Nope! The focus of today's Cinema Sunday post is the current box office sensation, Spider-Man: No Way Home.
There is tragedy waiting for our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man and the warning is right there in the title: for Peter Parker, there will be no way home.
Ooh! Heavy.
Indeed.
The 3rd Spider-Man film set in the MCU picks up immediately where the 2nd one leaves off: Mysterio's last message accuses Spider-Man of his murder and announces to the world for all to hear that Spider-Man is really Peter Parker.
This is all with a little help from the scandal mongerers at the Daily Bugle headed by J. Jonah Jameson (with J. K. Simmons chewing up the scenery once more).
No Way Home opens with Peter and MJ frantically reacting to this shocking revelation, The media is swarming like vultures and authorities are tightening their web around Peter and his associates.
Legally, Peter may be OK. He has a very good lawyer.
None other than Matt Murdock. Yep, direct from the late, lamented Netflix series Daredevil, Charlie Cox is back as the blind lawyer-by-day/masked crimefighter by night.
But in the court of public opinion....
Well, that opinion is rather polarized. Some support Spidey and others who believe "Mysterio was right". It's causing all sorts of problems for not just Peter but also for MJ and Ned. Hell, they can't even get into MIT because of the whole Spider-Man thing.
That's when Peter decides to get help.
From Doctor Strange.
Strange agrees to whip up a spell that will make the world forget that Peter Parker is Spider-Man but gets all testy when Peter keeps interrupting the spell with questions and suggestions.
Look, it's kind of on the Doc for just jumping into to casting a spell without first explaining to Peter what the spell would do and it's consequences.
Doctor Strange stops the spell due to Peter's interference but the damage has been done. There are now invaders from the multiverse.
Doctor Octopus attacks. The Spider-Man who sets out to stop him is unknown to him.
The Green Goblin shows up and Norman Osborn is puzzled by this world he finds himself in and it's Spider-Man who is not quite the Peter Parker he knew.
And Flint Markoe, the Sandman, shows up.
Also the Lizard and Electro arrive and they are not only confused by this Spider-Man but who the hell are these other guys.
Good news: Doctor Strange can zap them back to their respective worlds.
Bad news: they will return to their worlds at the exact moment of their respective deaths.
Peter Parker defies Strange. He will not send these men back to their deaths without trying to save them first.
Parker's initial efforts are successful at alleviating Doc Ock's madness. But Osborn's evil Goblin person manifests itself at exactly the wrong moment, resulting in a knock down brawl that injures Aunt May.
May reminds Peter of a very important lesson: "with great power come great responsibility".
And she dies.
Damn!
At his lowest ebb, with Aunt May dead and the Goblin and his fellow villain cohorts loose on the city, Peter Parker sure could use some help.
And he gets it.
From Peter Parker.
And Peter Parker.
OK, villains were not the only ones crossing the multiversal plane.
Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire are back as their respective versions of Spider-Man!
I am totally geeking out with fanboyish glee!
(Even it means that Garfield has been outright lying to us for over a year that he was NOT in this movie!)
There's a lot of fun stuff as the three Peter Parkers swap notes about their respective lives and adventures and... other things.
Two of our Peter Parkers find it a little weird that the 3rd one can make webbing out of his own body.
As much fun as it is to see Spider-Man in a three way team up with himself, I'm still a bit gobsmacked that Aunt Man is dead.
All the bad guys are defeated and cured but Doctor Strange shows up to inform us that damage to the barriers between various Earths of the multiverse are totally breaking down and there is only one spell that will fix it.
And it's NOT the spell that will make the world forget that Peter Parker is Spider-Man.
No, it's a spell that will make the world forget Peter Parker exists.
Peter's best friend Ned will never remember Peter Parker.
MJ, the woman he loves, will never remember Peter Parker.
The spell is cast, multiversal doom is stopped and Peter Parker is a virtual ghost, haunting a world that doesn't remember him.
Not even Happy Hogan mourning May Parker at her grave site.
The world still remembers Spider-Man as the movie ends with Peter suiting up to help people in need.
And...
Well...
Damn!
OK, it's a damn shame that Aunt May has to die. The second she tells Peter "with great power come great responsibility", you know she will not survive her injuries. But it is a catalyzing moment in the development of the MCU's Spider-Man which never got to have it's Uncle Ben moment like the other two film versions of the character.
Speaking of which, the return of those Spider-Men was just so cool. Tobey Maguire is older but still has that goofy nerd expressive thing going on.
And Andrew Garfield's return to the role basically underscores the man wuz robbed in his two film turn at the franchise, delivering an endearing performance that is one part goofy and another party edgy. Andrew's Peter Parker is trying to live up to the ideals of Spider-Man but still haunted by his failure to save Gwen Stacy. When MJ is subject to a similar fate as Gwen's terrifying fall to her death, Andrew's Spider-Man is this time able to save MJ where he failed with Gwen. It is a heartbreaking moment.
Willem Dafoe does not need a Green Goblin mask to be scary. Dafoe's resting face IS his evil face!
Zendaya owns every scene she is in as MJ, whip smart and quick witted. If there is a 4th Spider-Man film in the MCU, they damn well better resolve this memory wipe thing pretty quick because MJ and Peter are an awesome team.
The memory wipe spell has echoes of the infamous One More Day spell from the comics where the marriage of Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson was undone by Mephisto. That plot contrivance rang hollow as Peter makes the sacrifice of his marriage for rather selfish reasons. Here in No Way Home, Peter's sacrifice is to save the entire frickin' planet so... not quite the same thing.
Benedict Cumberbath as Doctor Strange is always fun to watch but damn it looks like the Doc is replacing Tony Stark as the "good guy who is the secret actual threat" in the MCU. As much as Stephen was bitching at Peter for messing up the spell, as I said before, it was Doctor Strange holding the idiot ball launching the spell without talking it over with Peter first.
Long story made short: it's all Doctor Strange's fault.
All in all, Spider-Man: No Way Home is an epic adventure with lots of cool fanboy moments to squee over and a lot of serious things to mull over. Not only is Aunt May dead but Peter Parker is cast adrift in a world that doesn't remember him, not his best friend or the woman he loves.
Peter Parker has never been more alone.
It is a sad denouement to an otherwise fun adventure film.
______________________________
Starting next week, Cinema Sunday will present 4 posts I wrote in advance. As a follow up to the posts I did last summer about the Star Trek movies featuring the original series cast, these next 4 posts will look at the quartet of movies featuring the cast of the Next Generation.
Cinema Sunday will return with Non Star Trek posts on February 6th.
No comments:
Post a Comment