Film

REVIEW: What Makes ‘Spider-Man’ Top New Year’s Film

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Variety reports that the superhero sequel easily topped the New Year’s Eve box office charts, earning $15.4 million on Friday to reach a domestic total of $572.6 million.

FILM REVIEW – ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’
Rated PG-13
(Marvel Studios – Sony)

“The problem is you trying to live two different lives. The longer you do it, the more dangerous it becomes.”

Click to view ‘Spider-Man’ trailer.

 

First and foremost, one does not need to see any of the preceding Spider-Man movies to enjoy this one. It’s spooled so impeccably that you can almost hear ‘Previously on Spider-Man…’ in the opening shots.

After that, hold on. It only gets better and better and better.
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There’s an exciting, wonderful, palpable, youthful exuberance about this movie that’s mirrored with the involvement of his friends and extended support group, almost like the iconic Scooby Gang.
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Also, the film stays particularly faithful to the most timely and enduring, ultra-relatable core aspect of Peter Parker; he’s a teenager, gifted with these amazing, life-changing abilities, yet he has always felt like he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders.
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“No Way Home” smartly manages to magnify that sense of crushing responsibility to a literal universal level as we witness his ascent.
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Arguably, Parker embodies the core conscience of Marvel heroes so it’s easy to see how his life is increasingly made more and more difficult. He’s not the kind of person who turns away from helping others. That’s what makes him who he is and why we love him.
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“No Way Home” gives longtime web-heads the movie they’ve always wanted and with surprises they ingeniously pull off that will prod theater audiences into a number of deafening uproars.
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Shockingly, it has a solid emotional core that I can honestly say that for a film like this, I wasn’t at all prepared for. It is not only an exemplary morality play of sorts by way of Parker and his true to form, strenuous, well-intentioned efforts, but also a fantastic, furiously fun, frenzied family-friendly film.
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Even with its impressive previous installments, actor Tom Holland’s further enrichment of Parker’s character makes this a memorable and defining, coming-of-age arc. The film ends up becoming a sensational, surprisingly satisfying, thoroughly engaging and wildly entertaining effort.
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My biggest question is this: With even more sagas on the horizon, how will they ever manage to top it?
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Spider-Man: No Way Home  
Rated PG-13 
(Marvel Studios – Sony) 

Andre is a Los Angeles-based writer and stand-up comedian.

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