Hey everyone, my name is Anthony and welcome back to my movie review.
From three years ago, i've covered "Spider-Man Far From Home" which i find it to be good, but not as better than Homecoming, even though at first before we have the third one, we're hesitant that the contract of Disney and Sony for Spider-Man movies is about to end, but it got renewed to possibly finishing up the arc of Spider-Man in MCU with today's review.
"Spider-Man: No Way Home" is a 2021 superhero film that was directed by Jon Watts, produced by Kevin Feige (like we all know his involvement of MCU films) and Amy Pascal and written by Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers.
After the movie ended with a cliffhanger (which il explain it for the story), aside of hesitant of contract expired to renew, we were highly anticipated and figuring out what happened to Peter's fate for what happened, but once the trailer was released, everyone (including me) went crazy on social media what saw is another multiverse element film, but with Fan-gasm with old Spider-Man movies (including some of them that i already covered last year) and i was hoping to going back to theaters to see, but my plan ended up in scrap from bad timing due to more virus spreading that im pretty much being manipulated for doing the endurance of patience by pre-ordering the film in digital download before its released.
Of course when it came out, everybody loved this movie so much for epic crossover, the actions and even emotional story, i was happy to hear, until i eventually watched this film, however, i promise that its the last time i review a film that it came out last year, cause i just want to moving on in 2022.
So, with all that said, is this film really epic as the fans said, or is this film that i wish to be forgotten for my wish at Dr. Strange?
Well, lets find out.
The Story
After we following up from cliffhanger, when it comes to the story... Wow, it is a pretty impressive story to going for, especially that it reminded me one film that i remembered saw before, but even more nostalgic.
Anyway, the movie picked up after "Far From Home" where J. Jonah Jameson from TheDailyBugle website found the video that Mysterio (before he dies) was publicly exposing Peter's identity all over, resulting Peter Parker into bad feeling that he felt betrayed by the public (although some support him, but once again, he was treated as a public enemy), after the interrogation was dropped by Matt Murdock (Hi Daredevil) and got MIT plan got rejected from controversy with MJ (Michelle Jones) and Ned, Peter has a own plan to meet Dr. Strange for his request by asking to wiping out public's mind to forgetting his identity, warned at first, Strange accepted it, but the plan ended up gone wrong due to Peter asking to protect his friends that he loved. As a result, when he goes to the bridge to MIT administrator for his conviction, he was interrupted by none other than Dr. Octopus that he had to stop him, before interrupted when he's about to be confronted by Green Goblin. As it turns out, Strange revealed that two universes (Raimi-verse and Webb-verse) are ended up bringing the villains into our main universe, Peter didn't notice this and got punishment from Strange that they ended up fighting each other over the spell box for Peter's begging for mercy. Its up to Peter, MJ, Ned, his aunt May and Happy Hogan to find the way to fix the problem to bring the villains back where they belong.
As far as i know and kinda noticed, this movie reminds me of Sony's animated movie that i enjoyed "Spider-Man into the Spider-Verse", but the difference is that its you combining pre-MCU Spider-Man movies all together in MCU film, and i gotta say, im very surprised for its concept and i really loved it, its like a fanfic that ended up becoming reality. However, the movie is quite of challenging to get through, especially for Peter is trying to save his own identity based on what happened here, its easy to rooting and feel sorry for him, even that we all know, he's just a kid, but of course, its not just an outsiders visiting into our universe, but also facing his consequences that not only the multiverse problem, but also losing his beloved one, which i gotta say, despite its been done before, i felt heartbroken to Pete, in fact (not gonna spoil one moment, if you already know), it reminded me from last year that i lost my beloved grandma, i still gonna miss her to this day. I wasn't cried while watching it, i was looked down in heartfelt for him by thinking "I know how you felt Pete, i know how you felt".
Aside of emotional riding moments, like any MCU films, it has a humor in this film, i gotta say, i have some chuckling moments and not to mention, being familiar with some old reference of pre-MCU Spider-Man films with Norman Osborn reminded our main Peter like a "science himself" and some others that i enjoyed, and i gotta say, this movie made some references from the memes that we all know and loved.
