Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)

I rarely write about movies that have just come out, but Spider-Man: No Way Home just calls for me to discuss it. Be warned, this entry contains spoilers.

Having found almost every single post-Covid MCU entry underwhelming, I am happy to report that No Way Home is a splendid return to form for the Disney-owned cinematic franchise. The thing is that it is far from perfect, but almost all the big swings taken by it knocked it out of the park, and I was able to go along for the ride in the third Jon Watts-helmed Spider-Man movie.

Let's start with my gripes, which to be honest are quite a few.

My first issue is Peter Parker 's dependency on other characters. Despite the death of his mentor Tony Stark in Endgame, Spider-Man still relies on other superheroes, two entries later. I was hoping that he would be able to have his own adventure in his latest movie, but another major player is still featured in this movie; Doctor Strange, whose magical shenanigans drive the plot of this movie. I understand the producers inserting Iron Man in Homecoming in order to lure the fans by leveraging the popularity of the character that had made it all happen for MCU, but Spider-Man is a character that is more memorable for his solo arcs in the comic book source material.

My second complaint is on the recklessness displayed by Peter and Doctor Strange are in this movie, by toying around with dangerous spells. Character-wise, I kind of understand that Peter is just a teenager looking for an easy out from his woes, but Stephen is so blasé about the whole thing that it's almost out of character for him.

But these two objections that I have are quickly overwhelmed by the positives, of which there are many. What can I say? Again, massive spoilers contained in this entry! Many characters from previous cinematic Spider-Man adaptations featured in this movie, courtesy of Strange's magic, tying them up in the same 'multiverse'. The second act introduced Sam Raimi-era's Doctor Octopus, Sandman and Norman Osborne aka the Green Goblin, as well as Lizard and Electro from the Marc Webb-helmed adaptations. (Coincidentally, Raimi is directing the Doctor Strange sequel which is set to be released next year).

The third act meanwhile is when the big boys come out to play. The two previous Spider-Men (Spider-Mans?) make their entrances, portrayed by none other than Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield themselves, as they too have been transported into the Tom Holland Spider-Man's universe.

But to be honest, I sort of had already known about these characters' appearances in the movie, so the cameo that got me hyped up the most is of Charlie Cox's, as yes, Matt Murdock aka Daredevil himself. I had not come across any substantial rumours about his appearance, so seeing him at the beginning of the movie as Peter's lawyer was such a huge surprise. This also means that the Marvel series that made Netflix their home such as the Punisher and Jessica Jones are part of the MCU.

However, it takes more to make a good movie than just cameos and surprise appearances, and all the actors portraying the superheroes and supervillains bring their A game. Alfred Molina relishes every second of his return as Doctor Octopus after 17 years, while Jamie Foxx got to put a more delightfully devilish spin on his Electro, this time a more confident version antagonist who is unwilling to part with the sinister power that he has come to possess.

But the one who steals the show has got to be Willem Dafoe and his portrayal of Green Goblin. Norman initially misleads Holland's Spider-Man by painting himself as a tortured, confused villain, but later on reveals his deception in a terrifyingly deadly manner. Dafoe does not hold anything back when Goblin sheds his façade, and it is clear that the experienced actor had a terrific time returning as the character he first played all the way back in 2002.

But of course the biggest reveal in No Way Home is the Spider-Men themselves, with Maguire and Garfield reprising their previous takes on the web-head. It's a testament to how good the movie is, that amidst all these show-stealing performances, Garfield still manages to delight with his portrayal of a more neurotic Peter. He makes it evident that the problem with his earlier two Spidey movies lies not with the performances, but with subpar plot and the lack of a strong vision.

Maguire's performance may be a little subdued as compared to the two younger Peters, but it is the correct depiction as he is a more mature and calm version of the character we last saw in 2007. His is a Spider-Man who has made peace with his hardships, and even managed to carve out some semblance of balance, while imparting the wisdom of a big brother to the younger two other Peters.

Holland's Peter remains the naïve, wide-eyed character whose problems he take on are at the edge of his abilities, but in his third solo outing he has been allowed to show more of his depth and range as an actor, especially in the final act.

Although I am not a big fan of the decision to bring Doctor Strange into this movie, it's not because of I don't enjoy this character. His inclusion does bring over one of the aspects that I enjoy immensely in his solo movie; the mind-bending spectacles. MCU movies' overreliance on CGI is a fair target of criticism in my opinion, but the freaky reality-warping powers he possesses and displays are one of the most gorgeous and artistic work in the franchise, and they are taken to even crazier heights in No Way Home, in the chase scene involving the two superheroes. I wish the studio would put more thoughts into making their CGI effects more visually stylistic in their coming movies.

I'm not a big nerd, but for me this movie did fan-service better, that these moments are more impactful here than even in the really strong Avengers: Endgame. Perhaps because No Way Home characters have been around on screen and in pop culture for longer, seeing them again in the movie made the movie not just an enjoyable experience, but also a nostalgic one. It works on an emotional level too.

