Trying to do better.

Spider-Man: No Way Home (rewatch) — 3.5/5

On the other side of the spectrum is this one, where I was fucking on the edge of my seat while watching it the first time, but it can't maintain the high in the rewatch. As opposed to 'Endgame,' which was a firm hand bringing together all the threads of the last 10 years, this feels like flailing blindly for anything to make it feel important. Exciting at the time!! But the seams show. Dr. Strange is the new Iron Man in how reckless he is. Aunt May dies, but at the hands of someone who doesn't have the same relevance for this version of Peter Parker. When Tobey and Andrew show up, it's a ton of fun, but also doesn't make a ton of sense. With all the fun from the past, less time is devoted to the world and characters that have been created in the past two movies. To some degree—fuck it! It's fan service and I'm a fan. Andrew saving MJ is great, and Tobey stopping Tom from making a huge mistake is so lovely. At the core of this movie is a Peter Parker who wants to be better—who wants to be good; who wants to save everyone. The ending of this movie is the most Peter Parker-ass thing I've ever seen and I love it. We want desperately for him to be happy, but the weight of power, and responsibility, is that that can never be guaranteed. He's gonna have to carry that weight.