This movie's writing of the idea and the emotional ride is perfect to going for with moments that i chuckled and reminded me, as well with some moments that nearly cried, it is a very good and well-written.
The Presentation
Sweet mother of hell, the presentation of this film is a very good looking, even if the movie has a slight of problem.
First of all, the filming location is obviously done around in New York, commonly in Queens with Sunnyside, Astoria and Long Island City. Sure they also filmed in Manhattan like Greenwich Village. Its a nice places to film, for Spider-Man of course. But as we all know, some other locations like on Statue of Liberty and New York Sanctum (aka Dr. Strange's home) is obviously done on set and once again, they did a nice work.
As for the appearance and the design, they're pretty cool what we've seen as usual, especially with MCU Spider-Man's suit with red and black, which i have to admit, it looks pretty, but at least Parker didn't have the mind swap from Dr. Octopus as "Superior Spider-Man", but different story. Though its not just his main costume, he still wearing his Iron-Spider suit with the use of nanotechnology, it still looks nice as we've seen since Infinity War. But of course, one noticeable part of the movie is wearing black and gold outfit, which it looks pretty nice, which it is said to be flipped inside out, but too bad it was used briefly.
Outside of Spider-Man, what about the villains, well, they kept the respect of the original appearance from previous villains, sure they brought back the original casts that we all knew coming, but with some updates, while Lizard and Dr. Octopus look the same and pretty good looking (though its either the detail or a completely new outfit and using a same digital age like Captain Marvel). While Sandman looks much like before, but in this movie, Flint Marko is completely in sand form, which is obviously made in motion capture with either the original actor or stunt double, not only that, but once they turn back to normal, they using stock footage of Spider-Man 3 and The Amazing Spider-Man with new effect, which i can easily noticed what they did as like a last minute decision, it would've been ok to bring them back to do extra filming than using stock footages. Of course, the biggest changes is Green Goblin and Electro, for Gobby, i find him not bad, though i appreciated to bring back his armor (aside of changing boots that i noticed), they decided to taking off his helmet and what im assuming is making him into HobGoblin with hood and extra clothing, don't know why, but he looks not bad, but my favorite is the new look of Electro, though i never seen "The amazing Spider-Man 2", but boy, when i saw on the poster and the clips, he looks embarrassingly bad, its no wonder why they changing him make him look improvement new suits and lightning color from blue to yellow (huh, kinda classy).
As for the effects and the action scenes, it is of course, another well-done work with Strange's spell, Dr. Octopus's tentacles, Electro's lightning (again, its better to be classy with yellow than blue), Sandman's sand form and of course, the suits and web effects from Spider-Man,
And course, the action scenes are pretty good to go from battle on the bridge to first witnessing Doc Ock, Spider-Man's brief black and gold suit to capturing Electro and Sandman, Spider-Man vs Green Goblin and the epic climatic battle at Statue of Liberty, it still fun and entertaining action scenes like any MCU films.
Aside of some noticeable change and some flaws i pointed out, the presentation is still looking great as a $200 million.
The Characters
Ohh my goodness, its gonna be a long way to go with many of characters in this movie, and i gotta say, not only the story is well-written, but so does the characters, as well with fun acting. And of course, i wanna give a SPOILER WARNING to mentioning the characters that i wanna pointing out so bad, so my apology for SPOILERS for this movie.
Lets start off with Tom Holland's Spider-Man/Peter Parker, as we all know, in recap before this movie, he went from a new kid on MCU's block in Civil War, got a difficulty how to be a hero to let his mentor in business in Homecoming, he got snapped and blipped back in Infinity War and Endgame and finally to struggling his life changing in Far From Home. But once his identity is completely exposed publicly, he turned into a pessimistic hero, struggling for his exposure from people going backlash on him when he's trying to going back the way that no one knowing behind his mask, especially facing his own punishment for his request gone wrong. I maybe know they wanted to make him as a loser, but the execution is done very good how we invested and feel sorry for him, along with a chemistry with his friend Ned and MJ in order to think positive than living in grief from both exposure and one of his loss, and of course, Tom did a amazing work as MCU's version of Peter.
