Spider-Man: No Way Home - A Nostalgic Tribute with a Touch of Manipulation
Peter Parker’s (Tom Holland) life has turned from a fairy tale into a nightmare: the whole world knows who is hiding under the mask of Spider-Man, and because of Mysterio’s deception, people think that the young Avenger may be dangerous. His friends also suffer from the hero’s reputation: MJ (Zendaya) and Ned (Jacob Batalon) are not accepted into college, Aunt May (Marisa Tomei) is tormented by paparazzi, and Happy (Jon Favreau) finds himself at the center of a federal investigation. To atone for his guilt, Parker goes to Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and asks him to perform a ritual of oblivion, after which everyone in the world will forget about the events of the last few days. Interrupting the spell a couple of times, Peter thereby violates the space-time continuum, and villains from all corners of the multiverse flock to New York, wanting to settle scores with Spider-Man.
Tom Holland as Peter Parker in a still from “Spider-Man: No Way Home”
It is rare to find a film that can unite viewers as much as “No Way Home” is likely to. In recent years, experts have been talking about the death of film distribution, but the final part of the Spider-Man trilogy restores justice to the industry and brings a large audience back to theaters (even if only for a couple of weekends). The key to this phenomenon lies not only in the fan base: Jon Watts’ superhero film summarizes not only the events of the new reboot, but also the two previous series about Peter Parker, making the audience breathe, laugh, and cry in unison. Some will find malicious speculation on fan service here, others - a tribute to the canon. The truth, of course, is somewhere nearby, and you don’t need spider-sense to get to it.
A Shared Cinematic Experience
Tom Holland as Spider-Man in a still from “Spider-Man: No Way Home”
“No Way Home” really has a lot of local jokes, references, and characters. But at the same time, such an impressive cult has formed around the two previous incarnations of Spider-Man in particular and the giant Marvel universe in general that it seems that among potential viewers there is not a single one who does not know about the meme “I’m something of a scientist myself,” the eternal debate about the best Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire, of course!), and other fan gatherings. Over a couple of decades, a small cohort of geeks has grown into an entire army of connoisseurs of comics, films, and TV series. That is why the new “Spider-Man” should be watched in the hall, picking up sighs and gasps, applause and stomping, - in short, sharing a unique cinematic experience with other viewers who also carried Peter Parker from youth to adolescence and, finally, to maturity.
Loyalty and Predictability
And yet, in “No Way Home” it is easy to notice some annoying loyalty to the public. What you expect most before watching will happen exactly on the screen - no deception or sleight of hand. The audience here is in awe not of “what will happen,” but of “when it will happen.” Everything is clear in advance in this story, even from the stage of the first releases and Internet leaks: “No Way Home” is a touching, but manipulative in every minute tribute that tries to both please the audience and move the stagnant Holland Spider-Man from a dead center (whatever they say, of all three Parkers, this one is the most static, and in the finale of the trilogy he really needed a shake-up).
Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange in a still from “Spider-Man: No Way Home”
Visuals and the Multiverse
The third part, of course, can be called a cute Valentine’s Day card to all Spider-Man franchises, but it lacks the main thing - visual enthusiasm, the magic of cinema that made the Raimi trilogy and the Webb dilogy so memorable. For a film that seems to absorb the best from each of the parts, it is filmed outrageously simply: neither the tricky editing from the 00s, nor the spectacular flights from the series with Garfield - rather, concentrated Marvel, where action scenes are outsourced to graphic masters. The best visual finds of “No Way Home” are those where Doctor Strange appears, and all these episodes, reminiscent of the teaser of the future “Multiverse of Madness,” are much more captivating than Spider-Man’s battles with the Sinister Six.
Zendaya as MJ in a still from “Spider-Man: No Way Home”
A Link in the Chain
In this sense, “No Way Home” is likely to repeat the fate of another popular hit - “Avengers: Endgame.” The completion of the saga about the superhero team became one of the highest-grossing films in history, broke records for discussions on forums, but after a few months and a couple of new parts of the Marvel universe, it seems to have sunk into oblivion, remaining an important, but still an episode of a giant series. The third “Spider-Man” is also an intermediate film, connecting, say, the new “Doctor Strange,” the continuation of “Venom,” and other important branches of the franchise. The uniqueness of events is lost when you realize that they are only a small part of a giant cinematic comic universe.
A New Beginning
However, something still prevents Watts’ film from finally getting bogged down in the epic of sequels, prequels, and meta-continuations. “Spider-Man: No Way Home” is a film, despite all its dark tone (prepare handkerchiefs - you will have to cry here often), truly New Year’s. And it tells, in essence, about the same things as the previous series: in the case of young Parker Holland - about growing up, responsibility that fell from nowhere, and, more importantly, overcoming his own infantilism. Peter must accept his imperfection, come to terms with the traumas of the past, and start living in a new way. The spell of eternal oblivion, and with it Christmas in the finale, beautifully frame the entire spider universe: the failures of reboots will be forgotten, old mistakes will be corrected, and only good things will remain in memory. When could this have happened, if not on a holiday that marks a change of times and a new beginning?