Now, I really do like Andrew Garfield as an actor, but didn't like how he came across in his movies. But i absolutely loved him in No Way Home. And my respect for him grew a lot, as he seemed to roll with the jokes about his SPiderman being unloved. I also embraced his dramatic moments in the movie too, and would welcome him back again (and jokes about his unpopularity wouldn't be needed that time).
To those who LOVED his movies....VERY curious... do you feel like this felt like the SAME Spiderman you loved? Or did you hate it?
A month ago,
I posted some thoughts in another thread about the Garfield films. I wouldn't say I
loved them -- both are flawed in different ways -- but I liked them more than the Maguire films, largely because of Garfield's chemistry with Emma Stone. But I also liked his approach to the role -- the snarky quips and casual confidence as Spider-Man, the clear intelligence but also evident pain as Peter -- and the psychological aspect of the films really appalled to me.
On those terms, I thought Garfield was fine in
No Way Home and in line with the psychological take on the character. Garfield's Spider-Man is haunted by ghosts in his two films -- his parents' abandonment, Uncle Ben, Captain Stacy, Gwen -- and they're still haunting him. I didn't like the staging of his rescue of the falling MJ; Gwen's death sequence in
ASM2 is visually spectacular and emotionally wrenching, and Watts' direction of it was, frankly, perfunctory. We don't know how long for him it's been since the events of
ASM2 -- and maybe never will -- but I'd like to think it's been a bit of time and Garfield's Spider-Man is closer to his real age now. So, yes, i felt Garfield was playing the same Spider-Man, plus ten-ish years.
If we do see Garfield again as Spider-Man, I hope we get to see his Peter as an adult, which is new territory for the character on film though not for the comics, no matter how much Marvel tries to pretend that Peter is younger than he really is. Maybe he'll be working at a tech start-up. Maybe he'll be a high school science teacher. Maybe he'll be in a relationship with Michael B. Jordan's MJ (which was Garfield's suggested casting for the role).