Positively MFV February 4, 2022

Feb 4

Hunter’s Movie Corner

Hunter Johnson in Hospitality Human Resources brings you a monthly spoiler-free movie discussion from one of the top films of the moment!

Spider-Man: No Way Home

Spider-Man: No Way Home is a thrilling theme park ride of a movie that has crowds cheering as they get bathed in nostalgia from head to toe. It is truly a cinematic experience that can be called a first of its kind. At the same time, however, for movie lovers like myself, it can be a scary omen of what types of movies might be dominating the box offices in the future.

No Way Home is the 27th movie to be released in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the 9th theatrical Spider-Man movie. While it’s only the third installment with Tom Holland as our friendly neighborhood webhead, it draws elements and inspiration from the previous 5 movies starring Tobey McGuire and Andrew Garfield, respectively. Don’t worry, no spoilers here, but suffice it to say that this movie is the culmination of 20 years of Spider-Man and Marvel movies.

What that poses is an interesting challenge to moviegoers. Are you willing to put in the time to see all of the previous movies to get the most enjoyment out of this singular moviegoing experience? Based on the box office numbers for not only this movie but most of what Marvel puts out, the answer is a resounding, YES. No Way Home clocked in at a record-breaking $260 million opening weekend and is only continuing to climb. It's already passed the $1.5 billion mark for worldwide audiences.

People eat up nostalgia plays and who can blame them? Nothing is more fun than feeling like you’re in on something and then getting to do that with an entire theater of your fellow fans is an unmatched experience. All that said, it does make me wonder if Hollywood will be more inclined to feed that hunger for nostalgia or if they will try for the small budget original movies as well. I love large-budget action films as much as the next guy, but every once in a while it’s nice to have smaller, more grounded films to sink your teeth into. We know where the money is obviously but maybe, just maybe there's room for all kinds of movies in the theater.

Spider-Man: No Way Home is definitely worth seeing, and if you can find yourself in a high-energy theater, you’ll be all the more entertained. Happy swinging!