A spectacular cavalcade of performances and visually pleasing action sequences that elevate the screenplay.
What I love about the Tom Holland Spider-Man films is that the movies grow with the characters. If you look back to Homecoming in juxtaposition with Brand New Day, these are basically different characters. It’s been 12 years of in universe time and it shows, Tom Holland brings his love and care for the character and both him and us as the audience have the pleasure of seeing this Peter Parker grow and mature both emotionally and metaphysically. But man, Zendaya is just a great actress. There is one emotionally challenging scene in the 2nd act that would have faltered with a lesser actress, but in all honesty, all 17 of her projects that’s come out this year, she has done to those roles what Gordan Ramsey can to do to beef from the dollar store. All she does is elevate screenplays and just be talented at everything she can do.
The supporting cast hits pretty good here, I don’t feel like there are any senseless cameos both the Hulk & The Punisher are integral to the plot and Spider-Man’s journey. I do have a problem with the marketing around Sadie Sink’s character, I personally think it was dumb decision to hide who she was solely because her name reveal isn’t grandiose or important, instead it’s basically explained via exposition. To basically muzzle Sadie Sink during this press tour mattered little to the overarching master plan of the movie. But going back to what matters to the actual movie, Sadie Sink KILLS this role. I think her moments carry the movie and she has an emotional crescendo that hits hard for me personally.
Visually pleasing is such an understatement for this movie. I literally feel like I’m watching a comic, I believe I have said that before, but I think this takes the cake. Most of the trailer footage is in the first 30 minutes of the movie thank goodness, but the action feels like I’m simultaneously playing the Insomniac Spider-Man games and reading the OG Stan Lee/Steve Ditko comics. The fight choreography is top tier. You can see Jackie Chans fingerprints all over this, not to mention when you have Destin Daniel Cretton directing, you know the hand to hand is going to be flawless. Also, finally you have New York front and center. Cretton wastes no time showing New York and New Yorkers in the films in plentiful celebration, something that has been lacking a lot in the previous Tom Holland films for me. The Rami/Tobey trilogy is perfect in how they incorporate New York as an actual character in the films, and in BND is the first time I’ve felt that since then.
The entertainment value is here, Michael Giacchino brings the instrumental emotion that just flows with these actors’ performances so well. I also honestly and wholeheartedly feel that Brett Pawlak should get an Oscar nod for best cinematography, this movie is such a fun watch. Even at 2 hours and 25 minutes, the action scenes make that runtime fly by. Don’t get me started with the comic homages, there’s more than just what’s in the trailer, and to a comic nerd like me… man were they satisfying to see. For this movie’s climax, how they deal with the repercussions of the previous film felt so good. It wasn’t necessarily safe, and yes you could have gone for the crowd-pleasing pop, but I feel the decisions to end up where things end up was the right decision. Man, I hope they make more movies with these guys…
The things that hold my back from saying this is a max rating phenom is the screenplay and the pacing in the first act. I have no issues with dialogue but there is a lot of plot threads here that are being woven, and it does clean up by the end, but the pacing is a bit rough for me. One thing that I also do wish was explained to us was how Peter was able to attain a lot of his tech, he doesn’t appear to have any form of income and that was just something that was on my mind a few times. Also, as a MCU movie, yes, I want these projects to stand alone, but this is a franchise built on connectivity, and I can’t help but feel somewhat disappointed when that itch isn’t scratched. Yes, there are other MCU characters, but when the literal next movie is Avengers: Doomsday, and we don’t even get a connective nod, it just leaves me wanting. Even with the post credits scene, whatever payoff that may or may not lead to, it’s not the best. I understand with this being a joint property with Sony, that you have to do your best to have these films stand on their own two feet because who knows when this Disney/Sony deal can fall through, you can’t fully lean on Spider-Man being an Avengers team up prequel when Far From Home was basically an Avenges: Endgame epilogue, but in my opinion you have to go all in either way.
If you want to tell me this is the best Spider-Man film, I will engage in that conversation. This film gives a lot of ammunition for that argument, because at the very least you can’t deny that this was a fun ride. Spider-Man: No Way Home is my 2nd or 3rd favorite movie of all time and the best theatrical experience I’ve ever had, so obviously I can’t say this movie is better than that. But man, this a very good, if not great, Spider-Man movie that deserves to be in the conversations of overall fantastic comic book movies.
🌟🌟🌟🌟1/2
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