Jon Watts
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Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)
Directed by John Hughes
influenced Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Themes Visuals
He’s forced to run through backyards a la Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and it’s a beautifully self-referential beat acknowledging that while one foot is with comic books the other is with John Hughes, Easy A, and The Edge of Seventeen.
“A superhero movie by way of John Hughes” is the feeling that Homecoming wears on its sleeve, proudly including a television playing Ferris Bueller’s Day Off in one shot.
…for ample measure, he tosses in a handful of '80s pop hits on the soundtrack and a running-through-backyards montage which cuts to a similar scene from 1986's classic "Ferris Bueller's Day Off"?but merely checking off these boxes is not the same as genuinely capturing the spirit and heart of this subgenre.
The film even shows a clip of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off when Spider-Man is running through the neighborhood.
And as much as it wants to capture the nostalgic frisson of “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” and “The Breakfast Club,” the new Spidey movie is too obligated to the Marvel Universe to truly pull it off.
The lightness of touch he demonstrated there is here in spades, with a genius Ferris Bueller’s Day Off joke and even the big action sequences (the standout being a Washington Monument rescue) peppered with sharp gags.
The Breakfast Club (1985)
Directed by John Hughes
influenced Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Characters Visuals Themes
Even Zendaya’s Michelle, an outsider equal parts The Breakfast Club’s John Bender and Allison Reynolds, seems to take an interest in Peter Parker.
They released a teaser trailer and a photo that paid homage to The Breakfast Club .
Meanwhile surly Michelle— Disney Channel’s Zendaya doing an inspired take on Ally Sheedy’s character in The Breakfast Club ’s— refuses to enter the Washington Monument because slaves may have built it.
And as much as it wants to capture the nostalgic frisson of “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” and “The Breakfast Club,” the new Spidey movie is too obligated to the Marvel Universe to truly pull it off.
This high school crew rounds out this fresh film well and provides an on-screen bond reminiscent of actual high school students, giving a nod to the John Hughes golden age films we saw in The Breakfast Club and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.
Además, sabemos que Jon Watts buscó inspiración en grandes clásicos como The Breakfast Club y la memorable serie Freaks and Geeks ; por eso es perfectamente natural -y tal vez imperceptible- para nosotros que Zendaya haya calcado a la Linda Cardellini más cínica.
Despite its compact scale and structure, this high-concept mini-thriller from writer-director Jon Watts packs in the references: the pre-teen trauma of Stand by Me is in there, as is Spielberg’s highway stand-off Duel , and the blackly comic crime capers of the Coen brothers.
The 34-year-old director has steeped himself in the movies of the Seventies as seen on VHS in the Eighties, especially the early works of Steven Spielberg from Duel through Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
The license plate of Sheriff Kretzer�s car is 149PCE, referring to Steven Spielberg�s first (and maybe best) film, Duel (1971).
It might be one of the more impressive directorial breakthroughs I have seen in some time, even harkening to early Spielberg with Duel and The Sugarland Express.
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Directed by Quentin Tarantino
influenced Wolfs (2024), Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)
Plot Characters Dialogue
At first glance, Wolfs, the first non-Spider-Man film from director Jon Watts since 2015’s Cop Car, seems to be something of a Pulp Fiction/Quentin Tarantino riff. There’s that deliberately grammatically inaccurate title, which nods to Harvey Keitel’s character from that film, a well-dressed man who ‘solves problems’ when a dead body unhelpfully shows up. There’s a MacGuffin in a bag.
The inexplicably ugly title could be a vague reference to Mr Wolf, Harvey Keitel’s dapper ‘fixer’ from Tarantino’s 1993 zeitgeist-grabber, Pulp Fiction.
Clooney and Pitt are lone “wolf” fixers akin to the Harvey Keitel “cleaner” character in “Pulp Fiction” (known, by the way, as “The Wolf”). When a politician’s (Amy Ryan) attempted fling with a goofy young dude (Austin Abrams) goes terribly wrong, they’re separately called in to erase the incident and, despite their objections, forced to work together.
Clooney plays a fixer — one of those movie characters whom rich and powerful people use to make unseemly problems quietly go away, like Harvey Keitel's Winston Wolfe in "Pulp Fiction" — who is called upon by district attorney Margaret (Amy Ryan) when a young gentleman she had brought to her Manhattan hotel room accidentally dies after impaling himself on a beverage cart.
