Spiderman
No Way Home
No Way Home
Never been so easy to be swept up by both the Hollywood pre-launch hype and the sweet chorus of big syndication film reviewers that hail from all corners of the well-heeled publishing and advertising
world. It is not a coincidence that this movie’s poster shows us a Spiderman in front of New York’s ever bigger billboard and advertising machine. And in the recent two years of the pandemic, with the box office thirsty for a winner that could stave off bankruptcy for many movie houses, I can see the pity cheers, five-star reviews and pats on the back
“Well done my boy” to those who want to will the public into bigger pre-COVID era attendance and a glimpse of hope for a reprieve for the big cinematic juggernaut. At what cost would such folly be made, while trotting out the Voltaire anthem “With Great Powers Comes Great Responsibility”?
With theaters booking a full audience for each screening while the new variant OMICRON is in full swing, the price of admission just got pricier for the global health ministries and national agencies from London to New York, from Beijing to Beirut and no sooner did the Christmas shopping season end, than the US news reports started rolling in foretelling of massive, utterly massive surges in infection rates from OMICRON, nearly 1000% of pre-Christmas era levels.
So yes indeedy, “With Great Powers …” comes absolute corruption and greed, something Voltaire would have never subscribed to.
It is rather odd that Zendaya’s character, MJ, is fond of quoting obscure historical information yet not one character in an endless parade of Spiderman comic book issues, three separate movie franchises, has never once revealed the source of this much beloved flagship Marvel superhero mantra: “With Great Power …”
Francophobia, much like insidious ethnic discrimination, is an issue the United States has never addressed head on in this brave new post Y2K world, but to continuously brandish as an American motto, one which fans of the comic books rightly assume it is Stan Lee’s own punchline, from one of the greatest authors and philosophers of “modern times”, one who zealously championed freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and separation of church and state is a disservice to the feverish, massively global, American media busy re-painting itself as the golden standard bearer of these values.
Why be swept up in Voltaire nostalgia? are you asking when Spiderman No Way Home is all about nostalgia and revisiting the entire cinematic franchise of the beloved web slinger, which started off with Sam Raimi’s trilogy headed by Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst.
Our story of No Way Home picks up right where Far Away From Home ended, with Mysterio dead and for some unexplainable reason, BOTH Maria Hill and Nick Fury are unavailable, nowhere to be found, to do post wrap ups and clean up the mess that eager media mogul and malevolent sales of newsprint champion at any cost (the means justify the ends) resorts to the ugliest form of attack on the least powerful of the Avengers heroes.
JJ Jameson would never have the balls to take on Iron Man or Thor, but Spidey? Its gonna be a great day for the Daily Bugle newspaper, its syndicate network, and all those other media groups who will rush to emulate its bad example because of the “economic imperative” set by the lowest standard for gossip tabloids and gonzo journalism. Let’s not forget the Bugle’s Jameson isn’t exactly Morgan Edge, boss of Galaxy TV network, which has “The Edge”.
How would someone as seasoned as Nick Fury not stay around or leave someone in charge to monitor any fallout, who dealt with the global games players like Hydra agent, traitor in the guise of S.H.I.E.L.D Director Alexander Pierce (Robert Redford in 2014’s Captain America Winter Soldier)?
“to (not) be able to reach Fury in case of any foul play after the big battle of London with Mysterio is beyond cartoonish for an MCU franchise that prides itself on being authentic…”
And not to be able to reach Fury in case
of any foul play after the big battle of London with Mysterio is beyond cartoonish
for an MCU franchise that prides itself on being authentic and genuine in its depiction of drama and adventure for superheroes and movie theater audience members.
It’s not just the Marvel MCU and Sony that have been pushing the unrealistic and almost childish setups for superheroes, I noticed the same
exact unbelievable and indigestible premise used in Titans where Scarecrow releases some tricked up video footage falsely incriminating Nightwing – in the age of social media
gossip mills where every American is a
critic and cynic, yet the crowds swallow the Scarecrow ruse without anyone for once questioning or suspecting clever video
footage manipulation or “photoshopping”?
But you don’t have to go as recently as season 3 of Titans for this flat simplistic regurgitation, we can point to Star Trek of the 1960s (Patterns of Force) where an episode finds Captain Kirk stumbling on a planet that has been assimilating radio broadcasts from Earth circa World War II and has inspired the rise of an alternate version of the Fuhrer, who uses doctored videos and monopolized TV broadcasts to swoon his followers in his footsteps, to intimidate and blind the population into submitting to his rule.
It is rather odd that the crowds of New York are eager to gob it up from Jameson, when Spiderman has been saving their hide day in and day out and these worldly crowds would never once suspect something is afoul from the accusers of their heroes? Do we live in the age of Saints who occupy high and mighty positions or in the age of scoundrels, scandals and criminals from Wall Street to Glamour Street?
Because all of a sudden “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely” does not hold any more to the media barons and corporate dealers and shakers, it only holds true to super powered single loners in society because they devote all their special gifts to helping their fellow human beings???
I have found this recycled narrative tiresome which worked many a times in the 1960s and 1970s comic books from both DC Comics and Marvel but started wearing thin as I got older, from pre-pubescent kid to
20-something adult.
When I was seven years old and was getting my first taste of comic books, the storyline was actually an education about the Lemming Effect, people blithely following without questioning but as an adult in vastly different world where kids today are far more cynical today than yesteryears’ adults, it is not just annoying that Hollywood recycles this plot device, it actually begs the question, does the Movie and Media Industry view the public in this manner?
