Spider-man: No Way Home. (12A.)
Directed by Jon Watts
Starring Tom Holland, Benedict Cumberbatch, Zendaya, Jacob Batalon, Marisa Tomei and Jamie Foxx. 148 mins.
After the comprehensive decluttering exercise of Avengers: Endgame, a brief period of order and simplicity fell over the Marvel Cinematic Sprawl. Their three post-lockdown releases were relatively self-contained, straightforward affairs. Now Sony’s latest Spider-man instalment has gone about mucking it all up again. No spoilers but this is a big throwing all your toys into the pram multiverse effort, in which he has to take on some villains pulled from previous Sony incarnations of the web-slinger.
All this makes for a suitable grand finale for the Home trilogy (Homecoming, Far From Home) while adding a level of intrigue to the tug-of-war battle between Sony and Marvel. Though the Marvel Machine had appeared to have a firm hand on the previous two instalments this feels like Sony making an overblown, last gasp, over emotional bid for sole custody: “Look, we’ve made mistakes, but we haven’t been such a bad parent, look at all wonderful things we’ve done for you.” Deep down they still want him all for themselves.
Again, not allowed to go into too much detail on this, so let’s move on to the sole big name Marvel figure here, Dr Strange (Cumberbatch.) In this, Strange’s primary ability is drawing circles in the air through which characters can travel. I think this can be read as a visual metaphor for the script which is constructed almost entirely out of plot holes, contrivances and coincidences. I know it's a comic book movie, but even so. The film does have some self-aware fun with its inherent silliness: Foxx's Electro character takes some ribbing for the lameness of his origins story, falling into a pool of electric eels. It's all a bit of fun but maybe a bit too flip and cavalier; when it tries to deliver an emotional response it doesn't have anything to draw from.
No Way Home is certainly the best of Holland’s three solo outings but doesn’t quite have the impact it should have considering the kitchen sink that has been thrown at it. In places, it just coasts along on lazy fan service. Judging by the frequent applause and whopping the film received at the packed Covid-be-damned screening Sony herded us into, most of the audince is happy just to roll over and have its tummy tickled.
It is though very brave in some important aspects. Our hero may be noble and courageous but he is flawed and in a few notable instances a bit of a knob. The scene is played for laughs but Spider-man is the cause of all the problems and is so for quite selfish reasons. After having his secret identity revealed to the world at the end of the previous film he turns to Doctor Strange to do a spell to help him, mainly because he and his little friends (Zendaya, Batalon) didn’t get into MIT. But he then blabs on while Strange is doing his Harry Potter bit and ruins it.
Also, he is motivated by a lust for rehabilitation. Instead of taking the easy, and time-honoured revenge route, Spider-man really sticks his neck out trying to do the right thing even though it is messy and costs him.
Blood lust and retribution have always been the default narrative engines of the movies, and before them most other dramatic forms. The simplistic morality of costumed heroes has become the dominant prism through which Hollywood reflects the world and to try and introduce something more complex, less clear cut into it is genuinely impressive.
The problem is it doesn’t work. The scriptwriters have to come up with the most pathetic of Deus Ex Machinas (Spoiler - a potion for curing evil that takes about an hour to invent) to achieve a resolution. So for all its posturing about doing the right thing, not resorting to base emotions and accepting that real justice is a complex business, it can’t find an honest dramatic structure to deliver it.
After revealing Peter Parker is his secret identity at the end of Far From Home, the film’s big villain is J. Jonah. Jameson (J.K. Simmons) who is Fox News incarnate. He whips up media hysteria against Spider-man, constructs wild conspiracies around him and spins against him constantly. For him, Spider-man is an agent of chaos, someone who causes mayhem and misery wherever he goes and can’t be trusted with his great powers. And the worst thing about him is, I think he might be right.
Directed by Jon Watts
Starring Tom Holland, Benedict Cumberbatch, Zendaya, Jacob Batalon, Marisa Tomei and Jamie Foxx. 148 mins.
After the comprehensive decluttering exercise of Avengers: Endgame, a brief period of order and simplicity fell over the Marvel Cinematic Sprawl. Their three post-lockdown releases were relatively self-contained, straightforward affairs. Now Sony’s latest Spider-man instalment has gone about mucking it all up again. No spoilers but this is a big throwing all your toys into the pram multiverse effort, in which he has to take on some villains pulled from previous Sony incarnations of the web-slinger.
All this makes for a suitable grand finale for the Home trilogy (Homecoming, Far From Home) while adding a level of intrigue to the tug-of-war battle between Sony and Marvel. Though the Marvel Machine had appeared to have a firm hand on the previous two instalments this feels like Sony making an overblown, last gasp, over emotional bid for sole custody: “Look, we’ve made mistakes, but we haven’t been such a bad parent, look at all wonderful things we’ve done for you.” Deep down they still want him all for themselves.
Again, not allowed to go into too much detail on this, so let’s move on to the sole big name Marvel figure here, Dr Strange (Cumberbatch.) In this, Strange’s primary ability is drawing circles in the air through which characters can travel. I think this can be read as a visual metaphor for the script which is constructed almost entirely out of plot holes, contrivances and coincidences. I know it's a comic book movie, but even so. The film does have some self-aware fun with its inherent silliness: Foxx's Electro character takes some ribbing for the lameness of his origins story, falling into a pool of electric eels. It's all a bit of fun but maybe a bit too flip and cavalier; when it tries to deliver an emotional response it doesn't have anything to draw from.
No Way Home is certainly the best of Holland’s three solo outings but doesn’t quite have the impact it should have considering the kitchen sink that has been thrown at it. In places, it just coasts along on lazy fan service. Judging by the frequent applause and whopping the film received at the packed Covid-be-damned screening Sony herded us into, most of the audince is happy just to roll over and have its tummy tickled.
It is though very brave in some important aspects. Our hero may be noble and courageous but he is flawed and in a few notable instances a bit of a knob. The scene is played for laughs but Spider-man is the cause of all the problems and is so for quite selfish reasons. After having his secret identity revealed to the world at the end of the previous film he turns to Doctor Strange to do a spell to help him, mainly because he and his little friends (Zendaya, Batalon) didn’t get into MIT. But he then blabs on while Strange is doing his Harry Potter bit and ruins it.
Also, he is motivated by a lust for rehabilitation. Instead of taking the easy, and time-honoured revenge route, Spider-man really sticks his neck out trying to do the right thing even though it is messy and costs him.
Blood lust and retribution have always been the default narrative engines of the movies, and before them most other dramatic forms. The simplistic morality of costumed heroes has become the dominant prism through which Hollywood reflects the world and to try and introduce something more complex, less clear cut into it is genuinely impressive.
The problem is it doesn’t work. The scriptwriters have to come up with the most pathetic of Deus Ex Machinas (Spoiler - a potion for curing evil that takes about an hour to invent) to achieve a resolution. So for all its posturing about doing the right thing, not resorting to base emotions and accepting that real justice is a complex business, it can’t find an honest dramatic structure to deliver it.
After revealing Peter Parker is his secret identity at the end of Far From Home, the film’s big villain is J. Jonah. Jameson (J.K. Simmons) who is Fox News incarnate. He whips up media hysteria against Spider-man, constructs wild conspiracies around him and spins against him constantly. For him, Spider-man is an agent of chaos, someone who causes mayhem and misery wherever he goes and can’t be trusted with his great powers. And the worst thing about him is, I think he might be right.