They’re fixers, in the manner of Harvey Keitel’s Winston “The Wolf” in “Pulp Fiction.” Margaret has hired Clooney, obviously. Pam, the owner of the hotel, has hired Pitt.
Call that the street-level challenge of Spider-Man: No Way Home , which brings up the second and cruder Samuel L. Jackson line going all the way back to Pulp Fiction of “You’re sending The Wolf? Shit, negro, that’s all you had to say!” Bringing that forward to this occasion, The Wolf is Marvel czar Kevin Feige.
Anyway, there’s some sort of problem, involving portals and alternate realities and a Mirror Dimension, which looks like outtakes from Christopher Nolan’s “Inception,” and . . .
If anything, he doubles down on it, dialling all three up to eleven – the action is amazing (especially when Spidey is duking it out with Doctor Strange in an Inception -inspired mirrorverse), the humour is note perfect (there are some genuinely brilliant meta gags) and the emotion...well, let's just say that long-term Spidey fans would be well advised to bring tissues.
Indeed, while "No Way Home" offers plenty of splashy MCU action — including a trippy fight set in the "Inception"-style Mirror Dimension from "Doctor Strange" — it’s the character scenes that are most consequential.
His run in the role has been categorized by looming mentor figures and larger MCU maintenance; if Homecoming (and, to a lesser extent, Far From Home ) doubled as Iron Man movies, this one feels like half a Doctor Strange story, adding a skirmish in the Inception - ish mirror dimension to an already crowded two-and-a-half hours of plot and spectacle.
Watts’ virtuoso camerawork and Michael Giacchino’s lively score help too while the special effects are just as visually impressive (the trippy Inception-like set-piece comes to mind).
Arguments between Avengers being what they are, Spidey and Strange duke it out in a magical realm where the scenery goes all Inception y on them, then Spidey steals a magic doodad and sets off to cure the bad guys.
Spider-Man 2 (2004)
Directed by Sam Raimi
influenced Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)
Themes
We’re not sure what sort of backroom deals were struck to get Alfred Molina to reprise his Doctor Octopus from Spider-Man 2 (2004), still considered by many to be one of the greatest superhero movies ever, but his appearance signals what will be an onslaught of blasts from the Spider-past.
Maguire also starred in 2004’s “Spider-Man 2” and 2007’s “Spider-Man 3.” Andrew Garfield starred as Peter Parker/Spider-Man in two of the reboot movies: 2012’s “The Amazing Spider-Man” and 2014’s “The Amazing Spider-Man 2.” Another “Spider-Man” movie reboot series began with Tom Holland as Peter Parker/Spider-Man, starting with 2017’s “Spider-Man: Homecoming,” and continuing with 2019’s “Spider-Man: Far From Home” and 2021’s “Spider-Man: No Way Home.”
Enter Alfred Molina’s Dr. Otto Octavius, Willem Dafoe’s sinister Green Goblin, and Jamie Foxx’s Electro (who you probably remember from Sam Rami’s 2002/2004 “Spider-Man” and “Spider-Man 2” and Marc Webb’s 2014 “The Amazing Spider-Man 2” respectively).
Which, with the help of Marvel's de-aging magic, solves the problem of how a new film would cast better than Willem Dafoe as Spider-Man ’s Green Goblin (who wisely ditches the Power Rangers mask early on), or the mighty Alfred Molina as Spider-Man 2 ’s Doctor Octopus.
Not only that as Spider-Man: No Way Home is easily the best Spider-Man film I’ve ever seen since Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2 (2004).
What can be said without giving away specifics is that this movie is similar to Sam Raimi's 2004 Spider-Man 2 , in that it focuses on how Peter Parker comes to commit himself to his crime-fighting lifestyle on a deeper level.
Despite its compact scale and structure, this high-concept mini-thriller from writer-director Jon Watts packs in the references: the pre-teen trauma of Stand by Me is in there, as is Spielberg’s highway stand-off Duel , and the blackly comic crime capers of the Coen brothers.
Watts set out to blend a coming-of-age story (à la Stand By Me and the Amblin Entertainment movies of yore) with a leaner, meaner thriller evocative of the old Westerns.
