This week we decided to review the 2021 smash hit Spider-Man No Way Home. Knowing this was going to be difficult due to resident curmudgeon’s hate for Marvel movies we dove in anyway. This was kind of by accident. Some listeners suggested we do some more recent movies despite our genre being mostly pre 2000’s movies. But we happened to watch this movie when it dropped to streaming the same day. And a few short text messages later I knew this was the movie to review.
Spoilers! Spider-Man No Way Home has a massive cast include all of our heroes from previous versions and many of the villains. Staring Tom Holland as Spider-Man they also pull in Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire from their respective “Multiverses”. This occurs because of Mysterio releasing the identity of Peter Parker. Peter, wanting to have his identity concealed turns to Dr. Strange to concoct a spell to reconceal his identity. In the process Peter keeps asking Dr. Strange to change the parameters of his spell which causes the Multiverse situation that brings everyone together.
While I loved this film over all, it was not without some things that rubbed me the wrong way. For example, J.K. Simmons reprises his roll as J. Jonah Jameson. Jameson who is normally depicted as the publisher or editor in chief of the Daily Bugle plays more of an internet news personality. What results is somewhat of a terrible overacting annoying character. (Not unlike most YouTube news channels) While I appreciate the attempt to change the format based on current new consumption I felt this was poorly executed. Especially for an actor as strong as Simmons who previously was incredible in this roll.
Much to my co-hosts displeasure, this film is loaded with many nods to previous movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Many of which I enjoyed, but the existence of which made him want to throw his remote. (He’s a cranky fella)
All in all, I think this is a great film. There is a ton of nostalgia achieved by bringing in the other heroes and villains. The action sequences are well executed and if you’re a Marvel fan this is a fun edition to this MCU.
Check out the IMDB link here!
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