Are we seen as mindless, idiotic puppets who do not question the proclamations of self-appointed or duly anointed leaders?
These two elements in the first half of Spiderman No Way Home create bad quality vibes but it goes on to including Dr. Strange’s odd behavior when attempting to cast the spell.
Dr. Strange is not a novice at his superpowers and the setup where Strange is questioning Parker’s maturity prods the viewer into questioning the erstwhile Sorcerer Supreme’s maturity.
Looking at the most critical setup in the film, Parker raises an objection to the parameters of the spell as Strange was casting his magic and he had to restart the spell. However when Parker again interrupts that should have been the elder superhero’s cue.
Being a highly experienced sorcerer at that point in the timeline of the MCU Universe, character plausibility would have compelled Steven Strange to stop the spell cold and sit down with Parker to review all issues, all objections, all caveats before restarting the spell once more.
The simplest things that tarot card readers (fake magicians) do at fairs and circus campgrounds, would it not be the most basic thing a superhero can do? Listen to the person seeking their help.
It is odious how Strange fails in realizing that Parker is not a wizard versed in casting spells and Strange is a former MD, someone compelled by profession to empathy and listening to their patients, someone who has been entrusted with tremendous powers, including an Infinity stone.
Funny how Strange is the most cartoonish of the group as a human being and Marvel superhero character, in fact you could say the writers were lampshading Strange when they give him the line “Scooby Doo that shit” basically acknowledging secretly to the audience that the entire film’s adventure hangs on Scooby Doo Strange acting out of step with the other characters’ more authentic portrayals.
As soon as Peter realizes the complexity of the
spell he tries to make sure Strange is not going
to ruin his life.
Clearly Strange didn’t stop for a second to think what if a sorcerer was casting that kind of magic on him. Wouldn’t Peter’s objections be the most basic parameters of such a spell?
Rather than show us a sorcerer with a high level of expertise, tact, diplomacy, maturity and poise, we get a Dr. Strange who does not use proper care when using his special powers (again that thing manifests itself “with great powers …”), who badly botches the spell, and then proceeds to berate Parker and places the blame squarely on him.
Some moviegoers may be pretending ignorance by going “what’s that?” but if you went to see any Spiderman movie odds are you are extremely familiar with the decade long technique Marvel and fellow movie studios have adopted in offering a more realistic and authentic fictional world that audiences can root for where characters from one series do guest scenes or are are part of another leading characters movie storyline. What’s the big fuss?!!
Don’t ask us however for the most recent decade movie studios have taken painstaking efforts to create an inter-connected fictional world between major movies and their stars. This Christmas Spiderman was at the movies while Hawkeye from Marvel starring fellow Avenger Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner) was also in New York at Christmas and it would have been impossible for him to miss all the ruckus and fallout from Jameson unveiling Peter’s identity to the Goblin, Electro and other big villains showing up to face down Spiderman not knowing this world has The Avengers.
AVENGERS HAWKEYE
Was this supposed to be comedy? I wasn’t sure I thought this movie was also drama and thrills, action, romance, suspense and spectacle. But I wasn’t sure what to make of the Dr. Strange episode and the manner his spell was …. Nope it was not a bad obsolete spell he should never have used, it was bad form, lack of skill in execution that sets the entire movie on its roller coaster ride.
At the time I wasn’t thinking through all of this, but in three instances already I was getting “a bad feeling about this”.
The absence of both Nick and Maria and any subordinate who could contact them, The Jameson Hunt Spiderman at all Costs (JJ just hates his superhero suit, ask Hawkeye’s Bishop to redesign his by calling Clint for a favor) and The Strange Spell were all adding up already to a bad aftertaste in the back of my mind as I grimaced and hoped for the best.
In the comic books, where JJ was reaming Spiderman at every possible occasion, there were no Avengers to mollify Jameson’s view of our young superhero and there were no adventures in saving the Earth from Thanos.
However, in this MCU movie franchise how easy was it for people to forget the sacrifices of Iron Man and their return from oblivion after Thanos?
Pretty convenient story telling that makes this movie worse by the minute.
And with Spiderman already part of the Avengers how easy is it for the authorities to comically waltz in Aunt May’s apartment and arrest them along with MJ and Ned?
Curious that the authorities never once declare to the public “we are investigating and need to get in touch with blah blah blah (Nick Fury), so fellow Americans please pause your reactions and suspicions”? JJ’s fangs are dripping and foaming.
It is magnificiently gripping how the logic of screenwriters works when they desperately want to force ridiculous situations for spectacle.
Moviegoers always love a Spider-Man movie, in this case because the second half held more tantalizing set of scenes, real dynamite, plus so-so razzle dazzle action sequences (arghhh spoilers about The Three Amigos in follow through segment).
Admittedly, all in all, No Way Home was inching closer and closer to the Amazing Spider-Man 2 in terms of quality of entertainment.
BTW these aren’t The Midnight Run movie “litmus test” on $20 dollar bills, the questions raised by this reviewer are the most common sense kind of questions if you are watching a movie from a franchise that has for 20 years touted its world building abilities and its authentic, true to life emotionally relatable, real life, live-action interpretation of comic book characters for adult moviegoers, rather than entertainment originally meant for children via illustrations on paper volumes.
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