So far, so good — the boys' lighthearted adventure, as they play at adulthood while careening across the flatlands, has been rightfully compared to "Stand By Me."
Like a cross between Stand by Me and No Country for Old Men, Cop Car puts Harrison and Travis through a gauntlet of dangerous situations that force them to grow up in a hurry, and watches as they mostly fail, with disastrous consequences.
Imagine Stand by Me directed by the Coen brothers circa Blood Simple.
“Cop Car” is unlike most traditional neo-noirs in that it flips the script by centering on two innocent kids instead of the typical, morally gray protagonist, like if the gang from “Stand by Me” had discovered Anton Chigurh’s briefcase of money and kept it for themselves.
Sixteen Candles (1984)
Directed by John Hughes
influenced Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019)
Themes Visuals
The divide between adults and teens is reminiscent of the way adulthood was presented in John Hughes’ teenage movies like Sixteen Candles and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (at one point the latter is even referenced).
Más que una película de superhéroes, Spider-Man: Homecoming es una historia de madurez que canaliza el cine de John Hughes de la década de los ochenta como The Breakfast Club y Sixteen Candles.
Watts hace un muy buen trabajo al incorporar sutilmente la iconografía de John Hughes ( Sixteen Candles , 1984; Weird Science , 1985), uno de los máximos representantes del cine adolescente de los años ochenta.
The film goes back and forth between superhero action and a John Hughes style teen movie, with with affectionate references to “Ferris Bueller,” “Sixteen Candles,” and “The Breakfast Club.”
The film, though loaded with stupefying action scenes, is in the vein of Sixteen Candles and The Breakfast Club .
After the John Hughes melodies of Homecoming were such a success, writers Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers and director Jon Watts have continued the motif but aimed a little more angsty with echoes of Some Kind of Wonderful and Sixteen Candles fluttering in the background whilst still maintaining the Ferris Bueller frivolity with some superb gags.
Back to the Future (1985)
Directed by Robert Zemeckis
influenced Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Characters
Played by a very good Tom Holland, who reminds me of Michael J. Fox from Back to the Future , he’s a bundle of nervous energy who wants to fight crime but also wants a date with high school crush Liz (Laura Harrier), whom he’s too shy to talk to.
It’s a clever reboot, and Holland handles it all in style, reminiscent of the way Michael J. Fox brought humor and wonder to the original Back To The Future.
Holland’s plucky charisma recalls a “Back to the Future”-era Michael J. Fox, for those of you old enough to catch it — but this is a timely “Spider-Man,” one for the little guy, full of outcasts and screwed-over blue-collar workers.
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
Directed by Bob Persichetti
influenced Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019)
Plot Visuals Themes
As you’d likely recall, the concept of the Spider-Man multiverse was utilised to staggeringly impressive results in 2018’s Oscar-winning animated delight Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse .
On that note, it’s easy, but also somewhat unfair, to compare No Way Home to the animated 2018 film, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse , which itself had a level of singular, standalone magic to its vibrant world and memorable characters.
Granted, the idea should be familiar to anyone who saw 2018’s animated “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,” which introduced the thrilling possibility that virtually anyone could be Spidey.
Like 2018’s animated Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse , Spider-Man: No Way Home unites multiple Spideys: Tom Holland’s MCU-approved version, of course, as well as—public press tour denials to the contrary—Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s prior iterations.
What I will say is that, from there "NWH" largely ditches the idea of being a "Far From Home" sequel to, instead, be a film that wants to replicate the success of Sony's 2018 Oscar-winning animated film "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse."
The only real issue is that we've already seen all of that before, namely in 2018's fantastic animated flick, "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse."
Spider-Man (2002)
Directed by Sam Raimi
influenced Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)
Characters
Furthermore, there are a few too many nods to previous lines and moments in those other “Spider-Man” films, while some of the MCU connective tissue (featuring guest turns and appearances) feel awkward and confusing.
After being outed as Spider-Man thanks to the machinations of Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal), Peter Parker (Holland) seeks an extreme solution to regain his privacy: get Doctor Strange (Cumberbatch) to magically bend reality so that nobody ever knew.
The “system overload” of “Spider-Man” movies, Sony’s ninth (and almost certainly not last) feature-length riff on the friendly neighborhood superhero, “Spider-Man: No Way Home” seeks to connect Tom Holland’s spin on the web-slinger with the previous live-action versions of the character by first reassembling a rogue’s gallery of all the villains Peter Parker has vanquished to date.