But most crucially, I rate this movie highly because of something that we rarely see in these MCU movies; impactful consequences. On top of a major character's death, it ends with Peter being literally forgotten by everyone who had known him, including his friends and his Avenger acquaintances. He's literally all alone in the world and he has no big brother Iron Man or Doctor Strange to back him up anymore. More than simply as an interesting plot point, this plot decision will allow him to be portrayed in his next 'solo' movies more closely to his original comic book depiction, a down on his luck young man who is always trying to do good using the powers he has, despite the setbacks in his private life. I mean, only in the third Holland appearance as the character, Spidey was already flying off to space and socking it to Thanos. It's kind of weird that it takes three solo movies for us to get the more authentic Spider-Man, but better late than never I guess.

Ultimately, No Way Home is a return to rip-roaring form for MCU post-Covid, after their underwhelming Black Widow, Shang Chi and Eternals, as well as their television releases. Where will they take the character next? Will Marvel Studios and Kevin Feige continue to helm it, or will Sony take over once again, to feature him with their Venom and Morbius cinematic interpretations?

My VERDICT: 9/10

TRIVIA: I read somewhere that Maguire's Spider-Man was supposed to die at the end after being stabbed by Green Goblin at first, but they reshot the scene so that he survives it. I can't say I enjoyed the jokey way he was able to brush off the attack, but ultimately I think him surviving was the right call. It's just too cruel and a little superfluous, considering that a major character has already died earlier.

Surviving the Blip, succumbing to Covid: MCU in 2021

Say what you want about the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) movies, but I find them thoroughly enjoyable piece of entertainment. Sure, they are by no means peak art by most definitions and are oftentimes formulaic, but the best of them are breezy, pulpy, character-driven power fantasy that feature highly-likable protagonists and snappy dialogue, and at their worst, they are a half-decent CGI-fest that tie up well to the larger lore in the franchise, which the fans are already familiar with.

Not simply satisfied with their success on the silver screen, MCU head honcho Kevin Feige then decided to bring a few of their characters to television, obviously as part of the strategy to market the new Disney+ streaming service. While shows such as WandaVision, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (FAWS) and Loki had originally been slated for 2020 premiere dates, the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic in the end delayed them by one year.

It's also worth noting that although there have been other shows that were nominally made under the MCU banner using Marvel comic book properties such as Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D and Netflix's Daredevil and Jessica Jones, in recent years they have increasingly been considered non-canon or not part of the official lore, although Feige himself has been reluctant to clarify the matter outright. But I digress.

With the MCU coming at a crossroads, story-wise, due to the conclusion of its Infinity saga arc in 2019, only to be followed by a year-long absence of any release due to the pandemic, understandably the hype was huge in 2021. Fans, me included, want to know the future direction of the franchise.

Unfortunately, all the MCU releases this year have been misses for me.

I'm not going into specific details on why I haven't enjoyed Wandavision, FAWS and Loki, but they all share the same problem; the shows are all essentially movies that have been stretched thin to turn them into television shows.

From my observation, each episode of these MCU shows, which may run between 30 and 40 minutes minus the recap, intro and end credits, has only 10 minutes of plot points that are 'crucial' to the story. The rest is fluff. So how do they pad the running times? By having the characters engage in lengthy conversations that don't really serve the plot.

MCU movies are good at utlilising slower-paced exchanges between the characters to either let the plot breathe between set-pieces, or as character development, but the dialogue in the shows are simply ponderous, unnecessary interludes to the more important scenes.

The longer running times have also made it harder for me to suspend my disbelief, and I believe that I am not alone in noticing this. The believability of the flicks mostly hinge on the fact that they are not dissimilar to good magic tricks; sleights of hand that are performed just slowly enough to wow the audience, but still quickly enough that the spectators don't start noticing the secret compartment in the magician's wand. With the shows paced rather slowly and their sleights sloppy, I've been noticing more plot holes and inconsistencies in the characterisations. For example, who is Falcon and Winter Soldier's superior? Is it the army? SHIELD? The United Nations? Why do they seem to abandon their mission towards the end of the series? And what the hell is that speech in the final episode?

Sad to say, the shows are all stinkers for me, and that they are merely a marketing tool to sell Disney+ subscriptions (the fact that each episode of the show is released weekly instead of Netflix's method of releasing all episodes at the same time seems to corroborate this).

Even with the disappointing shows, I had thought that at least I still had the Black Widow movie to look forward to, which as a film, presents an MCU story in a medium that suits it the best. Surely it would be enjoyable.

Wrong again. 

Although it is a film, I find that it makes the same mistakes that the three shows above make. Too little going on, uneven pacing, banal dialogue and protracted running time, on top of the odd story and characterisation choices. Towards the end of the thriller, I was not even able to enjoy the CGI action sequence.

Perhaps the whole Infinity saga arc of the MCU franchise is lightning in a bottle, and coming up with enjoyable, financially successful action-fantasy movies that are also marginally believable is much harder than we've been made to believe.

Or alternatively, maybe Covid-19 is too strong, even for the mighty heroes who once survived and then overturned the Blip, and my fondness for brisk, colourful popcorn entertainment has been tainted forever by living through a global pandemic in one of the worst-hit countries.

