I waited a couple of weeks for the theaters to clear out before I ventured in to see the third MCU Spiderman film. I enjoyed the previous two, but I didn’t think there was anything particularly special about them. Tom Holland’s Spiderman was the same character, but it always felt off. It was a different creation that existed to serve the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Going into this 3rd and final Marvel Spiderman film I didn’t think about how they were going to handle that. I didn’t think about the fact that Marvel had to give this character back to Sony in roughly the same state in which they found him. That is what this movie was all about, and they did a really good job with it.
I had a great time watching this movie. It was far better than it had any right to be. The action was mediocre, as has been the case with the prior two films in this trilogy. The pivotal scene in this movie that was supposed to elicit the most emotion was laughably bad. The plot was a little nonsensical, which is what happens when your plot is driven by magical spells that brainwash millions of people.
Even with all of those complaints, Spider-Man: No Way Home pulled off one of the greatest achievements I may ever see in film. That alone was worth the price of admission many times over. I don’t see any sense in spoiling what happens so I won’t talk about it in detail, but this film feels catered directly to me, a teenager when the first Sam Rami Spider-man movie came out.
No Way Home had a lot of contortions to do, but in the end they put Spiderman back exactly where they found him, in the same broken condition as every Spider-man that has come before. That alone was an impressive feat. The stage is set for a new era of Spider-Man, cleansed of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Will any of these subsequent movies be good? I hope so. Will Tom Holland ever be Spider-man again… I doubt it.
So is this Tom Holland trilogy the best set of Spider-man movies? I’d say yes. The first two entries were solid. The last one was bonkers with plenty of highs and lows. It makes me want to revisit the older films and try to stack them up against what Marvel did with the character. It made me very interested to see what Sony does with the character going forward. It feels like the stage is set for a solid franchise. It is hard to say it wasn’t a good film when it sparked that much interest in the character, and made me excited to see what might come in the future.
Filed Under: Action, Film, Spiderman, Super-hero