first being setpieces that, despite being scarce in global computation —which is still shocking considering the nature of the film—, being built based on recycling and abusing darkness, are stimulating enough. The second, how could it be otherwise, is an assortment of protagonists who keep their chemistry intact and to whom it is difficult not to fall asleep; Special mention for a truly charming duo of Holland and Zendaya.
But, beyond this, we do not stop being in front of a new display of script tricks placed in favor of convenience rather than coherence, and absurd decisions -The basis of the internal conflict that triggers the external one is not that it is too solid- channeled through a premise that pales after that marvel entitled ‘Spider-Man: A new universe’ was released last 2018.
‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ has made me wish to live in a multiverse in which I could transport myself to a reality in which the film’s advertising campaign would have been treated with greater secrecy. If so, I’m sure I would have gasped with each star appearance, enjoyed each of its nostalgic references, and most importantly, would have been a lot less conscious – and this is the great superpower of the world. fan service– of the present defects in which, despite its grandiloquent will, it is the weakest title of the trilogy.