That brought the Tobey Maguire “Spider-Man” series to a dead end after three episodes, and Andrew Garfield’s after only two.
While not exactly a gift and a curse the way Peter Parker sometimes sees his powers, the inclusion of Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe has repeatedly fallen into a realm of mixed reactions for me.
But Watts has done an admirably lively job with all three of the Holland Spideys, thanks largely to Holland, and while I like the middle one best, well, that’s in line with the Raimi-directed “Spider-Man” trilogy.
Performance-wise, Holland is fit as hell and game for anything, but Nathan’s vocal expressions and mannerisms too often evoke Peter Parker and comparisons to Spiderman .
Holland is 25 years old but still presents on-screen as an overeager teenager, recalling his work in the Spider-Man films; every line is delivered as an anguished yelp or a pleading sigh.
It’s hard to shake off the feeling that I’m watching him acting all witty and boyishly reckless like Peter Parker in Spider-Man: No Way Home, which was only released two months ago in December last year.
As much as Holland tries to inject some fun into his Nate character, Holland is just doing an older version of the teenage Peter Parker character that he plays in the “Spider-Man” movies.
“Uncharted” is part of the valiant effort to make a bona fide star out of Tom Holland separate from his extremely popular “Spider-Man” movies.
Somewhere lurking within Uncharted is a flicker of romance, but unlike Holland’s Spider-Man extravaganzas, Fleischer’s film can’t be bothered to humanize its characters with anything approaching engaging emotions or relations; the sole thing that matters is racing from one subterranean catacomb and buried cave to the next, the action punctuated by a few dull quips and some brooding over MIA relatives.
Co-written and directed by Jon Watts (who’s since been tapped to helm the next Spider-Man movie), Cop Car is a surprisingly nasty piece of work, more reminiscent of old John Dahl thrillers from the ’90s ( Red Rock West , The Last Seduction ) than of Let’s Be Cops .
Spider-Man 3 (2007)
Directed by Sam Raimi
influenced Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)
Plot Characters
Maguire also starred in 2004’s “Spider-Man 2” and 2007’s “Spider-Man 3.” Andrew Garfield starred as Peter Parker/Spider-Man in two of the reboot movies: 2012’s “The Amazing Spider-Man” and 2014’s “The Amazing Spider-Man 2.” Another “Spider-Man” movie reboot series began with Tom Holland as Peter Parker/Spider-Man, starting with 2017’s “Spider-Man: Homecoming,” and continuing with 2019’s “Spider-Man: Far From Home” and 2021’s “Spider-Man: No Way Home.”
Does No Way Home need everyone to remember the finer details of 2007’s Spider-Man 3 and 2014’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2 in order to be watchable?
It had led to fears that No Way Home would feel as overstuffed as Spider-Man 3 , but while we won't go into specifics, there's no need to fear there.
In this respect, Jamie Foxx’s Max Dillon/Electro benefits the most, as it strips away all of the unnecessary goofiness from Amazing Spider-Man 2 and unleashes a legitimate threat, but Thomas Haden Church’s Flint Marko/Sandman and Rhys Ifans’ Curt Connors/Lizard both get proper, exciting roles to play in the aftermath of Spider-Man 3 and The Amazing Spider-Man , respectively.
Hilariously, "too many villains" is a common complaint about Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 3.
They're each part of some terrific action scenes and the movie does an admirable job of building a little on their respective histories in Spider-Man 3 and The Amazing Spider-Man .
Some Kind of Wonderful (1987)
Directed by Howard Deutch
influenced Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019)
Themes
After the John Hughes melodies of Homecoming were such a success, writers Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers and director Jon Watts have continued the motif but aimed a little more angsty with echoes of Some Kind of Wonderful and Sixteen Candles fluttering in the background whilst still maintaining the Ferris Bueller frivolity with some superb gags.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)
Directed by Sam Raimi
influenced by Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)
Plot Themes
Bearing in mind the massively successful undertaking of Sony’s Spider-Man: No Way Home when it comes to including characters across three separate film franchises, narratively explained as variants of the same character across a multiverse of realities, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness ups the ante by pitting Benedict Cumberbatch’s Strange across a mix of multiverse realities, even if the combined weight of all of these fan service crumbles from its own desire to be self-serving and smart at the same time.
