Now that the biggest and latest spiderman movie is out and the response of the public growing with each passing day despite all the spoilers from day one itself, we can safely say that spoilers wont matter in this mini review of the movie. Yes, it is a mini review because there is so much to be written about this magical movie which deserves multiple viewings.
Before are the highlights of this movie and how it delivered with respect to the expectations that we had from its trailers(spoiler warning):
1. Aunt May's Death
Keep all the multiversal characters aside, Tom Holland showed what he is capable of as an actor in an intense role. He brought all the complex emotions to screen with ease. This is evident in many scenes, including aunt May's death. The whole sequence of her passing away is one of the highlights of this movie and one which came true from the expected plot. Yes, this is a team-up movie, yes, this had all the action and thrills and light hearted moments and funny scenes, but the hero is still Tom Holland and this is his story!
2. Doctor Strange-Spiderman relationship
The relationship between Doctor Strange and Spiderman was another highlight. It started off with Tom Holland making things complicated during the first magic spell, simply due to his lack of clarity of what he wanted. He kept on adding people who he wants to remember him. The frustration of Doctor Strange is understandable since he doesnt know the complete working of multiverse or the spell.
During the final one to close the multiversal rift, his relationship with him gets even better and he sees the growth of Peter Parker as the one who is capable of making sacrifice to save the world. We can see in his eyes his admiration of the kid from Queens as he waits for him to say final good byes to all his friends(multiversal and schoolmate friends). It is not easy at all for anyone to take such a tough decision after what he has gone through.
3. Peter living a life of anonymity
This is another highlight which shows his acting prowess and the way the script was handled. When MJ and Ned forget him at the end, the way he converses with MJ and his reaction to their successfull admission to MIT, is a scene to behold. We can see tears of satisfaction and joy in Tom Holland's eyes as MJ converses with him as a complete stranger. This shows that his decision to make the whole world forget him was clear and without any confusion. He wanted his near and dear to be safe and he finally achieves it.
4: Bringing the foes to his home
Before the death of his aunt, the sequence of events does matter a lot as those moments add that much needed gravity to the tragic result. We were always nervous what the villains would do. Finally, his spidey sense catches the intentions of green goblin(Norman Osborne) by stopping him temporarily before hell lets loose. Many would argue that this is not a good idea to heal them, but the fact is that this is the crux of who spiderman is: He always gives people a second chance and tries to help them during their times of distress. It is also according to aunt may's ideals and what she says in her famous final words: "With great power comes great responsibility".
5: Chemistry between Andrew, Tobey and Tom Holland
Even though all the spidermen were 90% confirmed after the second trailer, audience were still keeping their fingers crossed before they jumped out of their seats when they finally saw their former favorite spidermen on the big screen after such a long gap. Their interaction was one of the film's lighter moments which also shows the contrast between these characters' arc.
Andrew Garfield should definitely get an academy award for denying his involvement all this time!
6: Interaction between the spidermen and their respective foes
After healing each of those foes, the respective spidermen kind of clear their acts and go back to their universes only after having a word with them. Tobey, for instance is the eldest and does look aged and with a back pain. Even in this age, Tobey says to Doc Ock : "Trying to do better", an obvious reference to his dialogue in "Spiderman-2" during a conversation with doc ock before the failed fusion experiment.
Below are the expectations vs actual movie:
1. What we expected: Andrew Garfield saves MJ.
What we saw: 100% of our expectation.
2. What we expected: Tobey saves Ned.
What we saw: Ned is saved by Doctor Strange's cloak of levitation.
3. What we expected: Aunt May gets killed by the pumpkin bomb.
What we saw: 100% of our expectation, but more elaborated and even more deeply involving. It is not an instant death or visible injury(like how Tobey was hurt in the first ever spiderman movie), but a more painful one, involving inability to breathe or internal injuries. This makes a bigger impact.
4. What we expected: 3 Spidermen in the same frame with 3 villains.
What we saw: 100% of our expectation, with the exception that sandman is not really a foe but refuses to go back to his universe. Sony really needs to be more careful in editing out characters from a fight scene as even a small glitch would lead to tons of theories and confirmations! The sudden movement of lizard's head in the trailer was indeed due to "the amazing spiderman"'s kick!
Bottomline: Go watch nowayhome on the biggest screen that you might find, with all that you might have expected, but there are small important things that will surprise you even beyond your expectations! This has more than the cameos. This is a kind of Spiderman's own Endgame!
