It’s been an underwhelming year for Marvel movies up to now. Black Widow was a bit dull and felt like it was released the wrong side of Infinity War. Shang-chi was better, but still felt like lower-tier stuff and – criminally – the martial arts sadly took a backseat to a generic mostly-CG finale. Then Eternals arrived, to a thunderous roar of… “yawn”. Things were looking – if not exactly terminal – then certainly a bit wobbly. Only the Disney TV shows seemed to be delivering, with LOKI being a ton of inventive fun, and HAWKEYE proving to be an unexpected bundle of Christmas joy. But then, lo there did come a great recovery, to restore the belief of the faithful in the power of the MCU: Spider Man: No Way Home. The best damn Marvel movie since Endgame. Yes, it’s even better than the sublime Into the Spider-Verse.
It’s almost impossible to review this film without spoilers, so I’m only going to talk about it in the broadest way possible, but this is an outstanding and absolutely must-see movie for marvel fans. It brings together wildly disparate elements of marvel history in a manner that not only acts as a beautiful coda to the past, but also lays out the foundations of an incredible future.
As I said, to say anything more would mean spoilers, and this film is a joyous delight of unexpected reveal after reveal. If you’ve seen the trailers, then you’ll already have seen a few. There’s so many more though. All I can say is the multiverse (and recent Disney corporate acquisitions) have opened up some incredible opportunities for a grand reunification. Phase four of the MCU finally feels like it’s taking off and I’m excited again, in a way I haven’t been since the end of the Infinity Saga.