Thanks to Spider-Man: No Way Home , we now also need to recall the other Marvel movies that don't come in the MCU canon.
After last year’s Spider-Man: No Way Home, which used multiverse concepts to bring an all-star team of former Spider-men, as well as their antagonists, into a single movie, Multiverse of Madness jungles multiple universes as well.
After the blockbuster success of 2021’s “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” which had three different versions of Spider-Man interacting with each other in the same movie, there’s no point in being coy about what “multiverse” means if it’s part of a Marvel story.
That’s right Doctor Strange is back after the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home where he brushed with the concept of the Multiverse.
Following the events of “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” “Loki,” and “WandaVision,” the film puts Doctor Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) back in the spotlight with his own cinematic vehicle.
Using characters from the non-MCU films not only enables the franchise to establish the existence of the multiverse, a concept that will have major implications for future MCU films, it’s also an act of fan service that will be appreciated by anyone who’s enjoyed a Spidey film since Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man debuted in 2002.
The Avengers (2012)
Directed by Joss Whedon
influenced Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
The concept of assembling the likes of Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk and more in a big screen canon used to be an extreme pipe dream, but that idea seems exceptionally simple and obvious now that we are nearly a decade past the release of 2012’s The Avengers and have experienced everything that the MCU has accomplished, from Captain America: Civil War to Avengers: Endgame .
Michael Keaton plays Adrian Toomes, an ordinary construction contractor initially tasked with cleaning up New York City following The Avengers epic battle with aliens back in 2012.
But when he hones in on his own super-villain in the form of Michael Keaton’s Adrian Toomes alias The Vulture – a scrapper who has assembled a criminal crew and built a winged tech-suit using leftover alien technology retrieved from The Battle Of New York (as seen in The Avengers) – Peter Parker brings down the wrath of Tony Stark; irks the concern of his Aunt May (the superb Marisa Tomei is another brilliant casting masterstroke); and places himself in big-time peril.
But for all intents and purposes, it starts with two of them, too: a scene set in the aftermath of 2012’s The Avengers and another set along the sidelines of 2016’s Captain America: Civil War .
In a flashback set eight years earlier, we meet Adrian Toomes (Michael Keaton) a salvage-company owner cleaning up at Avengers Tower—the Midtown Manhattan headquarters of the superhero team in The Avengers (2012)—following the Battle of New York against alien invaders.
Furthermore, that lost gig happened eight years ago, just after the Chitauri smashed up New York in The Avengers.
And it’s better for it, feeling much like a the super-charged, spunky sister of Ant-Man and Spider-Man: Homecoming rather than coming across so larger-than-life and august as Avengers: Infinity War and Black Panther (though both the latter and Captain Marvel do expertly and effortlessly examine sundry social themes).
Just like with Jon Watts for Spider-Man: Homecoming , he's finding the perfect talent to bring these stories to life.
I’d but it right next to Thor: Ragnarok and Spider-Man: Homecoming.
Captain America: Civil War (2016)
Directed by Joe Russo
influenced Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
The concept of assembling the likes of Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk and more in a big screen canon used to be an extreme pipe dream, but that idea seems exceptionally simple and obvious now that we are nearly a decade past the release of 2012’s The Avengers and have experienced everything that the MCU has accomplished, from Captain America: Civil War to Avengers: Endgame .
He still has some learning to do on his quest to be more than that "Spider-boy" Tony Stark first met in 2016's "Captain America: Civil War."
Tom Holland excels a lot in his role as Peter Parker/Spider-Man and this is easily his best one ever seen since he first donned the iconic Spidey suit in Captain America: Civil War (2017).
The Spider-Man who swings away in the final frame of "No Way Home" is not the one who first answered Tony Stark's call in 2016's "Captain America: Civil War," and that's a great thing.
The latest film, Spider-Man: No Way Home , has a lot of stakes to it, serving as not just a continuation of Holland’s version of the character, but also moving forward the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which Spider-Man officially joined in 2016’s Captain America: Civil War .
Holland was only 19 when he landed this role (he made his scene-stealing first appearance in 2016’s “Captain America: Civil War”).