Ok so Spider-Man No Way Home built upon the last 20 years of the Sony Spider-verse to
bring us a film that broke the MCU in order to make one of the biggest events in comic
book movie history.
Seeing Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire appear on screen together alongside Tom Holland was
something that we never thought could happen but Marvel delivered this massive event to
make it the biggest film this side of the pandemic.
I hadn't felt that hyped since Jay-Z and Nas appeared on stage together during the I Declare
war tour and it's still something that gives me Goosebumps to this day.
(I know you can feel the magic baby)
What I think that the film excelled at though was giving Andrew Garfield's Peter Parker
a much deserved redemption arc.
When you hear everything that went on behind the scenes with him it's difficult not to
feel sorry for the actor and when he played the character he had several things riding
against him.
The Amazing Spider-man released in 2012, just a mere five years after Tobey Maguire appeared
as Peter Parker in Spider-man 3.
The Amazing Spider-man 2 dropped two years later in 2014 and it would be a mere two years
after that in which he was replaced by Tom Holland in a complete reboot of the character.
Garfield was actually due to announce The Amazing Spider-man 3 at a Brazillian Comic
Book Movie event but he called in sick and then the project was scrapped.
It was only after the Sony Email Hack that we found out Amy Pascal had been in talks
with Kevin Feige to reboot the character in the MCU and Garfield's version was swept under
the rug by the studio.
Online though there was still a massive community that supported him and just in the same way
that The Snyder-cut had several supporters, Garfield did too.
Thus seeing him back on the big screen alongside Tobey and Tom was a major moment that not
only righted the wrongs of the past but it also showed the growth of the character.
For the last decade, lots of people have argued who the best live action Spider-man is and
after seeing them on screen at the same time I actually think that Garfield is by far the
standout.
In my opinion, he swings circles around the other two and it's easy to see why he's had
a massive career outside of this movie.
Now not only does the film give us redemption for Garfield but it also gives us redemption
for his Peter Parker.
The Amazing Spider-man 2 ended with the love of his life Gwen Stacy falling to her death
and after he misused his webs he ended up breaking her neck.
It's arguably one of the most tragic moments in a Spider-man Movie ever and though the
death of Uncle Ben and Aunt May are definitely up there, this hits a lot harder because it
was caused somewhat directly by him.
In the movie we discovered that this very much broke the character and that after the
death of Gwen, he stopped pulling his punches.
This took him down a darker path in which he became more vengeful and less forgiving.
He had seen first hand that even when you try to do good that it can still lead to loss
and had just stopped giving the villains the benefit of the doubt like he had in his past.
Now a theme that is very prevelant in No Way Home is the idea of Responsibility.
The two other Peter's that Tom's version meets very much act as a warning in the wake of
Aunt May's death.
Not only did Andrew losing Gwen make him go down a darker path but we also see how something
similar happened with Tobey's Peter.
He recounts the night that Uncle Ben died and though he says he managed to stop the
quote unquote killer, it didn't make him feel better.
(movie clip)
Now Tobey very much saves Tom's version from receiving this same fate.
In the movie we watch as Green Goblin kills Aunt May and come the final battle, Peter
completely beats the crap out of him.
Just in the same way that Tobey led to the death of his apparent uncle's killer, Tom's
is about to do the same thing and finally get revenge on the person that killed the
parental figure in his life.
Also sidenote, I have to keep saying the guy who apparently killed Uncle Ben because of
that stupid Sandman retcon but yeah, to me it'll always be this guy who did it.
Anyway, it's a great moment watching Tobey stop Tom from shoving the glider into the
Goblin which is of course also the way that he died in the original film.
It's a very heroic moment but that stops him from becoming vengeful and filled with anger.
However, the way that Andrew spares him from this path is far more subtle and it not only
saves Tom's soul but also his own.
After Osborn arrives at the Statue Of Liberty he hurtles his Goblin bombs and he destroy
the scaffolding holding the structure in place.
This causes the entire thing to collapse and during this destruction MJ starts to fall
to her death much in the same way that Gwen did.
Tom's Peter leaps out to grab her but The Goblin catches him mid-air, stopping him from
saving the girl he loves.
Much in the same way that comics have shown the Goblin killing the person he loves it
seems like history is repeating itself and this is made even worse by the fact that Osborn
also killed May.
However, Andrew's version leaps after her and he ends up breaking her fall which in
turn saves her life.
Just in the same way that Tobey stopped him from travelling down a dark path due to him
killing his Aunt's killer, Andrew has stopped him from going down the same one he did after
losing his love.
He even refers to MJ as his Gwen at one point and Andrew's carrying this out here also redeems
another person from suffering the same fate that Gwen did.
Rather than using a web to latch onto her, he takes the impact himself and this shows
that he hasn't made the same mistake.
It's a really powerful moment and Andrew completely acts his ass off as MJ asks him if he's ok.
(movie bit)
Now even though we all watched the second trailer about 500 times and figured out that
this moment was coming, it still hit home so hard.
That's the power of the movie and it showcases that even when things are telegraphed they
can still be impactful due to the performance and also what it means for the character and
actor.
It's so well done and it makes you truly see the impact of exactly what his Peter is going
through.
It saves Tom's version much in the same way that Tobey stopped him from killing the Goblin
and it stops him from being a Spider-man that refuses to pull his punches.
The movie is very much about saving The Villains and throughout it we see as Peter does this
even when it's the more difficult choice.
However it's also about saving Peter as well and stopping him from becoming someone that
his elder versions wish that they hadn't become.
It's such amazing storytelling and the scene not only works on a number of levels because
of what it means for the character but also because of the actor bhind it all.
Garfield no longer feels like he was robbed of playing the character that he was obsessed
over as a kid but instead we can leave the film knowing that he finally got the opportunity
to be classed shoulder to shoulder with the more favoured people that have played him.
Where we go from here we don't know but I really hope that the rumblings about Garfield
returning are true.
Whether it's in Venom 3 or his own Spin-off movie I think he's someone that really shines
in this movie and it shows that when given the right material he can be the perfect Peter
Parker.
Watching his two solo films and NWH tied into it really brings his arc to a close but from
this point on there are several directions that they could take things.
We know that he hasn't found someone after Gwen left the hole in his life, and though
that may never be filled, I think we all just wanna see the guy happy.
All in all though that's a story for another day and after rewatching the movie, knowing
what this moment means to the actor and the character, I don't think it's anything other
than perfect.
Now I'd of course love to hear your thoughts so make sure you comment below and let me
know.
We're running a competition right now and giving away 3 copies of an MCU Boxset of your
choice on the 30th of January.
All you have to do to be in with a chance of winning is like the video, make sure you
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We pick the comments at random at the end of the month and the winners of the last one
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If you want something else to watch then make sure you check out our breakdown of perfect
scene in Spider-Man Homecoming.
We break down the entire thing so it's definitely worth checking out if you wanna know more.
With that out the way thank you for sitting through the video, I’ve been Paul and I’ll
see you next time.
Take care, Peace