Or maybe, just maybe, my taste in film has grown as a mature man to the extent that I can no longer enjoy a genre whose source material was originally aimed at children.

My VERDICT: 

- Loki 6/10

- WandaVision, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Black Widow 5/10

Reading is bad - A Captain America: Civil War review

I've mentioned before that as a normal, male movie-watcher, I can't help but be sucked in by all the superhero movies. Sure, I've also been watching normal, non-superhero movies, but they're not worth writing about here. I haven't been writing about superhero movies either, because for the most part share the opinions most people have about the; that they are enjoyable movies with surprisingly tight plot (at least Marvel Studios ones. Dawn of Justice? Eeesshh.)

Until Captain America: Civil War.

A bit of background is due. I didn't grow up with superhero comic books, and even when I had the means, I mostly read DC Comics. The only Marvel comics I read was the Civil War titles, and it was because they were arranged so it was easy for casual readers like me to follow the story.

Up until Captain America: Civil War, I had enjoyed all of Marvel Studios movies, and I think the previous two Cap movies were among the most brilliant movies by the company.

Even after two viewings, I was left feeling unsatisfied by Civil War, and they were mainly caused by the fact that I could not stop comparing the movie with the source material, among the few Marvel comics that I've read.

One of my biggest gripes towards the movie is the reason behind the clash between Cap and Iron Man. In the comics the reason is the Superhero Registration Act, following an incident involving minor-level costumes that caused an explosion near a school that killed a lot of children, which Captain America could not bring himself to accept. So it was a battle of principals, between the freedom-loving one-time poster boy of Uncle Sam, and Tony Stark, who is essentially a businessman who knows when to cut his losses and play ball with the government.

But in the movie, it is essentially about Cap's brainwashed former bestfriend-turned frenemy Winter Soldier, and whether he is guilty for countless murders. Yes there is the Sokovia Agreement, but it only plays a part for around half an hour, and the conflict in the movie hinges more on whether Cap is going to go with Winter Soldier or Iron Man, like little kids at the playground. And in the end, after the big revelation that buries dead Stark's chance of ever accepting Bucky as a troubled man, when Cap reveals that he has known all along what the Winter Soldier did and hides it from Stark's knowledge, Cap gives a cop-out explanation; "I thought I did it to protect you, but it was actually to protect me," or some such. Really weak there. 

Furthermore, the reveal of the mastermind behind the whole schism, and the reason for doing it, feels really off. I mean this character is a pretty iconic character in the comics, but they've turned it lame.

My second complaint is that the movie feels small. In the comics the story arc involves almost all characters and titles owned by the company, so it is massive.

The movie only had Iron Man, Cap, Black Widow, Spidey, Ant-Man, Falcon, Winter Soldier, Hawkeye, War Machine, Black Panther and Vision. Sure it was a massive achievement getting all these characters and (stars) to be in the movie, but it still felt lacking, knowing that they purposely leave out Thor and Hulk, who supposedly are in the third Thor movie, and knowing that there are more characters on the tv side of Marvel Cinematics Universe that have been left unused. Guys like Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Punisher, SHIELD guys. I have a feeling that they had to rush Spider-Man and Black Panther in because the roster felt a little small.

In fact I've had this reservation ever since the movie was first announced, finding it weird that it was going to be filmed as a Captain America title, instead of an Avengers one, as it involved almost all MCU characters. I have a feeling that this would be better as an Avengers title further down the line, when they have introduced more characters such as Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Doctor Strange and Captain Marvel, and only after they are done with Avengers: Infinity War. If one movie is too cramped to star all these guys, then make it a two-parter, like what they are planning to do with IW.

My next point is one of the criticisms many people have towards MCU movies; that the ending bears very few consequences. The comics end with many characters dying, on both sides of the divide, including one major character, but the movie's ending feels like all that has happened earlier, all the heartaches, all the betrayals, are simply swept under the carpet. Sure, as a business you can't afford to kill off your bankable characters (funnily enough, this doesn't apply to Game of Thrones) but there are still places you can go to without offing your hero.

I have a few other complaints about the movie, the first MCU movie that left me feeling disappointed, but the above are the ones that concern me having already read the source material. Sometimes I wonder if I would have enjoyed it more if I haven't read the comics first.

The GOOD: SpiderMan steals the show, and I really enjoy the fact that he is played by someone who actually looks like a teenager for a change.

The BAD: The mastermind has been normalled-down as compared to his original comics counterpart.

My VERDICT: 6.5/10. It's still enjoyable, but after the very strong and intriguing Cap 1 and 2, it seems like when it comes to superhero movies, the third outing will almost always fail to reach the previous heights. Case in point, The Dark Knight Rises, Sam Raimi's Spiderman 3, X-Men 3 and the recently-released X-Men: Apocalypse.

TRIVIA: In the comics, the Superhero Registration Act would require all costumed superheroes to register their secret identity with the government, but that would not work in the movies as most of their identities are already publicly known, or at least known by the government.