While watching Spider-Man: No Way Home I found myself oddly distracted by the spoilers. The internet has been absolutely a titter over the last year or so about the movie, with crackpot theories based on trailers and leaked set photos guessing who was going to be in the movie. I still really liked the internet, perhaps despite the internet and Marvel’s own wild secrecy.
I’m not one who tries and finds spoilers for stuff before I watch it, mind you. I saw The Mitchells Vs The Machines on a recommendation and I actively avoided trailers and news around Last Night in SoHo before watching it. The only trailer I’ve seen for The Matrix: Resurrections was the one before No Way Home, and that’s all I plan on seeing. I get what’s going on: Neo’s back in the Matrix and stuff got weird, and that’s all I need to know.
But No Way Home almost seems like it got bogged down by its marketing and the secrecy, especially when all the buzz about it (Is that Matt Murdock in the trailer??? Is Daredevil gonna be in this???) distracts from the plot itself. I do think that being more forthright about the multiversal aspect of it all may have made for a better, quicker pitch.
‘cuz No Way Home isn’t a movie with Big Twists like Infinity War’s finale, it’s one with a lot of fun reveals that fit in place like a magnificent puzzle, and knowing what pieces are coming is half the fun. Knowing that Cap, Bucky, and Iron Man are gonna throw down in Civil War doesn’t rob it of the impact when it arrives, nor does knowing that the Avengers are going to defend New York in The Avengers ruin it when it arrives. Knowing that Thomas Anderson is actually in a simulation called the Matrix and he is the messianic One who can save humanity isn’t a spoiler; it’s the dang premise.
No Way Home’s premise is so wildly bold that it kills me to not talk about it more in-depth (plus it pulls it off, holy smokes it pulls it off!). That’s because I don’t like being told things I don’t wanna be told about stories, and I’m returning the favor. And it’s a shame, because what the movie tries to do is barely conveyed in the trailer, and I wish it was, because then I could rave about how well it achieves it.
Maybe next week, when more folks have seen it.
Essays, Not Rants! 