- davidahallnum5
Spider-Man: No Way Home 3D Blu-ray Review
Updated: Apr 8, 2023
Spider-Man: No Way Home is a 2021 superhero movie continuing the story of Spider-Man in the MCU. Picking up from the events of Spider-Man: Far from Home, Peter Parker has had his secret identity revealed and is taking the blame for Mysterio's death. Although the courts eventually find him innocent, society has now grown to hate and reject Peter Parker and everyone associated with him. In a desperate attempt to get everything back to normal, Peter visits Dr. Strange and gets to cast a spell to wipe the memory of Peter Parker being Spider-Man from everyone in existence. But when casting goes terribly wrong, villains from different parallel universes start coming into Peter's, creating a multi-universal mess that's up to Spider-Man to fix. But along the way, Peter soon discovers there may be more to these villains than he first thought, and it raises the question of what it truly means to have great responsibility.
At this point, virtually everyone has seen No Way Home, and countless people have pointed out why it works very well. I don't really have much more to add to the praises this film has received. But I can still analyze it and show how I personally felt about the overall product.
The beginning first hour of the film is probably where I felt the least enthusiastic about No Way Home. Don't get me wrong, it still works very well. But it consists of plenty of things you've already seen in the trailers. And it feels pretty, dare I say, a bit too close to home. When I say "home," I mean it carries the reminiscence of the safe, low-stakes atmosphere that was present in the last two Spider-Man movies. That doesn't make it by any means bad, but it makes the first hour or so feel like it carries less weight than it should. Sure, we do see Peter Parker struggling to carry along his normal life when his identity is exposed. But the light-hearted tone it tries to maintain during these scenes makes it feel somewhat by-the-numbers. Once again, the tone and atmosphere here isn't a big issue. It just mildly downplays a bit of its re-watch value compared to other films in the MCU.
But in a way, the light-hearted tone in the beginning is what makes the film pack a big punch when it finally gets going. While yes, the gathering of the numerous villains who seep into Peter's universe feels a bit low-stakes at first, it later builds up into something bigger, completing a story arc that not only covers Peter Parker's story, but even the villains' stories as well, and in a way the past Spider-Man films didn't allow them to have. If you haven't seen No Way Home yet, I'm not about to spoil it here. But the presence of the characters we see here from other universes isn't just used to give old Spider-Man fans the warm and fuzzies, but also help to carry along the film's themes in a clever and truly emotional way.
Peter himself remains a likable character, and I doubt anyone's going to argue that. But a common complaint about his past movies were that they had never really shown Peter going through some strong character development. That's not an issue here. And in fact, the character development we get in No Way Home is some of the strongest we've gotten out of any Spider-Man movie in general. This film continues to push the theme that "with great power comes great responsibility." But it's done so here in a way that really emphasizes the cost having to follow that principle. I won't spoil what that is here, though, if you haven't seen the film for yourself. The musical score is incredible, the acting is fantastic, and the way the characters from past Spider-Man movies and the present ones act off one another is plenty of fun to watch. All of it comes together to create one of the strongest, the most heartbreaking, but also the most inspiration, superhero movies of all time.
Spider-Man: No Way Home isn't the best Spider-Man movie ever (Into the Spider-Verse takes that spot), but it come pretty darn close. The movie starts out very familiar and reminiscent of the previous Tom Holland Spider-Man films. But when it picks up, it leads to one of the most engaging and emotional experiences in the MCU. It has plenty of nostalgic elements from past Spider-Man movies, but it uses them to serve the story in a meaningful way rather than just being included for nostalgia's sake. And the way the characters and themes are played out make an engaging and thoroughly memorable film. While I'm sure the hype train for the film has probably worn off right about now, that doesn't prevent it from being an absolute top-tier addition to the long list of Spider-Man movies, or even longer list of superhero movies in general. If you haven't gotten a chance to watch this film yet, I strongly encourage you to do so. Even if you haven't seen most of the preceding Spider-Man films, chances are you'll still find yourself touched with what No Way Home has to offer.
OVERALL FILM RATING: 4.5/5
Being an MCU film, we could all see Spider-Man: No Way Home getting a 3D conversion. What we couldn't see though, was the company Random Space Media, who got the rights to release the 3D conversion for the home market, making the 3D Blu-ray for it only available to those who have a Region Free or Region B Blu-ray player. No one has an idea why this is. But what I can bring to the table is whether or not people with those types of players should pick up the 3D Blu-ray for Spider-Man: No Way Home. And honestly, the answer to that is a little bit confusing.
With the rating system I have, I try to factor in not just how much depth is on display, but also how well that depth is used. That's why often times, films like Frankenweenie that have soft 3D end up with a "great" rating, because they utilize their 3D very well. However, it's much more difficult to talk about films that have the opposite case, where the 3D depth is very much present, and definitely has its moments of pop, but it's utilization remains a bit unimpressive. And No Way Home unfortunately falls under that category.
