Spider-Man: No Way Home (Jon Watts, December 17, 2021) Movie • Page 98

Oh man that looks so much better than the old design

 

Yea, that’s a better design, but they’d have to explain why he looks different. Well, or just straight up say so like they did with Electro.

 

Lizard didn't die at the end of TASM so he very easily could've changed his look and just been pulled from later in the timeline

 

Multiversal travel altered his DNA

 

Tell me the only movies you’ve ever seen are the Holland Spidey films without using those words.

 

He’s not a visionary filmmaker or anything but he did a good job with this trilogy of fun popcorn movies Yes, calling him the “GOAT” is excessive, but the hate for him in some corners is also excessive.

 

I can’t think of a singular positive thing that could be used to describe his style or take on directing. He does what his bosses wants him to do? I dunno.

 

This take confounds me a little, just because I feel like it's possible for someone to do a job that doesn't have a singular identifying trait and still be the result of their own work and not because someone was telling them things in their ear. Do people have to have a style to still be acting on their own? Feels a little weird to slam someone based on that.

 

I mean I said, I dunno. I’m not gonna defend that. But having no style makes for a pretty boring director. Maybe being bland is purely his call. Not sure how that helps his case, if anything it makes it worse since he can’t place blame elsewhere.

 

I dunno, I enjoyed all three of his Spidey films. I know people have their criticisms and that's fine. I mean, my argument is that it shouldn't be a bad thing to just simply make an enjoyable movie, but then the counter-argument is that you guys didn't enjoy them, so...

 

I think this is a very good way of putting it. I’m a fan of many “auteur” directors with their own easily recognizable filmmaking styles, but I certainly don’t think every movie I enjoy is like that. Plenty of big-budget tentpoles I enjoy I’d say fall into the category of being solidly well-made even if they aren’t particularly “distinctive” in terms of filmmaking style. And I think that’s fine depending on the movie. I get the criticism of some MCU movies feeling interchangeable and that’s valid, but imo No Way Home especially is a good example of solid mainstream blockbuster filmmaking, and I agree that I don’t see that as interchangeable with just “doing whatever the studio bosses want”.

 

Homecoming was okay. Far From Home was baaaaaad. No Way was fun but relies heavily on the audience loving to point at the scene screaming their heads off, “I know who that is!!!!!!!” And that’s more on the writing than directing.

 

Yeah, I disagree with all of this, so this is going to be a giant waste of time to hash this out. We're on opposite sides of a fence here, waving at each other.

 

I'd argue Far From Home's faults also mostly lie with the writing rather than the directing

 

All three of the movies were pretty widely liked by audiences, received largely positive reviews, and were huge box office successes even compared to past Spider-Man films. It’s fair if you don’t like them but I think it’s also fair to recognize that you’re in the minority with a lot of what you’re saying, and none of it makes Jon Watts a hack director lol

 

Yeah that’s fair too. I do think all three have points where they descend a bit too much into standard MCU fare in terms of plotting and dialogue, but I’ve personally never thought the direction stood out to me as bad even in the moments I do criticize.

 

The most hate I’ve ever seen on FFH is this website.

 

When you’re wrong, you’re wrong and sometimes nothing can change it.

 

Ditto with Jon Watts in general lol

 

The number or lack thereof of people liking something has never and will never dictate the quality of something.

being in the minority doesn’t make me wrong.

if the highest praise you can a director is that he didn’t fuck it up, that’s kind of hacky.

 

Spider-Man deserves better, that’s all I’ll say at this point.

Edit: at least we have the Into the Spider-Verse stuff happening.

 

The MCU Spider-Man got the film he always deserved: No Way Home

 

I’m just tired of everything having to connect to something else now.

 

I’d say professional critics are a bit more of a fair barometer though. All I’m saying is you’re making it sound like he’s on the level of Michael Bay who makes movies that rake in money but are reviled by critics and cinephiles… someone like that I’d agree is a hack.

Being in the minority doesn’t make you wrong, art is subjective after all, but that goes both ways. You think Watts is a hack, most professional critics and audiences don’t. You’re clearly taking a more extreme view of his faults than a lot of people do… and that’s fine, but it’s ultimately your opinion.

“if the highest praise you can a director is that he didn’t fuck it up, that’s kind of hacky.”

Literally no one is saying this but you though lol. I think No Way Home was well-directed… I personally think he did a good job, and certainly hit a higher bar for me than “didn’t fuck it up”. Agree to disagree.

 

I’d argue No Way Home was the film that Andrew’s Peter deserved. He killed it and got redemption.