Though what i heard, this maybe Tom's last role of Spider-Man under his contract, according to rumor, this movie or possibly the fourth one (in development) its going to be Tom Holland's character send off to focus more of Miles Morales (sorta like Ultimate Spider-Man or Spider-Man into the Spider-Verse), lets just gonna wait for the confirmation whether he'll continue or accepted to be replaced by Miles.
Next we have Benedict Cumberbatch's Dr. Stephen Strange, as we all know, he's the Master of the Mystic Arts after his near fatal car crash in his own film. In this movie, it was meant to be Peter's next mentor, but as story goes, once Peter's request went wrong, he's becoming none to pleased at Pete for what he did, making him an unlikely mentor that he scolding Peter over what we've seen, it may sounds like he's gonna be the villain, but not really that much like Spider-Man's Black and Gold suit, he's used briefly, cause as we know, Parker is the main focus of this film. Kinda sucks, but Cumberbatch is still did a nice work of his role,
After that, we have the Not-Mary-Jane, Michelle Jones (reprised by Zendaya), she's Peter's love interest that they're in dating or even getting rescued by Spider-Man. In this movie, even though she remains the same, but she has a heart to heart at Pete for what happened, despite she was protested by Mysterio supporters when she didn't do anything wrong, like i said, she has a nice chemistry to Peter felt sorry for Peter in his consequences, its nice for her little bit of update for her sympathy on Spider-Man and Zendaya is once again, did a nice work of her role.
Next up, we have Ned (reprised by Jacob Batalon), he's Pete's best pal and in this movie, with Strange nearly out of picture, he strangely (no pun attended) uses the spell from Strange's tools, even though he may look like a noob, but at least he tried. Interesting note, Jacob lost his weight on 102 pounds (46 kg) while working in this movie, which it may sounds weird, but nice to see him changing his shape, but of course, he also did a nice work of his role as Pete's best pal and humor sidekick.
Finally we have two mentors, Aunt May (reprised by Marisa Tomei) and Harold "Happy" Hogan (reprised by my favorite filmmaker Jon Favreau). For Aunt May, while's just a typical mother figure to Pete, but aside of having moral guidance to our hero, but she's also being similar to Ben Parker to motivating his feeling with like Ben said "with great power, comes great responsibility", and Marisa did a pretty good role at the time. As for Happy Hogan, he's pretty much like Far From Home, being Pete's second mentor from Stark Industries with advanced room from the hotel (aka F.E.A.S.T. building) whether or not he helping him when he's in difficulty aspect, but then again, i enjoy Favreau's performance.
Oh and one last thing, the movie also included Matt Murdock, aka Daredevil (played by Charlie Cox) for not just a cameo, but also a plot purpose. Its nice to including him in the movie, no offense, but haven't seen Daredevil show yet, at least its now available in Disney+ after being deleted from Netflix (Heh, take that, Netflix!).
As for the villains, that's a lot more then Spider-Man 3, but they're surprisingly enjoyable that makes you going into "Fangasm".
First we have Dr. Otto Octavius, aka Dr. Octopus and Doc Ock (reprised by Alfred Molina), a scientist in Raimi-verse who as we all know and mentioned in my Spider-Man 2 review, likes to bring his passion experiment come true with his tentacle arms with AI for his control and his machine with the "The power of the sun, in a palm of my hand", before his experiment gone wrong with self-sustaining machine and his AI tentacles turned against himself than control that he ended up becoming a villain that he cared so much about his project, he has a memorable personality and probably my favorite villain in Marvel. Here, as i said, before he sacrificed himself to pulling down his sun project, he got transported into MCU, which at first we have a pretty good fight with MCU Spider-Man, but reality, its not the right Parker when he fought before, even he got imprisoned from Spider-Man's nanotechnology that Pete has controlling. Sucks for Doc Ock, but hey, its nice to see him back in the movie and Alfred is still did a fun work of his role.