I'll get the good things out of the way first, as there is quite a bit to cover here. First off, the field of depth is simply astounding. The cityscapes go far into the background and are very neat to look at. The inside of buildings, interestingly designed like the Sanctum Sanctorum, or more mundane like Peter Parker's apartment, go back into the screen a good ways and carry proper 3D space. Scenes such as the climax with the Statue of Liberty, the fight with Electro involving the power lines, and fight scene with Green Goblin in Peter's apartment all benefit greatly from the added amount of space. With the Statue of Liberty, you can see buildings going very far off into the distance, but the placements of various pipes and the motions from the characters fighting around the 3D environment are fun to watch. The action sequence on the traffic bridge is another highlight, with a car nearly falling off the bridge being held up by a spider web, smoke and destruction moving around the 3D space, and the buildings continue to go off far into the background. The beginning web swinging sequence is also a fun use of 3D, with the distance between the characters and the ground being made apparent, in a way that almost reminds me of The Walk, and the distance between buildings, various city-related objects such as trains, and people makes the 3D experience quite an added bonus.
The villains themselves are also pretty interesting to watch in 3D at times too. Doc Ock's robotic arms go back into the screen and move around in it, making for a mesmerizing thing to see. Electro's lightning bolts moving in 3D space are also a highlight during some action scenes. Green Goblin also flies around in the screen plenty. Dr. Strange's magic and spells make for an interesting watch, too. The scene where the multiverse begins to fall apart around the end allows for some images that look like a purple mess in 2D to absolutely pop in 3D (which can leave to the imagination how good Multiverse of Madness looks in 3D). The scene with the mirror dimension is another highlight, with surreal looking distortions of buildings, trains, and even the Grand Canyon taking center stage and moving around in ways that are more mesmerizing to watch in 3D than 2D.
So with all these good things to praise the 3D for, why do I have a hard time recommending it? Well, it's because a lot of things mentioned above seem to do more with how devoted the conversion team was to making a good 3D movie than how the director intended the 3D to be. What I mean by this is that while all the pieces are there for a great 3D film, they aren't really taken advantage of all that well. Sure, part of this has to do with how good chunks of the movie take place indoors and are more devoted to character development than to utilizing the 3D well. But even during the action scenes, as cool as they are to look at, there appear to have been many missed opportunities to make the 3D pop as well as it could've. Pop outs are pretty sorely missed throughout the majority of the film, save for Peter Parker's hand during the mirror dimension scene or a few objects in the foreground including people's heads or various equipment. There are scenes such as where a car gets thrown at the screen, but the shot changes before it can protrude the screen. And other stuff like Doctor Strange's spell at the end of the movie, or Green Goblin flying towards the screen that like fair game for stick outs in 2D, but end up going over or under the screen than right through it. While the stuff we do get is plenty enough to satisfy most 3D fans, it's the stuff we didn't get that makes me feel ever so slightly disappointed.
Another thing worth noting is that while most of the movie is very watchable, there are some scenes at night or in the basement of the Sanctum Sanctorum that get pretty dark with the dimness added by the 3D glasses.
Spider-Man: No Way Home is not be any means a bad 3D movie. It's just one I wish the creators were willing to push the three-dimensional fun with. The overall experience is a pleasant one, and there are times it borders on being a "great" 3D movie. But maybe if the director had intended this film to be in 3D, this one would be easily recommended to most readers. As it is, though, it still packs plenty of good 3D fun with lots of depth, some enormous settings, and interesting fight scenes. It's enough to satisfy hardcore 3D fans, and it will certainly be my preferred way to watch the movie. For everyone else though, I say whether or not this was a worthy 3D conversion is up to you. Is it worth buying a Region Free or Region B Blu-ray player just for it? Well, probably not. You won't be missing a lot by not seeing it in 3D. But if you already have the proper equipment to play the film, then you, and other curious 3D fans, might find it a decent addition to your 3D collection.
3D RATING: GOOD
Other sources that review the movie's 3D:
Cinemablend's 3D Review: https://www.cinemablend.com/3d/to-3d-or-not-to-3d-buy-the-right-spider-man-no-way-home-ticket
High-Def Digest's Review: https://bluray.highdefdigest.com/108788/spidermannowayhomebluray3dauimport.html
Tommy Boy 3D's (IMAX 3D version) Review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ed15ciiTMgo
Go Find Fun's Review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3St8unOuAgw
FINAL THOUGHTS:
Like I said before, almost everyone has seen Spider-Man: No Way Home at this point, so there isn't much of a point for me to tell you whether or not it's worth seeing. But for those of you who haven't seen it, I will say that it's a thoroughly entertaining and emotional experience that needs to be seen to be believed. While it's not a perfect movie, the things it gets right make it one of the greatest MCU films to date. If you are a Spider-Man fan who hasn't yet checked this out, do yourself a favor and watch it. Should you see it in 3D, though? Well, that depends on how you define a great 3D film. If you're looking for a movie with lots of depth and displays everything with proper lifelike 3D structure, No Way Home is for sure worth checking. But if you want a film that knows it's in 3D and uses it to its full advantage, then it probably wouldn't hurt to put No Way Home a notch or two down on your priority list, especially if you don't already have a Region Free or Region B play. None the less, it does still deliver the 3D goods, making the 3D version of the film my preferred way to watch. I also recommend it to die-hard 3D fans who want to experience this film with an extra-dimensional helping of fun. But don't expect it to be on the same level as the first two films in the Homecoming trilogy.
DID YOU LIKE "SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME" IN 3D
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