Spider-Man No Way Home First Impressions: All the hype was worth it

Social media was a quiet place over the last two days. Spider-Man: No Way Home (NWH) had its world premiere a couple of days back, and all Spidey fans stayed as far away from social media as possible. All of them just wanted to keep away from ONE important question — Do Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield feature in NWH?

We'll get to that soon enough...

First, let us talk about how the film starts right from where it left off in Far From Home. Mysterio has revealed who the real Spiderman is to the world. Peter Parker (Tom Holland) is as vulnerable as he can be. But he has MJ (Zendaya) and Ned (Jakob Betalan) for company in this tough time. The murmurs about Spider-Man not being the friendly neighbourhood superhero are now being amplified thanks to our not-so-friendly neighbourhood news anchor Jonah Jameson of TheDailyBugle.net.  

Peter and Co are hounded by the media and fellow students. There is scrutiny all around, and even their MIT dreams get crushed thanks to Mysterio's final video message. And just like the trailers suggested, when things are getting worse and stranger than usual, there is just one place to go to — Doctor Strange.

Just like in any other superhero film, certain things happen, and Bam! the villains from the Spiderverse take centrestage. Similar to the recent Venkat Prabhu film, Maanaadu, it is the supervillains who received maximum cheer from a sleep-starved audience that queued up to enter the theatre at 5 am. Such was the sound that Spidey might have thought if he was the friendly superhero of the Ambattur neighbourhood. Truth be told, the whistles and cheers drowned most of the opening dialogues uttered by Dr Otto, Dr Osbourne (Green Goblin), Sandman, the Lizard, and Electro. I just assumed it was tongue-in-cheek references or quick-witted dialogues, or a monotonous hiss, depending on the supervillain in question.

Of course, the Spiderverse was truly open, and we come back to the BIG question — Do Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield feature in NWH?

We'll get to that soon enough...

But first, let us talk about the brilliant bonhomie between each of these characters. Be it Strange and Spidey's conversations or the supervillains having a sit-down chat with Tom Holland's Spiderman about the what-ifs and what-nots, and what-next for them, the writing is campy and super fun. Be it the equal spotlight on both Peter's friendship with Ned and love story with MJ, the writing, the performances and their camaraderie are so on point. The trio laughing at Dr Otto's name is as funny as it was in the trailer, and them figuring out the multiverse all by themselves is as goofy as it can get. Seeing Ned and MJ involved got the crowd backing them too as they continued in their path to be relevant and not relegated to just the usual "Superhero friend" and "Superhero GF" trope. 

The action set pieces prove to us why MCU has some of the most inventive stunt choreography, and the first half perfectly sets up what is one of the most-anticipated MCU films. As Spiderman: No Way Home unfolds, we get to know why it is also one of the best-written MCU films. There are strong emotional arcs. There is scope for redemption. There is revenge. There is salvation. There is blood. There is brotherhood. There is betrayal. And... as the film came to a close, and the credits started rolling... there were sore throats due to the loud cheering, moist eyes due to the beautiful emotional sequences, and reddened palms courtesy of the thunderous applause. Not one moved from their seats as first we saw a mid-credits scene, and then a post-credits one, and the loudest cheers were reserved for the sheer brilliance of the minds behind the MCU for neatly tying up multiple shows, films, and characters to rally the audience behind their franchises.
 
And finally... one last time... we just have to answer the ONE BIG QUESTION...

Do Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield feature in NWH?
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Well... what does your spider-sense say???