Next up is Norman Osborn, aka The Green Goblin (reprised by Willem Dafoe), the scientist and the owner of Oscorp that he tested his experiment that he ended up turning into Green Goblin that we all know. Here while he remains the same as being a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, at first he's a lone man who's looking for help, but as we all know, he has a villain's threat on his sleeves, especially causing MCU Peter reaching his limit that he wants kill him so badly. Yeah, he's definitely the main villain that when he came to humiliating MCU Spider-Man, that'll reaching his boiling point, but again, not gonna give more detail. Of course, its another welcome return for Dafoe's memorable role of Green Goblin.
And finally we have Electro, aka Max Dillon (played by Jaime Foxx since The amazing Spider-Man 2, but then again, never seen it,), a man who received electric power due to his accident from being shocked and getting completely electrocuted by electric eels (Jeez, over-accident much, Max?). Like i said, based on his new appearance, i think it safe to say that MCU are not a huge fan of his appearance in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, and i gotta say, he looks much more better and i find him pretty decent, a former Oscorp engineer that he survive from electrocution and using his power for his rampage. Even though he's just one of those villains of using powers from accident turning into villains, but its the execution from Jaime Foxx's performance, though i never heard of him, but he did a nice work.
As for the rest of the villains, they're not much else, just some extras that you can easily recognized, Dr. Curt Connors aka Lizard (played by Rhys Ifans) is the first Webb-verse villain he invented a serum for his arm back, but ended up mutated in a reptilian form in rampage, and Flint Marko (reprised by Thomas Hayden Church) is a small time crook of murdering Uncle Ben (which he wasn't meant to do that, which i mentioned on my Spider-Man 3 review) and turning into a humanoid sand after being trapped in particle accelerator, despite he needs a money for his dying daughter. They're nice to be in the movie, but they're just an extra inclusion that we're familiar with.
Well at least we didn't have Topher Grace's Eddie Brock in Spider-Man 3, cause he's such a underwhelming villain, no wonder we prefer Tom Hardy's Eddie Brock-- Oh, did i spoiled it??
I have two more characters in this movie to save for its last as a SPOILER WARNING, remember when we have villains in two universes coming in MCU? Well, looks like we got a biggest anticipation come true that we have two Spider-Man joining in to finishing MCU Spider-Man's business. We have Webb-Verse Spider-Man (played by Andrew Garfield) and my all-time favorite one since my childhood, Raimi-Verse Spider-Man (reprised by Tobey Maguire). Im easily sure when these guys jumping out of portal, the audience cheered to see them a welcoming return and a massive Fan Service (which im disappointed for never able to see in theaters from variants). I have to admit, when i saw them, i have a sorta mix, when i saw Webb-Verse Spider-Man joined in, i was simply welcoming him for return, but when Raimi-Verse Spider-Man joined in, i was happily cheered for my childhood reunion, i bet some of you are also happy to see Maguire in his Spider-Man for welcome return, eh?
While some of the characters have small appearance, but these guys are very good and well-written to invest and satisfaction.
And now for my final opinion of this film.
Overall, Spider-Man No Way Home is the most satisfied and a second perfect MCU film since Avengers Endgame. Even though it has some flaws that i noticed, but the minor flaws didn't matter because it is well-written for crossover concept, pretty good actions, a nice presentation and the characters are pretty good, as well as welcoming returns, both the villains and the heroes in two different universes.
I cannot recommend enough of this film, this is EASILY a must-watch film that you really need to check it out, this is the film that everybody loves to talk about, they loved it for the final result with fun, emotional moments and of course, a nostalgic to seeing two universes come together in MCU. Its a film that if you love Spider-Man movies, you really need to check it out, i loved it and everybody loved it (well, rather 10% of them didn't like it, but it doesn't matter).
This film is easily should've definitely my number 1 of my movies of the year 2021, i know its late, but im glad that i loved it for how perfect it is and it definitely be my number 1.
And for that, im gonna give this one a PERFECT 10/10 with the Trophy of Success for how perfect it is.
So this ends of my movie review, if you guys have your opinion or any suggestions, let me know at comment bellow and support me on https://ko-fi.com/blackevil.
Thanks for reading, and im Anthony, signing out.
