CRITICAL / FILM OPINION – After months of questioning, hesitation, doubts and above all waiting, “Spider-Man: No Way Home” is finally released in theaters. A new chapter of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) that brings together many famous characters. (Review without spoilers)
The long awaited Spider-Man No Way Home
After Spider-Man: Homecoming and Spider-Man: Far From Home, Jon Watts put the package with Spider-Man: No Way Home. A work that everyone is waiting for at the turn, especially because of the presence of characters and actors from the other two franchises Spiderman. Indeed, in this opus, Peter Parker opens a multiverse with Doctor Strange. So Jamie Foxx (Electro), Willem Dafoe (The Green Goblin), Alfred Molina (Dr Octopus), Thomas Haden Church (Sandman) and Rhys Ifans (The Lizard) are all back to put Tom Holland’s Spider-Man in trouble. . And necessarily, that makes a lot of people to manage.
2h29 of images, it is clearly not too much to stage Spider-Man: No Way Home. It’s even sometimes a little too short Both director Jon Watts and screenwriting duo Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers tackle various and many elements within a plot that goes all over the place. Difficult to manage, over time, an impressive number of characters from the Spider-Man universe.
A high speed movie
Obviously, Jon Watts connects the whole at breakneck speed. The twists and turns, the plot, the development of the characters, everything is going at an insane speed, which does not always allow the audience to take pleasure in the proposed sequences. Likewise, such a rhythm inevitably entails differences in treatment between characters, and particularly between the countless antagonists of the feature film. The filmmaker cannot talk about all the elements of his plot with the same fairness, and certain passages, certain resolutions, certain entire sections of the feature film are then skimmed over, sometimes giving an unpleasant impression of superficiality on the screen.
Plus, directing Jon Watts doesn’t really help. The filmmaker falls back into the pitfalls of his first two films Spiderman. The director does not know how to stage an action sequence properly. Like the final clash between the Vulture and Spidey at the end of Homecoming, most of the action scenes are unreadable, or in any case devoid of artistic soul, of creative vision – which undoubtedly makes us regret the Raimi era, and even the more academic know-how of Marc Webb.
Villains not always respected
And this lack of really controlled staging taints the pleasure of finding the weaver’s greatest supervillains. The latter are not always really respected, and their development is often rather derisory … Already, overall, thee Lizard and the Sandman are useless. Simple script elements, they offer two or three fairly forgettable lines and return for the grand finale.
Then there is Electro, which is maybe the most successful figure of these Sinister Five (we are still looking for the sixth). Jamie Foxx offers an interesting reinterpretation of his character, which gains in confidence and power. More mature, more brutal, more disturbing, he’s boosted by the MCU, and is arguably the most balanced antagonist in the footage. Certainly because his writing is the most logical.
Then come the two big names. Dr Octopus and Norman Osborn. Coming back from an unforgettable time, their development is unfortunately not always successful … The writing of Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers never reaches the work of Sam Raimi, or even the creations of Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. Dr Octopus, first to arrive, quickly changes sides to help Peter Parker. Moral and narrative change brought about with the back of the spoon, and without really giving it the impact and thickness necessary for this reversal of the jacket to be completely legitimate.
As for the Green Goblin, it’s the other way around. Seemingly nice at first, he flips his jacket over in an expected and awkward twist. Willem Dafoe then plays the same score as in 2002, the depth of the character less.
Despite all of this, it is almost impossible not to enjoy the festivities of No Way Home. It’s hard not to fall under the spell of all these characters, all these fights, this frenzied rhythm. Spider-Man: No Way Home is a beautiful life-size comic book. Impossible for all fans of the genre and especially comic book readers not to be amazed …
