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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mel O&#039;Drama" data-source="post: 400823" data-attributes="member: 23">Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) <img src="https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fterrigen-cdn-dev.marvel.com%2Fcontent%2Fprod%2F1x%2Fone_21.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=eacf8e1c760c3c6644a4079ab5eb1ad88614659ca5fb687012edd2118c90cae1&ipo=images" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="width: 488px" />It’s almost two-and-a-half since I last watched a solo Spider-Man film, but key details of the films remain easily accessible in my often-poor memory. A testament to the films’ structure and simplicity.In most ways, the two years since put a hold on my MCU journey have gone very quickly indeed, which is why it was a surprise this week to see No Way Home arrive on British television. In my mind it feels like the film is barely out of the cinema so at film’s end it was quite a shock to see the year of production as 2021, which now seems so far away.Mercifully, the film was on BBC, which meant I could catch up on iPlayer and watch it ad-free (the very idea of breaking up a film with commercials is sacrilege to me). I wasn’t entirely spoiler-free, though. It would have been next to impossible not to know that Tobey Maguire and Andrew Holland’s Spider-Men appeared. Likewise Willem Dafoe and Alfred Molina.Fortunately, I was blessed to have forgotten about the other Sony Spidey villains debuting in the MCU, as well as Charlie Cox’s cameo as Matt Murdock.I knew the premise of the film centred around the Multiverse and came from one of Doctor Strange’s spells as he tried to fix the ending of Far From Home. With so many guests and such a grand scale as the multiverse, I levelled my expectations for a film that was busy, stylish and probably clever but that wouldn’t have the intimacy and heart I like in a friendly neighbourhood superhero. As with the previous film, this managed to inject quite a bit of both intimacy and heart while also being busy and stylish.Time away from the MCU has helped greatly. I was weary of The Multiverse Saga, and take the view that this multiple earth stuff dilutes things. While in canon it’s hardly as necessary as DC’s original Crisis On Infinite Earths (the benchmark for such concepts, and arguably where such things could have ended) I also can see the value in addressing universes created by Sony or Fox when they’re being absorbed into the MCU. They could have just started over and ignored the other stuff but when it works - and this film is a case of the concept working well - there’s a reverence for the material that’s come before that is appreciated. It also means we can retain (or at leat revisit) some familiar characters and actors.That’s not to say there aren’t questions coming out of this. Like why does the J. Jonah Jameson of the main MCU look exactly like the one in Sam Raimy’s world, when the Peter Parkers look so very different? And if two characters can look identical in different universes, are we certain that this is the same Matt Murdock as the one we met in The Defenders Saga?The interaction between the Peters really made this for me. As I said, I knew Tobey and Andrew would appear. What I hadn’t expected was to get a physical reaction as Tobey’s Peter appeared on screen for the first time. I actually got chills, felt my skin move an all the hairs on my arms standing on end. That alone made this film worth it.I’m glad I didn’t know a great deal about the film before watching so I had no idea we’d spend so much time with the actors from earlier iterations. On paper I would greatly dislike the concept, but watching it unfold I actually loved it. Yes, of course there’s the novelty aspect of seeing them all together almost giving one another the seal of approval, but something about it just felt right. I even appreciated that moment where they reenacted that pointing meme which comes from the ’67 series.Bonding over their various villains, similarities (back issues from web-slinging) and differences (Raimi Peter’s organic webbing) was great fun.I’m not sure if it was a help or hindrance that I’ve watched the first two animated Spider-Verse films. Certainly, the concept is very similar. Miles Morales is even alluded to when Max Dillon expresses disappointment that Andrew’s Peter is white, but says there must be a black Spider-Man out there somewhere while Peter smiles knowingly (a moment that felt more like Andrew Garfield acknowledging he’s seen that film than Peter agreeing with an idea). continued...</blockquote>

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