I was 8 years old when Sam Raimi's Spider-man came out and blew our mind. It was a move that mase us jump from couch to couch, just like spidey, quote the characters, and play through the movie in our backyard. Then we got Spider-man 2-3, later Amazing Spider-man 1-2 with Andrew Garfield and later Tom Holland's take on the role.
I always liked the dorky, relatable Peter, who struggles in life, has time management issues, tries to protect his friends, love interest and has real life problems. Tobey's version was perfect for this, and I think for this reason he's still the best Peter Parker.
Unfortunatelly I didn't like the Amazing Spider-man versions that much, the story wasn't that interesting, only the acting and the chemistry saved it between Andrew and Emma. But the ending - for me - was and still one of the boldest moment in standalone superhero movies. It was The Night Gwen Stacy died.
Tom Holland's spidey first came in Civil War, he was one of the many heroes in that movie, but he was likeable, fresh and fun so he got his standalone movies combined with following Avengers movies. Marvel always had issues with its movies. The antagonist is always the same (daddy issue) and the story never seen to risk big with one or two exceptions. We're always running the same circles.
But why did I had to write all these before even mentioning No Way Home? Because it seemed different, it seemed bold, risky and maybe fresh again. But then I went to see it.
My problem with Tom Holland's version of Peter that I can't relate. He's not dorky, he's actually talented and people recognize his talent. He has a bright future, love interests, a good friend, a loving environment and more importantly: always someone to look up, a mentor. He doesn't need to struggle finding his own path because its right in front of him and he knows it. No big struggle here. No everyday problems in his life.
No Way Home starts when Far from Home end credit scene ended: The world knows that he's spider-man and thinks he killed Mysterio. Big problem? Tony Stark told the world he was Iron Man, Captain America never had a secret life and so on. Just prove your innocence and that's it. No need to ask Strange to use his magic to forget the world that he's spider-man. But he does, and interferes with the spell, the multiverse cracks up and people starts to come to his world. Only the ones with the knowledge that Peter Parker is Spider-man. That means Octopus, Green Goblin, Lizard, Electro and Sandman. Ohh and the two other Peter Parkers. Because they're here.
So if you're not familiar with the old movies, this movie will mean almost nothing. Marvel did a 180 turn and said "You need to know every superhero movie to understand this one". Not just from the MCU, but every other. This was risky, probably payed off because the first movie is only 19 years old.
It's truly good to see all three Spider-mans sharing the screen, referencing memes, using their own skills. The problem is all the best and brightest moments are references to the old movies. Andrew is still a hell of an actor. You can tell, he didn't just catch MJ, he catched himself too (probably one of the best MCU moments). Tobey's interaction with Otto is sweet and throws back to your childhood. The problem is they're not pushing forward the main story, Tom Holland's character. He's somewhere there in the background with the problem: everyone needs to forget him. And they do. And I'm afraid that years later I'll forget him too, because his standalone trilogy was good because of the other 2 Spider-mans. Now he's only Spider-man, not Peter Parker.
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