I thought after Avengers: End Game, Marvel would lose the magic and my anticipation for superhero movies would wane. I enjoyed Shang Chi and Eternals and other films that had come out, but I wasn’t counting down the days before release. I liked Spider-Man: Far From Home, but I still wasn’t sold that my love of superhero movies would be matched to what it was during Marvel’s first and second phases.
And then Spider-Man: No Way Home was announced.
Let’s face it, I would watch any superhero movie in the theater. And I will most likely enjoy them. Superhero movies take me back to being a kid and for two hours, I’m back to being that little boy, hovered over a comic book on my bed. And sometimes, Marvel releases a movie that appeals to my inner child as well to the adult me. Spider-Man: No Way Home accomplished that.
Like a lot of fans of superhero movies, I have a list of favorites and I argue that list with my friends who have their own list. For a long time, my top 3 have been in order: Captain America: Winter Soldier, Iron Man, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1. The rest of the order has moved around with movies jumping in and out of my top 10 or moving up and down the list. Spider-Man: No Way Home is now in my Top 5 right behind Avengers: Infinity War.
When the idea of the multi-verse entered the Marvel discussion, possibilities spread amongst fans. I think Marvel intended to keep the villains from Spider-Man a secret, but leaks spilled out across the internet and Marvel embraced them. Villains from the Tobey Maguire movies and the Andrew Garfield movies made their way into commercials and that got all fans of superhero movies excited. Oh, the possibilities drove us mad. And after seeing the movie, we were all right about being excited.
It’s hard for a superhero movie to live up to its expectation. Spider-Man: No Way Home does. Immediately after seeing the movie, I was ready to go see it again. (I didn’t). This is a movie that extreme fans will love and causal fans are going to enjoy.
But here’s why you read my reviews: Is Spider-Man: No Way Home appropriate for kids?
Well, you probably know the answer, or you are such a fan of superhero movies that you don’t care. It’s Spider-Man after all!
This Spider-Man movie shouldn’t be your child’s first foray into the Marvel Universe. I mean, it’s the third stand-alone Spider-Man movie and this version of Spider-Man has appeared in three other Marvel movies. You’re probably pretty familiar with Marvel’s level of violence and foul language. There isn’t anything out of the ordinary in this movie.
Here’s what you can expect:
Violence: It’s a Marvel movie, so there’s a lot. There’s fighting, weapons, explosions, and people die. It’s not as intense as Infinity Wars, but a step further than the other stand-alone Spider-Man movies.
Swearing: Some “S” words and “A” words.
Sex: An innuendo between two adults that will probably go over most heads.
Scary Images: Scenes of peril are frequent and some villains might be scary for kids.
I’m going to take my 9-year-old son, but not my 6-year-old daughter. I’ll wait till she’s a little older and not just because what’s on the screen might frighten her, but so she can fully appreciate the film and what it’s trying to do.
If you haven’t figured it out, I love everything about this movie. See it in the theater and appreciate it on a big screen.
Spider-Man: No Way Home is rated PG-13 sequences of action/violence, some language, and brief suggestive comments.