"Spider-Man: No Way Home": a big Marvel with small responsibilities? -RollingStone<

This trilogy of Spider-Man adventures powered by Marvel and Disney ends in a fireworks display of special effects and multiple homages

This column is without major spoilers.

For the first time in the cinema, Spider-Man, the "nice neighborhood hero", is unmasked and can no longer separate his normal life from his heavy superhero responsibilities. When he asks magician Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch, flawless) for help, the stakes become even more dangerous, forcing him to discover what being Spider-Man truly means...

To close this new trilogy (surely not the last), Sony and the Marvel Cinematic Universe bring worlds together and dip into time and eras. It is no longer a surprise, as revealed in the many trailers and television spots, Spider-Man must face his ancestral enemies, from the two previous series of films; the first, dating from the early 2000s and led by Sam Raimi, is represented by Doctor Octopus (Alfred Molina), the Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe) and the Sandman; the second, that of Marc Webb, by the Lizard and Electro (Jamie Foxx)… Five enemies landed despite themselves in the post-Thanos world, where the Avengers (almost) no longer exist (Endgame, 2019) and where man spider is unmasked by a final masterstroke by Mysterio (Far From Home, 2019). As you will have understood, this Spider-Man trilogy is not intended for the uneducated public of the MCU – to understand the issues and the characters, you must have seen the previous films, even those where he appears furtively. We have there the genius of the adaptation of comics and Marvel: having succeeded in building a long, very long cinematographic franchise, where each feature film is an episode, while keeping, sometimes with difficulty and little coherence, a line director.

That being said, Spider-Man: No Way Home is probably the most anticipated product of the MCU and at the same time the most feared. Evidenced by the astronomical figures of its first week of operation in the cinema: the biggest score since the start of the pandemic. A monster success, but for what reasons? The excitement, on the one hand, of (re) seeing cult characters from Spidey's catalog, brought together like a potpourri of references and winks, always with a humor that obviously won't please everyone. On the other hand, the fruit of the many speculations and rumors around a fantasized top three: the three Spider-Men, united in the same film.

New from old

No Way Home brings together almost twenty years of cinematic adventures, taking the path of the multiverse, the main theme of Phase 4 of the MCU. The 2h30 of the film are irregularly punctuated by spectacular and somewhat clunky moments where Marvel assumes the use of magic as a tool to tamper with and do just about… everything. To achieve this great gathering of iconic characters, properties of different studios (the legal and financial stakes behind it are dizzying) the Sony/Disney association passes off its choices as taking risks when in reality it is a question of easy solutions, brilliantly disguised. Spider-Man: No Way Home is undeniably fun, high-energy, but the rather bland form accompanies a storyline that's nothing but fan-service. Either way, where's the harm? After a first cult trilogy and two unconvincing The Amazing Spider-Man films, the MCU wants to spoil fans and try a new approach by offering, in a way, a new origin story for Spider-Man. And it's exciting: the Avengers were just the beginning, he now has his own story to (re)write.

Spider-Man: No Way Home, directed by Jon Watts, with Tom Holland, Zendaya, Benedict Cumberbatch, to be seen in theaters since December 15, 2021. Find all the screenings here.

Samuel Regnard