66 new york | january 3–16, 2022
the one good ideathat the Tom Holland–starring Spider-Man films had
was an obvious one: Make Peter Parker a kid. Tobey Maguire was 27 at the
time of his first turn as the high-school-age superhero, while Andrew Garfield was
- The material could never fully utilize the character’s youth because we as humans
have a visceral resistance to watching adults make childish decisions. Holland, by
contrast, was 21 whenSpider-Man: Homecomingpremiered in 2017, and he looked
even younger. As a result, the filmmakers for this latest Spidey cycle, including direc-
tor Jon Watts and screenwriters Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers, have been able
to sell us on some of Peter’s dodgier choices. They’ve also managed
to mine the age gap between him and other characters in the Mar-
vel Cinematic Universe for humor, as well as one meme-worthy
moment of genuine pathos. (“Mr. Stark, I don’t feel so good.”)
But in most other respects, Watts’s Spider-Man films have been
black holes of imagination. (The first entry featured a huge set piece
at the Washington Monument—an inspired idea on paper—and
movies / podcasts / tvdid absolutely nothing interesting with
it. The setting might as well have been
an office building in suburban Atlanta.
It probably was at some point.) It takes
a unique brand of corporate cynicism to
drain any and all grandeur from the sight
of Spidey swinging through the canyons
of Manhattan; trapping the most cin-
ematic of all superheroes in nondescript
swirls of CGI sludge feels like its own act
of villainy.
In other respects, too, these movies’
Spider shtick is starting to get old, as the
now ultrabuff, grown-up Holland looks
increasingly out of place. The new film
begins with Peter Parker unmasked and
publicly castigated and shamed for kill-
ing the previous entry’s villain, Myste-
rio. Among the real-life consequences of
Parker’s cancellation is MIT’s rejection of
his and his friends M.J.’s (Zendaya) and
Ned’s (Jacob Batalon) college applica-
tions. Determined to fix this problem, PHOTOGRAPH: MARVEL STUDIOS/SONY PICTURES ENTERTAINMENTThe CULTURE PAGESCRITICSBilge Ebiri on Spider-Man: No Way Home ... Nicholas Quah on Operator ...
Jen Chaney on Station Eleven.SPIDER-MAN: NO
WAY HOME
DIRECTED BY JON
WATTS. COLUMBIA/
MARVEL. PG-13.MOVIES / BILGE EBIRIIt Doesn’t SwingThere have been some great Spider-Manmovies. This is not one of them.