Spider-Man: No Way Home delivers the ultimate comic book story delivered so far in the MCU. When reviewing movies, pointing out gripes matters most when the gripes take away from the overall experience, I can safely say such a criterion does not apply to this movie.
The biggest, most notable improvement and talking point about this movie is the story of Peter Parker and the presence of morality in this film. The events of the movie all act in service to the lesson taught to Peter Parker, and of course, the audience. We see Peter go through hardships and have the biggest role models to him tell him how and why he should still be the hero even the bad people deserve. This movie has it's themes set in consequence, responsibility, and self-sacrifice. Every thing goes wrong for Peter, yet in spite of it, the right people at the right time guide him to the moral truth. This culminates at the ending, with Peter's life effectively set to 0, no friends, no girlfriend, no superheroes knowing his identity. He's all on his own for the first time, at his lowest point in life, but we see that he still throws on his new mask, still swings through NY, and is still Spider-Man'ing.
Throughout the movie, the classic villains do various heinous things to him, and we see the "Man vs. Enemy" struggle. At various points in the movie, villains like Green Goblin, Electro, Sandman and the Lizard jeopardize the already waning stability in his life, causing Peter great stress. This, along with the low public opinion of Peter Parker causes self-conflicts within Peter. The great takeaway from this is the "Man vs. Self" struggle presented subtly by Doctor Strange, and upfront by Green Goblin. Green Goblin tells Peter that despite how responsible him or his Aunt May want him to be, those with power don't conform to responsibility. This idea festers in his mind, which boils over at the end. Green Goblin kills his mother-figure in Aunt May, and Peter genuinely feels the desire to kill Norman Osborne, which is a VERY welcome negative-change arc for the character, considering the usual cookie-cutter every-man that MCU heroes usually are. This change leads to the other two Peters informing him on what's right, which is where MCU Peter cements his instilled lessons in his mind on what a truly responsible person must be, even if he doesn't want to be one. Anyone paying mild attention to the film should understand the lesson this movie presents to its cast and its audience, and should appreciate it, because it's slapped on our faces and handled so well.
The comedy was great, though comedy is subjective so I won't delve too deep into what makes it funny. There's less quirky "high school humor" which is refreshing because the way the characters joked and acted in the first two movies was nothing like the average high school student today. There are various callbacks, various acknowledgements of absurdity, various memes that make the jokes stick, which is welcome.
The villains were magnificent. The movie doesn't waste time or babysit the audience by explaining who each villain is in too much detail, and rather operates best when the supplementary movies and material are known/understood by the audience. As I said, the callbacks add to this effect, making it so that people who have these older Spider-Man movies fresh on their minds can think, "Oh yeah, this did happen" when something is referred to. The best thing about the presence of these villains is that they don't develop a personal aggression/relationship with Peter Parker. They act as the force of change for Peter's life instead, which is good because it doesn't feel like it was rushing plot points, or left parts of their relationships half-baked. This movie is 2 hours and 30 minutes long, and with 5(ish) villains, I don't think this movie would have benefitted from the Far From Home approach of making the beef personal. Kudos to the writers for understanding why it should be this way. The "villain" of this movie presents an interesting question to Peter, as they are seen numerous times doing heinous things to Peter and the world around them. That question is, "Do the bad people deserve help?" It's easy to say no for anyone else, but for Spider-Man (all 3), the answer is yes.
1. Green Goblin: Genuinely the scariest interpretation of the character yet. We see him go from looming menacing threat, to cowering old man, to genuinely frightening villain back-to-back-to-back. He ruins Peter's life for literally no reason out of nowhere which worked so well in instilling fear in me. Aunt May does the right thing by offering him help, he gets taken in and helps out a bit with Peter on helping cure Doc Ock and Electro, then BAM. Crazy villain that destroys Peter in one of the most intense brawls, kills aunt May, and leaves the place smiling. Willem Dafoe cements his place as one of, if not the best Comic Book movie villain in history, as he is the first villain EVER to have me genuinely scared and heartbroken for the hero.
2. Doc Ock: Doc Ock felt like a half-villain in the movie. He was like an appetizer for the fact we were getting all these old villains. His fight with Peter on the bridge was extremely fun, his humor was fun, and his insight on the multiversal situation was fun. He gets cured by Peter pretty early on, which is what people (myself included) wanted because it'd feel like character-robbery if Kevin Fiege just plucked him out of his universe and made him full-villain again. He then disappears, which is a gripe, but one that doesn't need much explaining. He comes back, makes the save, and proves his worth as a hero.
3. Electro, Sandman, the Lizard: These guys were mostly powerful punching bags for Peter, there was no personal attacks on him, just conflict and general aggression. As I've said earlier, they work to service the plot more than service the characters, which I'm fine with.
The fights were stellar. The fight with Doctor Strange was one of the best fights in the MCU. The fight with Green Goblin at the condo, and at the end were some of the best fights in the MCU. I don't need to say much more.
Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield's presences were VERY welcomed. Two Spider-Men were just the moral compass that Peter 1 needed to get back on track, and they have some genuinely emotional scenes together. Seeing the chemistry they all had makes me want them back in another movie, that's JUST how good they were together.
