Blu-ray Review: Spider-Man: No Way Home
Spider-man: No Way Home has indeed found his way home. Um…to home video. Dan takes a look at the new 4K UHD and blu rays.
After swinging its way to new box office heights no Spidey had seen before, Spider-Man: No Way Home arrives for your home viewing pleasure on 4K UHD, Blu-ray, DVD and Digital with an array of features to stuff your comic-loving face in. (Here’s our original review).
It’s a super-sized superhero epic that hits the sweet spot and deserve to sit on your shelf. However the completists among the collectors might have a bone or two to pick with this release – it doesn’t include any of the fabled deleted scenes that fans have speculated about online since the movie’s release.
The special features give you over 80 minutes’ worth of featurettes, behind-the-scenes footage, filmmaker insights, cast crack-ups, and more. The features on the 4K UHD and Blu-ray release include:
- Alternate Reality Easter Eggs
- Bloopers & Gag Reel
- 7 Behind the Scenes Featurettes
- Action Choreography Across the Multiverse
- A Multiverse of Miscreants
- A Spectacular Spider-Journey with Tom Holland
- Enter Strange
- Graduation Day
- Realities Collide, Spiders Unite
- Weaving Jon Watt’s Web
- 2 Special Panels:
- The Sinister Summit – Villains Panel: Willem Dafoe, Alfred Molina, and Jamie Foxx sit down for a roundtable discussion of their sinister characters.
- A Meeting of the Spiders – Heroes Panel: The Heroic Spider heroes sit down for a roundtable discussion on Peter, Stunts, and skin-tight suits.
- 3 Stories From The Daily Bugle
- Spider-Menace Strikes Again
- Spider Sycophant
- Web of Lies
- 2 Stunt Scenes Previsualization
- Apartment Fight
- Shield Fight
- 3 – International Exclusives
- Spider-Man and the Multiverse in Marvel Comics
- Spider-Suits, Gliders, and the Costumes of the Multi-Verse
- Magic, Mayhem and the Visual Effects of the Multiverse
As for the movie itself, It’s pretty damn good! Repeat viewings are bound to offer diminishing returns but when you sit back and look at the goal they were trying to achieve, I’d say they pulled it off spectacularly. It’s not my favorite Spider-Man film or MCU title but it’s a very strong one and its highs are nearly unmatched among its brethren. No spoilers on the story but it involves Spider-Man/Peter Parker (Tom Holland) enlisting the help of Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) to create a spell that will erase the world’s memory of the young webslinger’s true identity. Plans, as they always do, go to shit and the multiverse is opened up to invite villains from Spider-Men gone past including Doc Ock (Alfred Molina, returning from the sublime Spider-Man 2 in 2004) and the iconic Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe, embracing all the love).
If you’re seeing this for this first time then holy fuck hold on to your hat because you’re in for some treats (provided you’ve avoided spoilers to date, of course). It’s a crowd-pleasing delight filled with moments engineered to a fine degree just to make you want to cheer for a few seconds. It’s blockbuster entertainment at a high level, and even if the initial surprises will color your overall view of the film it isn’t like it falls apart – the film hinges on a gimmick, sure, but it’s one that’s put to active use for both plot and character development.
Impressive visuals, humor, and heart – even if the machine cranks these MCU movies out from a template this is still one finely manufactured product.
About the Author
Dan Nicholls is a Vancouver-based, lifelong movie geek who's been a projectionist, critic, director, (accidental) actor, and writer in the industry since E.T. phoned home. @dannicholls
