I've only seen one film that was as fun to watch in a cinema as this was and that was Avengers: Endgame. There is just moment after moment in this film that got an audible reaction from a pretty reserved British audience.
The film follows directly on from Far From Home as Peter Parker is outed as Spider-Man to the world. His life quickly turns to chaos so he seeks the help of Doctor Strange to put things right. Things go wrong though and people that knew about the secret identity from other universe leak into the MCU and Peter has to deal with a host of villains from previous films and deal with the moral dilemma of knowing that sending them back will kill them.
It's so great to have expectations of a film and have those expectations met and even exceeded. No Way Home was everything I wanted it to be and more. For a start, there's a lot of fan service here with the inclusion of characters from Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy and the two Amazing Spider-Man films. Very nearly every character is actually treated really well- the films neatly fixes some of the issues with these characters (like pretty much everything about Electro) but also makes them as awesome as they were when we first saw them. Most of them have some sort of arc in the film and it's really fun seeing characters we know and love interacting with each other.
It really could be a complicated mess but it isn't. The plot is actually pretty simple given the large number of characters it includes and it manages to still focus on Tom Holland's Peter Parker who goes through a really rough time in this film. The outing of his identity is just the beginnings of his troubles and this is perhaps the first time the MCU Spider-Man films have properly tapped into the emotion of the character. This also means that Tom Holland gives his best performance yet as Parker and he stands up really well alongside a cast of acclaimed and popular actors.
It also manages to be a huge amount of fun. This film does a fantastic job of being the darkest of the trilogy yet also being really fun. Doctor Strange and Peter have an awkward relationship which is fun, the dynamic between Peter, MJ and Ned is great and there's lots of laughs got out of the returning characters when they aren't fighting.
I do wonder how people who aren't as obsessive with the MCU and Spider-Man felt about this film. To really understand everything that is going on in this film you need to have seen all three Raimi films, both Amazing Spider-Man films, the two previous MCU Spider-Man films, Avengers Infinity War and Endgame, Doctor Strange and a few other bits too. As much as it works for fans like me I do fear that if Marvel keep doing this they will begin to alienate the more casual movie-viewing audience.
All in all, the MCU at it's most entertaining, managing to be full of great moments for fans, being loads of fun and still telling a strong story with an emotional core.
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