Max Dilion was strolling down the street, when suddenly a portal opened above him. Then Miles and SM-2099 fell out and landed on a car. Miles groaned and took off his mask. Max inhaled, "I knew it! There is a black Spider-Man!"
Miles looked up at Max, made a peace sign, and vanished.
Parody 2
Norman looked at Peter from his magic cell, "You know, I'm something of a scientist myself."
Otto groaned from his own cell, "He uses that same line every time he sees a science project! It gets old Norman."
Norman looked down, "I always thought it was clever."
"Well you thought wrong."
Spidey was just growing annoyed at this, "Do you guys want me to save your lives or not?"
"Fiiinnnee."
Parody 3
Dr. Strange was leading Peter down to the chambers where they could do the amnesia spell, "Okay, before I do this, is there anyone you want to remember your identity?"
"Oh, yes actually. Can we do that?"
"Of course, it's a good thing I asked you this. Otherwise something could have gone wrong."
And so the plot of the movie never happened.
I watched No Way Home earlier today. Gonna give my overall opinion right out of the gate, bloody loved it.
I think this is the best Live Action Spider-Man movie.
I never really know where to start with these general review things. I'll start with the big thing.
I never really agreed with most of the complaints about MCU Spidey.
'He always wins.' Did you actually watch the movies? Like, he's always in a crap place at the end of the film. He loses his love interest in a tragic bit because of his Spidey stuff in Homecoming. There was the bombshell identity stuff at the end of Far From Home.
And THEN with this film, he is probably in the worst place that any film or show version of him has ever been in. Completely alone and in a terrible situation.
'There's no mention of Uncle Ben.' Why does there need to be? This is a me thing, but I HATE how they've made it so Uncle Ben says Great Power Great Responsibility.
AND YES I DO KNOW IT WAS A THING IN THE COMICS BEFORE THE RAIMI TRILOGY! YA DON'T NEED TO TELL ME FOR THE THIRTIETH TIME!
It doesn't change that I don't like it. I much prefer it to just be a realization Peter has after Ben dies. Saying it aloud like that just makes Peter look like a total moron.
It worked fine in the original issue so why change it.
One thing I really appreciate about this movie is the implication that Ben never existed in this universe. They give his role to May.
Which I really liked because it's a good shake up.
As for the Iron Man Jr thing, it is a problem that Peter is overshadowed by Tony, but I don't think it's as big an issue as people say.
I think they wove it into the story well enough, even if it is a bit excessive at times.
With that outta the way. This movie continues the previous film series in a great way. It's not too spoonfed what happens in the previous films, but it's not too vague.
They hit the balance perfectly I feel. This movie is only two hours and a half long, but it's paced so well that you feel like ya got more out of it than just that amount of time.
Which really is the best kind of pacing IMO.
I also love how it's acknowledged that none of the other villains deserved to die and that the main conflict revolves around that.
Seeing Peter fight Dr. Strange to try and save the other universe villains was good stuff. Really showing that despite this version of Peter's problem from both a writing and character in universe stuff, he is as much a hero as Raimi and Amazing's version.
Speaking of the other villains. They make fantastic use of them in this film.
I was afraid the film would be overstuffed like SM3 or Amazing 2, but they balance them all perfectly well.
I think it's helped that the villains were already established in previous films.
They're all given good character stuff. Especially Green Goblin and Ock who are amazing here.
Helped by the really solid performances.
This may seem like an MCU favored double standard given my Raimi Trilogy Parody Critique, but I just thought it was stronger here than there.
Tobey and Andrew are great in this movie. For one, THEY GOT TOBEY'S SPIDEY TO ACT LIKE A HUMAN BEING! IT'S A CHRISTMAS MIRACLE!
My dislike of how the Raimi Trilogy handled Pete aside, Tobey and Andrew are great here. They bounce off each other and Tom so dang well.
I love the dynamic and really do hope we can maybe get them together again sometime in the future. Because it's just a joy to watch them together.
That's not even mentioning MJ and Ned in this. They get really good interactions with Spidey. And I loved the romance between MJ and Peter. The chemistry between the actors is really charming.
Ned getting magic powers was completely pointless though. That felt like it was meant to be cut out from a previous draft, but hey, they may do more with it in the future. It just felt kinda pointless in this movie. I mean it has a purpose for a few scenes, but it doesn't end up mattering that much in the grand scheme of things for this film.
That leads into another point I really love about this. I am a firm believer that celebrities should have a total right to privacy and seeing how this movie handles Peter's celebrity status is really good.
They cover the creeps and harassment that happen in these things. There was also some legal stuff and Daredevil came in, yeah I didn't care for it. Not really that caring about the Kingpin stuff in Hawkeye aside from just being a good reveal of an iconic villain.
I also appreciate Peter trying to get out of this situation only to get into an even worse spot. Making good use of the 'be careful what you wish for' trope.
Then there's Aunt May. Oh my gosh. I love her stuff in this. Her death scene is great and I actually did tear up a little bit.
I actually felt emotional where I was supposed to a lot.
Back to May. I love that she was Peter's moral compass through the villain conflict. It was the perfect twist to the Uncle Ben stuff and the acting for her death is top notch.
I kinda wish she had more of a presence throughout the Trilogy to make her death even more of a punch, but it was still a good death scene.
The comedy was probably the strongest in the MCU, mainly because it doesn't interrupt the very serious moments and feels more natural than most of the other films.
I am a bit sad VENOM didn't get to participate in the story, but his credit scene is hilarious and I love the set up for the future with a symbiote bit staying behind.
Also, they made Palpatine have a more satisfying and emotional presence as a lego in this movie than in Rise of Skywalker. Think about that.
The fight scenes are fantastic. Well shot and make great use of the powers.
Don't really have much to say there, except that I agree that the Statue of Liberty having Cap's shield is a bit iffy if ya know the values of the statue. In universe there's a brief exchange showing that it's a controversial subject and they do destroy the shield in the final battle. So take that for what it's worth.
Kinda wish they didn't make the trailers try and sell some scenes short, I get why, but it's still just dumb to me.
The ending is fantastic. Perfectly bittersweet and makes me really want to see what happens next.
Love this movie and I hope you all enjoyed your time.
And ya know what? Maybe this movie might spur me to give the Raimi and Amazing movies another shot. Might do that this week and see if this gives me a retroactive appreciation, ya know.
Stay safe, true believers and happy holidays.
