Does ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ Deserve The Hype?

There has been no shortage of buzz around this new film, so what do we think of it here at The Beacon? Spoilers are ahead, so don’t say you haven’t been warned.

Let’s start with a bit of background behind why this release has been so highly anticipated. Besides being another high-budget blockbuster in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) franchise, leaked pictures from the set took the internet by storm around November 2021. The pictures contained shots of Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield, the two spider-men in the older Sony franchises, once again donning their respective costumes.

Of course, this broke Twitter and every forum on the internet. So, here we are, a couple months later. This film completely destroyed the box office in its opening weekend, so was the hype worth it? Let’s talk about that.

Overall, I enjoyed the movie. I thought it was dynamic and extremely enjoyable to watch, just like the rest of the MCU movies. The addition of the former Spider-Men was surprisingly well-done.

I was fearful that they would just be pure nostalgia bait and contain no real substance to their characters, but they weren’t. They were truly fleshed out, with their own storylines continued from their respective franchises, providing closure to fans for their unfinished stories.

Although I would’ve enjoyed the movie simply based on their presence alone and the pure nostalgia, I appreciate the lengths the writers went in order to make them truly important parts of the story.

This story, unlike the previous installments in the “Tom Holland era,” was much darker in tone overall. The death of Aunt May, as tragic and heartbreaking as it was, was a genius move in my opinion. It provided an unexpected twist that brought some freshness to the table instead of the classic origin story we’d already seen on the big screen twice before.

The bright spots throughout the movie were also done extremely well, still carrying the classic MCU-style humor and entertainment value. Particularly the scene where they all sit in the lab and compare and contrast their spider-differences. That moment is one of the most memorable from the entire movie, which goes to show how smart the writers were in their approach.

However, I still have some minor criticisms for the movie. The fan-service “memes” that were sprinkled throughout the movie were entertaining, but they were a bit too much at some points. I believe they did this on purpose, but the whole “self-aware movie writers” trope is getting more cliché by the day. It disrupted the pace a bit, and I think the movie could have done with a little less of that.

Furthermore, The Lizard was slightly underwhelming in my opinion. While the other villains all had some form of drive (Willem Dafoe was truly amazing and it was astounding to see him back in the role and excelling once again), The Lizard seemed to aimlessly wander throughout the movie.

Again, these are just minor criticisms. This movie is definitely one of the must-see blockbusters of the year, and it cannot be understated how impressed I was with the execution in almost every aspect.

I will definitely be watching it again and again, and I think it has become an instant classic that will go down in superhero-movie history.