This isn’t going to be much of a review of the actual movie but more on what is actually added to the extended cut of this gloriously successful Spidey flick! I still love the movie even if my nostalgia for the previous Spider-Man incarnations and my initial opening night theater experience did elevated a bit more at the time it came out than it does now on repeat viewings. The things I still like before I still like now even if the things I didn’t care for do stick out a bit more. Still a 3.5 out of 4 star movie for me however! But what about the content that was added in this so-called More Fun Stuff version that is coming out this weekend in some theaters. Does it really enhanced the No Way Home experience or is it just a cheap cash grab?
First off, let’s go over the scenes that were added in to this cut of the movie that is releasing the theaters this Labor Day weekend (which btw can be watched for just three bucks on September 3rd). There was a total of at least ten minutes added to this longer version of No Way Home. This makes the overall movie hover right over the two and a half hour long minute mark. These scenes that were added in include the following that I’m about to describe:
(Also, if you consider me describing each individual scene as a spoiler, then you might wanna click away right now. You have been warned!)
- Just before the movie starts, it opens with Tom Holland, Andrew Garfield, and Tobey Maguire through a Zoom meeting (which looks like it was shot on the same day they did an interview through Zoom about a month after the movie came out). The three of them greet the fans and thank them for their overwhelming support on their Spider-Man picture.
- There’s a cameo with Tom Holland’s brother, Harry Holland, where he plays a thief that stole a bicycle. This leads to Spider-Man interacting with citizens until a Mysterio supporter douses him with green paint, which gets basically all over his Spider suit that Peter has a hard time brushing off later on in the movie.
- There are more high school scenes added with most of the side characters from Homecoming and Far From Home such as the teachers, Flash Thompson, and Betty Bryant that didn’t really get to do anything in No Way Home. This include extra/extended scenes such as a longer conversation between Peter and his teachers, Peter being pressured into climbing the wall using his Spider powers by students during gym class, and a segment of Betty Bryant interviewing various teachers and students on how they view Peter Parker now that they know he is Spider-Man, including Peter himself. These interview segments are probably the most added content in this version, excluding the new end credit scene.
- There is an extra scene with Matt Murdock where he’s trying to help plead Happy’s case against the Department of Damage Control. It’s during that part where Happy sees Peter and Aunt May leading the villains into the apartment through his security camera. It also includes a semi-funny moment where Matt tells Happy to stop sweating in which Happy asks how he never sweats.
- There are lengthier scenes of the three Peter Parkers talking with one another during the big moments such as the loved ones that they lost and the banter they exchange before the big fight on the Statue of Liberty. No major things happened but just a couple more moments of the three Peters talking and quipping with one another.
- Lastly, there is a big post credit scene (right at the same spot which the Multiverse of Madness trailer played) with Betty Bryant hosting a school news segment on the last day before graduation. It’s basically here just taking a trip down memory lane with all of the teenagers from all three MCU Spider-Man movies. It basically showcases the crazy adventures and field trips that the students went on in the previous movies with Peter no where to bee seen in any footage. It basically confirms that everyone’s memory of Peter Parker had been 100% erased!
And that is basically it as far the More Fun Stuff version goes when it comes to the bonus content. No extended fight scenes, no major plot and character details revealed, no moment of Maguire’s Peter and Dafoe’s Norman interacting, no cameo of Kirsten Dunst’s MJ or Emma Stone’s Gwen Stacy, etc. This isn’t like a full-on director’s cut on the range of say Zack Snyder’s Justice League with a good portion of the theatrical footage mixed with plenty of the director’s original footage or even like Spider-Man 2 which included extended action sequences and bonus/longer scenes that help a detail or two towards the characters. It’s basically nothing more than a couple of deleted scenes added back in with Sony hoping that’s good enough to justify bringing it back in theaters to get a few extra dollars.
Granted, I used Regal Unlimited which only cost me two quarters and four pennies worth to watch. Because of that, I can’t really claim it was that much of wasted money on my part. However, to anyone else, I can’t say it’s worth the full theater ticket price. Unless you haven’t seen the full movie yet or are just extremely curious to see the extended footage in person, it’s not something you have to pay in theaters to see. You will most likely be better off just watching the version that already came out on Blu-Ray again and just wait for the added scenes to show up on YouTube, assuming it’s not on there already. It’s definitely not like the extended cut of Avengers: Endgame that included literal unfinished scenes of CGI with the Hulk or the PG-13 cut of Deadpool 2, A.K.A. Once Upon A Deadpool which featured more censored content and added footage of Deadpool parodying The Princess Bride by telling the story of the film to Fred Savage (which at least led to money being donated to charity). That being said, I highly doubt the More Fun Stuff version it’s gonna affect anyone’s overall opinions on No Way Home as a whole.
If you want to see it, go ahead but at least see it at a discount or for the $3 deal that will be going on all day Saturday in celebration of Cinema Day. Anything more than that is quite outrageous!
(Also, on a brief side note! I have read from leaks that this version also includes a brief moment where MJ pleads Peter to get Doctor Strange to make the world forget her too but I can’t recall ever seeing that. Unless I dozed off during that part and didn’t pay attention for a split second, I don’t think that part is there. Just try looking it up on YouTube to see if it’s real or not!)
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