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Spider-Man: No Way Home
U/A: Action, adventure
Dir: Jon Watts
Cast: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Benedict Cumberbatch
Rating: ***
Whatever happened to straightforward blast-fests — where a superhero singularly saved the world (read: America) from destruction, against a piece of pure evil, with no complications/shades of grey?
They belong to our much simpler planet/past, obviously. Ever since, giant franchise films, from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, in particular — insecure in the knowledge that audiences expect/demand more and more superheroes/supervillains — have attempted to pack in as many as they can. For the price of an IMAX + 3D ticket; the best way to enjoy them, for sure.
In that sense, Spider-Man: No Way Home is not an exception. The trick then is in the telling of the tale, with so many twists, that even a single Spider-Man is not enough to wrap your head around. No way, you’re going home, seeing only one. But let’s not get into details on that front. It’s to be seen to be spoken about. Stick to what drives this Tom Holland, Spider-Man flick first.
That is, obviously, besides the relentless display of special effect fireworks, in terms of lightning combat sequences, and aerial madness, across a sprawling metropolis, starring the friendly neighbourhood superhero. There are a couple of fairly captivating ideas here as well.
One, that there is probably such a thing as a common hard-drive for global memory. Wherein, through sheer reboot for a magic spell, by Dr Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), in this case, an entire population’s memory of a fact/event can be wiped out permanently. Spider-Man could do with this spell. Because his identity has been badly compromised.
Everyone’s come to know: Peter Parker = Spider-Man. With disastrous implications on the work and private life of both. Here’s the thing with universally wiping out a memory though. It would include Peter’s girlfriend’s MJ (Zendaya), Aunt May’s (Marisa Tomei) and other close ones. Such erasing of memory is a lot like death, isn’t it; or enforcing the fact that you never did exist. Peter Parker, as you’d know, is an emotional kid.
He’s hardly gonna be okay with this. He wants to have his cake, eat it too; or at least share it with those he’s comfortable with. This is how the magic spell goes wrong. What are the consequences? It’s got to do with super-villains, from multiple verses, coming back to life.
Okay, what’s this multi-verse business? Is it like metaverse, that’s the impending future of humans on the Internet currently? Where you’ll full-on exist in a virtual form, even while living as you always did offline? Not really.
These multiverses seem like mirror images of each other where the world and characters around Spider-Man have always existed. These characters — Otto Octavius, Norman Osborn, Max Dillon, etc — have simply merged or collided into the same universe in this film. Which explains a very Avengers-like feel to this single super-hero franchise flick. Also making it the most Meta/self-referencing super-hero pic, which isn’t a parody, that you’ve probably ever seen!
Sure they throw around ‘string theory’ and ‘matter displacement’ into the supposedly scientific mix. Be surer still, director Jon Watts is no Christopher Nolan helming a super-hero. He keeps it simple. In any case, the beauty lies in how — despite phases of adulting super-heroes; from a much darker DC, in particular — Spider-Man’s kept his charms alive among children first.
Especially with the baby-faced Tom Holland, who took on the lead role as a teenager, bringing to the fore a playfulness that you can’t help but be viscerally drawn to, across age groups — bacche, boodhe, jawan. As Peter Parker, his issues concern admission into MIT. As a humanised defender of the planet, he has lower back issues!
The moral centre is deeply in place. Chemistry between characters is apparent. The lessons are clearly spelt out: “With great power comes great responsibility.” As I grew up, I replaced in my head the word ‘responsibility’ with ‘possibility’. Aware even more that the point being made was to do the ‘right thing’, always. Which is what Spider-Man is interested in here as well — devoted to save lives of super-villains, if you may!
Is that the reason this super-hero remains the most loved in India? Whether or not he protects the planet, Spider-Man’s box-office performance in Indian cinemas, from over a decade ago, through multiple language dubs (including Bhojpuri once), is really the story of how American mainstream cinema invaded a market that was hitherto untouched by Hollywood until then.
This has also to do with the solitary TV channel Doordarshan showing Spider-Man on Sundays, late ’80s onwards — making him a local, drawing room super-hero, before he captured big screens altogether. Of course you don’t need a review to guide you to theatres then. You’re ready for Spider-Mann ki baat already. Helps that he doesn’t disappoint.