There is a certain toxic dependence in the new Marvel products to use connections with the rest of their universe to create interest and put the carrot back at the end of the cane to their followers that began to be quite evident when the superhero of ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home ‘was presented by the hand of Tony Stark, almost like taking the alternative to a bullfighter, Stan Lee’s star superhero was introduced to laymen as “little ironman.”
This resulted in two very uneven and uneven films, which confused John Hughes’ adolescent cinema with the soap operas of the Disney Channel and that they proposed to a Peter Parker only jumping and joking that I was ignorant of the character that makes Spider-man Spider-Man. To top it off, their action scenes were cut by template and seemed to hit the laziest point of adequacy of the Marvel aesthetic, with the lighting on max and a functional staging.
SPOILERS DE TODA LA PELÍCULA EN ADELANTE
The opening bars of ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ retain some of the flaws of the first two films, accumulating script conveniences and scenes that lead nowhere in exposing the aftermath of the revelation of Spider-Man’s identity. The reasons for challenging the authority of Doctor Strange, and what is more absurd, the trigger of not being able to enter MIT, Parker being a pupil of Tony Stark member of the Avengers falls without having started to get up.
A chaotic first act full of Deux Ex Machina
This is one of the problems with locating movies in such an intertwined shared universe. All of those reasons would make more sense in more organic standalone Spider-Man movies., and a hero in a colored rag who does not make ends meet, but after saving the universe from Thanos in a corporate institution, it is not worth it that Nick Fury is not on hand to justify leaving a kid who has sold out completely entered Stark as a luxury fellow. It is not a matter of tickling the starting point, but it is very forced.
However, when it starts up, the second half of the film justifies the gibberish of absurd even offensive moments –Yes, let’s save the poor little villains over and over again! – and the repetitive nonsensical actions of some characters –why? does it seem that everyone knows everything that is happening everywhere being not in different places, but in parallel dimensions? – with a change in the tone of the first two chapters towards a good piece of fantastic cinema in its broadest sense, which beyond the parade of familiar faces is another superheroic revision of ‘La Pata de Mono’ as ‘WW 1984’.
If you can forgive the excuses, too lazy or silly, to start the carousel of ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’, we find a good film of parallel dimensions, which begins with the light spirit of an adventure of Bill and Ted and ends (literally) with signs even to the Richard Kelly movie theater, with that MJ waving in a direct wink at the end of ‘Donnie Darko’, also with its dimensions that are opened and the ethical decisions flavored with the episode of ‘The Twilight Zone’ from other of his films.
Three Spider-men, the same motto of power and responsibility
In addition, John Watts puts more than his part, with very remarkable action scenes, such as the beautiful interaction with Dr. Strange, a kaleidoscopic wonder that shows the importance of design and the surreal possibilities of the surgeon’s magical world. If it is an appetizer of what we will see in the multiverse of madness, it is very promising. The confrontation with Doctor Octopus is also very well planned and its final action sequence manages to complete the experience with a memorable team interaction. And this brings us to the big elephant in the room, the presence of the other two historical Spider-Man at this end of the Tom Holland saga party.
The truth is that, commercial operation or not, beyond the roster of rescued villains the inclusion of Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield ends up being much more than just a cameo dispatch. There is a purpose. The presence of three versions of different ages of the character offers a vision of the different states of response to the adversity of the character. Their interaction is almost therapeutic, a self-help sharing that the film manages to turn into magic, with a careful exchange of information, between humor and drama.
Questions typical of Kevin Smith’s characters – does the Raimi version emit a spider web through his penis? – and generational differences are gracefully resulting, creating coherence between their idiosyncrasies, creating an on-screen chemistry that serves as a balm to the sadness of the death of Aunt May, a character that, unlike Uncle Ben from other movies, we have followed for much longer. Scenes like the rescue of MJ by the Garfield version is a moment of redemption and justice with the character in which the actor manages to put the creeps in his particular micro ‘Amazing Spider-Man 3’.
A script that perfectly understands the material it is dealing with
The idea is not very original since we saw it a couple of years ago in the fantastic ‘Spider-Man: a new universe’, but the truth is that in this case it manages to redeem the previous drift by making Tom Holland’s Peter Parker pass from youthful superagent Stark Jr. to true Spider-Man, understanding his good-natured and aggressive moral duality to get to the heart of the character. And it is that Ditko’s teenager was not the happy vacilón that many have wanted to imagine (or idealize) in the previous ones, but it was always a contrast of energies, a constant dilemma of the tram with crossed cables, a noble disaster and with little money.
‘No Way Home’ has finally nailed what makes the character work and shows it with the sacrifices he is willing to make –in its different versions– and also finishes it off with a round, bitter epilogue that brings to mind the entire hero’s journey, giving more meaning to Holland’s progression with a couple of excellent script details, from the Mary Jane pendant to Parker’s tactic of defying the spell and making her remember him, opening up a hooked sentimental possibility for new movies.
It is true that ‘Spider-man: No Way’ has event DNA but it plays its cards well and if surviving a storm within two forces like Disney / Marvel is difficult, with Sony in the room the omelette had too many eggs to not break, and yet he manages to turn it around in one piece thanks to a great cast of actors – nice to see Alfred Molina and Willem Dafoe scary just with their mimicry – and some solutions that give a necessary emotional grip to the adventures of the best Marvel superhero, disconnected, at last, from his image of the little ‘Iron Man’ from club Megatrix.