Spider-Man has and will always be my favorite superhero. I’ll never forget seeing the first Spidey movie when I was a kid, and I’ve been devotedly following each installment since. While the Sam Raimi trilogy may always be my No. 1 (faults and all), I think the Tom Holland movies have been fantastic. With Brand New Day here, I decided to binge the “Home” trilogy for the first time in one day, and I have some takeaways to talk through.
First off, I still think 2017’s Homecoming is one of the best MCU movies that’s been made. The script is so sharp, and it feels like you’re watching a John Hughes film that also happens to include superheroes. It really nails the awkwardness of being a high schooler in a way no other Spider-Man movie has done before. But, my big problem with rewatching the trilogy happens in its sequel, Far From Home.
The Thing That Doesn’t Hold Up In Tom Holland’s Spider-Man Trilogy
Now, I had totally forgotten until I turned it on, but 2019’s Far From Home was the first MCU movie to come out after Avengers: Endgame and the final installment of The Infinity Saga. It opens with a hilarious high school news video of Betty Brant and Jason Ionelle explaining The Blip – which is when everyone came back five years after The Snap wiped out half the universe.
I proceeded to spend half of Far From Home feeling very confused about what was going on with the students of Midtown High in the fallout of the major universe event. I found it weird that Peter, Ned, MJ along with most of the students from Homecoming just happened to all be part of the Snapped so the plot could move along without a hitch. And yet, there’s this weird thing going on with Remy Hii’s Brad Davis, who aged up five years from a middle-schooler to a high school junior.
I think Far From Home did a decent job of explaining it, and they had a clever way of lore dumping at the top of the movie, but it also had me considering all these existential questions around The Snap and The Blip that I sort of wish the Spider-Man sequel didn’t have. In the moment when we were watching all the MCU movies one-by-one it made sense, but if you decide to skip the movies in between like I did, I think it kind of stunts an otherwise great set of movies.
If you’re thinking “just watch Infinity War and Endgame” before Far From Home, you’re right. I probably should have, but that would have added over five hours to my binge.
The Other Thoughts I Had Watching Them
Now, to put aside my gripes, and share some quick reasons why I liked the “Home” trilogy on my recent rewatch.
- I didn’t totally realize how many suits Tom Holland gets as Spider-Man until now. Like, it’s actually wild how many.
- Happy Hogan is an underrated character in this trilogy. I'm delighted he was part of it.
- Uncle Ben isn’t mentioned once in this Peter Parker’s story. Does he even exist in this version?
- While it feels forced at times, I think it’s really fun to see Tom Holland’s Spider-Man interact with a couple of other MCU characters in each movie. My favorite instance of this is the “suit” moment with Tony Stark in Homecoming.
- It’s still weird to me that they go on a class trip to Italy.
- Peter and MJ are so, so adorable to watch fall in love.
- The “Night Monkey” bit in Far From Home is actually so hilarious to me.
- I hate the Skrull twist during the end credits of Far From Home.
- I wish there was a time jump between Far From Home and No Way Home because they look visibly older, but conceptually I get it. Fine.
And now, we have Brand New Day! I hope it’s the start of another Spider-Man trilogy. You can check out what CinemaBlend thought of the movie as it plays in theaters.
