Let's dive right in. I want to warn you, there will be spoilers! I can't talk about some of the things in this movie without spoiling things. So if you haven't seen it yet, stop right here!
We good? Okay then. Tom Holland is the quintessential Spider-Man and this movie is Spider-Man down to the core. He messes things up and then does everything he can to make it right, at his own personal cost. He is the kind of guy you root for, even when you see him making mistakes. I will just come out and say it, this movie will hit you in the feels. Peter has the world pile on him in this movie.
When this movie was announced and I saw a trailer or two, I was worried that Spider-Man was not the guy to handle the multi-verse. Having Doctor Strange involved helped, but I was afraid it would be too magic oriented and that is not Spidey's bread and butter. They expertly handled that in this movie. They effectively move Doctor Strange off the board, so he doesn't break the movie by being the fix for everything that is wrong. It all lands on Spidey's shoulders and we get to follow that adventure.
This movie brought in a lot of people from the past five movies, but did it in a respectful way. I thought they would go nuts. They rightfully place Doctor Octopus and Green Goblin squarely in the middle here. I don't like that we get Jamie Foxx's Electro again, but here he is different. He's more compelling here because he and the others acknowledge how things feel different in this universe that they get pulled into. One thing that is very stark here to me, super fan. The Tobey Maguire Spider-Man movies clearly had better villains.
For those keeping score at home, we get Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus and Sandman from the Maguire Spider-Man movies. We get Lizard and Electro from the Andrew Garfield Spider-Man movies. The Lizard and Sandman are essentially CG characters the majority of the movie and are the weakest of the bunch as far as impact to the story.
As much as I would have LOVED to see Michael Keaton's Vulture again, that would have made this movie overstuffed and it handled everything well already.
So let me get to the thing I loved the most and I wasn't sure how it would play out. Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield both come back as Peter Parker/Spider-Man. Watching all three of the Spider-Men bounce off each other was a delight. You get to see the contrast between all of them and what they brought to the role. I was not prepared for the heartwarming and endearing portrayal by Garfield. He was always the cool Spider-Man, but he was just in bad movies. Tobey Maguire is the senior Spider-Man here and it plays to his strengths. He is understated here and that works now. I didn't work when we need Spider-Man to be more exuberant. Then you have Tom Holland that carries the best qualities of all of him. He sells everything in this movie and we see him go through a lot of emotions. The brotherhood of the Spider-Men and their sharing of their experiences is everything. One of my favorite lines is when Tom Holland Spider-Man tells the others he's been on a team before and says he was an Avenger. The other two were like, "Oh wow. What's an Avenger?". Love, Love, Loved it. I think the action was pretty well done and I got goosebumps watching them go into battle together. My only gripe is in a dark scene, all of them looked the same and it was hard to tell them apart.
Before I leave, I have to talk about the villains. Doctor Octopus is the clear center here as he gets to go through a whole arc. Watching him look around in bewilderment at this new world and all the other characters is great to see play out. Norman Osborn shows that Willem Dafoe is a fantastic, creepy bad guy. I think they even try to make amends for that awful custom from the movies by having his clothes tear in such away that it looks like the original goblin costume. Good on you movie. Make apologies for that bad shit.
They also tried to apologize for Electro while they are at it. While I think he was the worst villain of all the previous Spider-Man movies. And yes, worse than Venom. I felt he was handled better here. Like Doc Ock, he knows this world is different, but I like the twist that he can feel the difference in the power and gets corrupted by his pursuit for it. I thought Jamie Foxx played him a little too cool for school, but he didn't soak up THAT much screen time. So I forgave it.
As goofy as multi-verse stuff can be, I think this movie handled it really well. There was a lot of emotional weight to everything here. Tough choices are made and the ending is a tear jerker. I'm not even going to act like I wasn't affected. If anyone ignored my spoiler warning and is still reading, I won't give away what happens. Heart wrenching is another word I will throw out there.
So if you can, go see this movie! It has the most heart of any of the Marvel movies this year for sure. It leans into it's legacy and sets up some interesting stuff for the future. I know Tom Holland doesn't want to do these forever, but I hope he sticks around for one or two more. Oh! Keep an eye out for a cool cameo. Which one? I won't say, draw your own conclusion and reach out to me!
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