There's so much more to cover, but I don't write for Oxford. 10/10 Super Hero movie. Not much else to say. Have a nice day, and remember, with great power, comes great responsibility.
The biggest, most notable improvement and talking point about this movie is the story of Peter Parker and the presence of morality in this film. The events of the movie all act in service to the lesson taught to Peter Parker, and of course, the audience. We see Peter go through hardships and have the biggest role models to him tell him how and why he should still be the hero even the bad people deserve. This movie has it's themes set in consequence, responsibility, and self-sacrifice. Every thing goes wrong for Peter, yet in spite of it, the right people at the right time guide him to the moral truth. This culminates at the ending, with Peter's life effectively set to 0, no friends, no girlfriend, no superheroes knowing his identity. He's all on his own for the first time, at his lowest point in life, but we see that he still throws on his new mask, still swings through NY, and is still Spider-Man'ing.
Throughout the movie, the classic villains do various heinous things to him, and we see the "Man vs. Enemy" struggle. At various points in the movie, villains like Green Goblin, Electro, Sandman and the Lizard jeopardize the already waning stability in his life, causing Peter great stress. This, along with the low public opinion of Peter Parker causes self-conflicts within Peter. The great takeaway from this is the "Man vs. Self" struggle presented subtly by Doctor Strange, and upfront by Green Goblin. Green Goblin tells Peter that despite how responsible him or his Aunt May want him to be, those with power don't conform to responsibility. This idea festers in his mind, which boils over at the end. Green Goblin kills his mother-figure in Aunt May, and Peter genuinely feels the desire to kill Norman Osborne, which is a VERY welcome negative-change arc for the character, considering the usual cookie-cutter every-man that MCU heroes usually are. This change leads to the other two Peters informing him on what's right, which is where MCU Peter cements his instilled lessons in his mind on what a truly responsible person must be, even if he doesn't want to be one. Anyone paying mild attention to the film should understand the lesson this movie presents to its cast and its audience, and should appreciate it, because it's slapped on our faces and handled so well.
The comedy was great, though comedy is subjective so I won't delve too deep into what makes it funny. There's less quirky "high school humor" which is refreshing because the way the characters joked and acted in the first two movies was nothing like the average high school student today. There are various callbacks, various acknowledgements of absurdity, various memes that make the jokes stick, which is welcome.
The villains were magnificent. The movie doesn't waste time or babysit the audience by explaining who each villain is in too much detail, and rather operates best when the supplementary movies and material are known/understood by the audience. As I said, the callbacks add to this effect, making it so that people who have these older Spider-Man movies fresh on their minds can think, "Oh yeah, this did happen" when something is referred to. The best thing about the presence of these villains is that they don't develop a personal aggression/relationship with Peter Parker. They act as the force of change for Peter's life instead, which is good because it doesn't feel like it was rushing plot points, or left parts of their relationships half-baked. This movie is 2 hours and 30 minutes long, and with 5(ish) villains, I don't think this movie would have benefitted from the Far From Home approach of making the beef personal. Kudos to the writers for understanding why it should be this way. The "villain" of this movie presents an interesting question to Peter, as they are seen numerous times doing heinous things to Peter and the world around them. That question is, "Do the bad people deserve help?" It's easy to say no for anyone else, but for Spider-Man (all 3), the answer is yes.
1. Green Goblin: Genuinely the scariest interpretation of the character yet. We see him go from looming menacing threat, to cowering old man, to genuinely frightening villain back-to-back-to-back. He ruins Peter's life for literally no reason out of nowhere which worked so well in instilling fear in me. Aunt May does the right thing by offering him help, he gets taken in and helps out a bit with Peter on helping cure Doc Ock and Electro, then BAM. Crazy villain that destroys Peter in one of the most intense brawls, kills aunt May, and leaves the place smiling. Willem Dafoe cements his place as one of, if not the best Comic Book movie villain in history, as he is the first villain EVER to have me genuinely scared and heartbroken for the hero.
2. Doc Ock: Doc Ock felt like a half-villain in the movie. He was like an appetizer for the fact we were getting all these old villains. His fight with Peter on the bridge was extremely fun, his humor was fun, and his insight on the multiversal situation was fun. He gets cured by Peter pretty early on, which is what people (myself included) wanted because it'd feel like character-robbery if Kevin Fiege just plucked him out of his universe and made him full-villain again. He then disappears, which is a gripe, but one that doesn't need much explaining. He comes back, makes the save, and proves his worth as a hero.
3. Electro, Sandman, the Lizard: These guys were mostly powerful punching bags for Peter, there was no personal attacks on him, just conflict and general aggression. As I've said earlier, they work to service the plot more than service the characters, which I'm fine with.
The fights were stellar. The fight with Doctor Strange was one of the best fights in the MCU. The fight with Green Goblin at the condo, and at the end were some of the best fights in the MCU. I don't need to say much more.
Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield's presences were VERY welcomed. Two Spider-Men were just the moral compass that Peter 1 needed to get back on track, and they have some genuinely emotional scenes together. Seeing the chemistry they all had makes me want them back in another movie, that's JUST how good they were together.
There's so much more to cover, but I don't write for Oxford. 10/10 Super Hero movie. Not much else to say. Have a nice day, and remember, with great power, comes great responsibility.